We made the trip with the Wylie/Hawker family (from the UK) and the Lalande/Boisvert family (the other Canadian family at Staff College). It was an early start to the day. We met up at the jetty in Cairns by 7:30 am, at which time I promptly took some anti-nausea medication to avoid the experience I had during my 1991 trip to the reef! William wasn’t so keen on taking any medication, which in hind sight wasn’t the best decision. His little belly didn’t feel that great for the first leg of the trip. Luckily Ian has good sea legs! Here we are getting onto our boat and here is the Quicksilver “Silverswift” catamaran.
The Silverswift took us to two different areas of the outer Great Barrier Reef for three separate “dives”. First we stopped at the Milln Reef, which was about a one and a half hour ride away from Cairns. This is where William took his first dip in the GBR! It was great! After safety instructions from the crew everyone got suited up in wet suits (very helpful in terms of buoyancy), goggles, flippers and snorkels (a lifejacket and noodle as well in William’s case). Then we jumped in. If anyone has heard about my experience snorkelling in 1991, you’ll know that I had great difficulty (and huge anxiety) breathing through a snorkel but finally managed to swim around and look at the reef and fish with the help of a much older gentleman. Well, this time was much better. With William between us we swam around, hand in hand, for around 30 minutes. It was a bit of an overcast day so the colors of the reef weren’t as brilliant as they would have been on a sunny day, but the view was great. We saw lots and lots of very colourful fish, sea cucumbers and we even saw a sea turtle – dude! (a little reference to the sea turtles in “Finding Nemo”!). It was also windy so the water was quite choppy which meant that we bobbed up and down a lot as we tried to swim along; it was hard work!
Proud papa.....
Proud mama....
After the first “dive” (we didn’t dive, we snorkelled) we had a buffet lunch on board while heading to another area of the outer reef called the Flynn Reef. When we got there, we geared up (not very quickly I might add) and jumped in all over again. The conditions (cloud cover, wind, choppy water) were similar at the second site, but we saw a larger variety of fish and coral there. We even had our picture taken underwater by the ship’s photographer. (Take a very close look at me. I’m smiling; this after strict instructions by the photographer to not smile when/if she points the camera at you. When you smile, you take in water! I guess that natural instinct to “smile for the camera” got the better of me!)
The trip would have normally involved a third stop at another area of the reef but given the weather and water conditions that day, the crew decided to return to a different area of the Milln Reef for the third dive. William and I decided to sit this one out – by this time we were both quite cold.
Ian, the Lalandes and Wylies all went for the third dive and had a fantastic time. The sun started to come out so the colors underwater got a little brighter. Here are a few pictures of the Wylie/Hawker family getting suited up and hitting the water!
Calum, Abigail and Julie
It was great fun to be out there with Ian and William – such a different experience for me as compared to 1991 when I was by myself. I have to say that it was truly amazing – amazing to see this incredible wonder of the world, and even more so, amazing to experience it with my two favourite people!
That evening, upon our return to Cairns, all three families went out for a great feast of Italian food. Great food, great wine and great company - couldn’t ask for anything more!
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