Cairns Heli the Reef

Cairns Heli snorkel 3/25/08

Turns out I only have 1 day to explore Cairns..started out in planning that we would be here for a week and got cut back to just 1 day!!! What to do...got up early and went to the travel desk to explore the options..I didn't think there would be many I was gonna like, cause I wanted to get out to the reef and all the tours I saw left at 7:30 and 8 am... Instead I got lucky..not only was I going to get to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef today I get to take a helicopter out to the boat!!!

I am picked up at the hotel by a private limo van and taken to the airport where I get a front seat in the chopper next to the pilot!!! The flight is spectacular, the weather is gorgeous...Cairns has had a crazy last 2 months with flooding and monsoon rains stranding travelers and cancelling all the tours..today is the best day they say they have had in months!!! It is bright and sunny in the tropics today and we fly out of Cairns out to the reef. The reef is broken down into several reefs and they are all named, some have tiny sand Caye's, most that wash over in the tides but a few that maintain a touch of vegetation and support a huge bird population. The sand Caye's make a nice beach for people who drop anchor off the reef. The colors are incredible and we dip down and fly low able to see reef sharks and turtles. We fly out to Norman Reef one of the outer reefs where not many tours go as it is quite far out and most boats are not fast enough to get out here for day trips. I was a bit leery of what I would find for snorkeling as the part of the reef we snorkeled in the Whitsundays was very murky, not many fish and really low visibility, what a surprise!!!!

The heli landed on a little pontoon out near the reef and the Osprey v docked and sent a boat over to me and the other 4 people up. We got on board the big boat and dropped our things and jumped in, the water was like a bath, so warm, an yay no stinger suits!!! Box jellyfish season is at the tail end and they said just to keep an eye out...box jellies are the deadly ones, one sting and it's over quite quickly!!! I swim over to the reef and am floored!!! The bright sun illuminates the corals and the fish and it is just SO ALIVE!!!! The fish are gorgeous and plentiful, the corals like nothing I have ever seen, and every where I look is something new and different, huge shells opening and closing, turtles, sharks,colorful fish big and small and so many kinds it blows my mind!!The corals and plants are so diverse and little rainbow colored fish trail me and hug close to my body and swim with me as I float along...they are so cute and curious and let me touch them. I am truly shocked at how fabulous it is!!! I had heard not to bother diving or snorkeling as all the rains had washed silt out to sea and churned it all up and visibility was less than a meter...not so...maybe cause we were so far out...don't know..I could not possibly have hoped for anything more!! After almost 2 hours I climb back on the back of the boat ditch the snorkeling gear and hop in for a quick swim...big huge barracuda and other huge angelfish looking fish swim around me..little freaky...so I hop out and grab my plate of food for lunch and head to the sun deck. Stretch out and relax and soon we are high speed on the big boat back to Cairns, a nice 1 & 1/2 hr cruise while laying out on my towel on the bow...a perfect day!!!

Returned to the marina where I was escorted back to my limo van and taken back to the hotel...all this for an extra $60 off for my late booking!!

My friend Dave who we met and hung out with at Magnetic called and came by and we went to dinner downtown after a nice walk along the esplanade and ocean..then stopped off at the (in)famous Woolshed for some drinks...perfect 1 day in Cairns!!!