Cairns, Australia and snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef

Cairns (pronounced Cans) is located in North Queensland and originally served as a port for shipping gold and tin. Around Cairns there is everything from rainforests with waterfalls and volcanic lakes to macadamia, sugarcane and pineapple plantations.  As for wildlife, the Cairns area is home to the Cassowary, considered to be the world’s most dangerous bird having inflicted fatal injuries to dogs and people alike. Cairns is probably best known as a jumping off point for the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef about 1200 miles long and is the largest reef and biggest organic construction in the world. A fun fact - the reef actually has its own stamp and mailbox. (You get to it by ferry). There are 1500 varieties of fish and 215 species of birds here. As for the history of this area, I’d say ditto the earlier places we visited. Captain Cook discovered it; the aborigines had their land ripped off, were treated badly then relocated to what was deemed worthless territories. You know, the typical treatment of all natives, no matter whether they were Polynesian, Australian or American. We booked a tour to “snorkel” the reef. It took us 90 minutes by fast catamaran to get there. It was well worth it. You could snorkel or use a semi submersible where you could view fish, from a dry seat,  but I couldn’t make myself get out of the water long enough to try it. As you can see from the picture, home base is just a platform out in the middle of nowhere next to the reef. The snorkeling was incredible!  The sun shone through this crystal clear turquoise water making it appear transparent. I was as if the fish were swimming in air.  I am not sure how deep the water was but the fish actually made shadows on the ocean floor. Stunning. My favorite fish were these rainbow colored ones with vibrant iridescent purples, greens and yellows. None would tread water in one place long enough for a photo op.  Then there were black ones that looked like they had two cute bright orange bows tied on their tails. The big fish pictured above is “Wally”. The divers feed him so he swims right up to you happy to let you photograph or pet him. The coral was in yellows, golds, greens, blues, pinks and purples - you name it. Some looked like colored tree branches; others looked like brains, some like flowers or delicate lace fans.  The soft coral drifted like golden wheat in a breeze. The water was a perfect swimming temperature. I never got out of the ocean the whole day. I even missed lunch. I figured I could eat anytime, this was my one shot at snorkeling the reef.  If there are 1500 varieties of fish, I swear I think I saw a couple hundred of them.  All I could think about was how much Jim, Courtney and Hannah would have loved this day.  Hannah, I believe this is as close as you can come to being a mermaid. You are swimming among fish of every size and every color in a paint box, seldom farther away than two kicks of your swim fins.  Earlier, we saw these huge nets sectioning off the swimming areas along the beaches. Some people said it was to keep the jelly fish out – some said it was for sharks. One of our speakers shared that in one lagoon he saw 5 sharks in 45 minutes.   I was wondering if my main objective at the reef was going to be to try not to become the meat du jour. I was so mesmerized once I was in the water I never thought about it again - until Wally swam up. I have to admit my heart did some triple beats until I realized he was a friendly reef dweller. Tomorrow – if you’re still reading these things – my time with Elvis.