Sept 17 - Cairns and Great Barrier Reef

Picked up bright and early and taken to the marina to board the Quicksilver motor catamaran for our trip out to Agincourt Reef. Sat up top and took in the sights - man that thing goes fast, and sure kicks up a wake. We docked beside an anchored dive platform and had a buffet lunch before going exploring. We took a look at the fish through the windows of the underwater observatory, and then I tugged on a lycra suit to go snorkelling. The suit is protection in case there are any jelly fish in the area. Donned a lifejacket because I'm not a strong swimmer, found a mask, snorkel and fins and I was ready to go.

The water was warm, clear, and after a few seconds of being a little apprehensive I relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Looking down I could clearly see an amazing display of different corals and many brightly coloured fish. There was even a big black one about a meter long, and he didn't even scare me. Never thought I'd swim with something that big without panicking.

Next was an excursion on the semi-submersible boat - which is a bit of a misnomer because it doesn't submerge. You sit down in the bottom of the boat with glass walls on either side, but the boat stays on the surface the whole time. The trip took about 15 minutes, and we learned a bit about the different types of coral and fish - it was spectacular to see, but didn't photograph well through the 2" thick glass.

On the trip back to the marina, we saw a sailboat with beautiful red sails - isn't that a song or something? - and several other catamarans, both motor and sail. Back in Cairns we went to the Castaways restaurant just a block from our hotel. We were the only patrons in the diningroom! We enjoyed a lovely meal sitting by the window overlooking their pool. Cairns is a very multicultural city and has restaurants serving every kind of food from kangaroo and crocodile to Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Greek, Thai, Italian and loads more. Something for everybody.