On January 21, we did a Green Island and Outer Great Barrier Reef tour. Green Island is a popular tourist destination, with beautiful beaches and a national park. It's about a 45 minute boat ride from Cairns and then another 45 minutes on to the reef. Basically, it's on the way to the reef, so lots of tours stop there and give you a couple hours to hang out. BTW, there are a million different tours you can take to the reef and each tour takes you to a different part. You can go to the reef every day for months and never go to the same place twice. It's like its own country. I already can't wait to go back. It was epic!
At 7am...
We woke up and walked to the Reef Fleet Terminal to catch our boat.
Here's a map:
We went from Cairns to Green Island and then south to Moore Reef (we didn't go to Norman Reef-I took a picture of the wrong map, oops!).
It was a bit rainy on the way to Green Island, but we could see a break in the clouds:
Can you see the rainbow?? It's gonna be a great day!
We're here!
So, we have 2 hours on Green Island before we have to be back on the boat. Aaron is doing an intro scuba dive at the reef, so he had to take a 30 minute class while we were on the island. I was also going to dive, but they recommended I sit it out due to my asthma and recent breathing issues, so I obliged. I was honestly not too bummed about it because I had a really hard time with the breathing tube when we went cage diving, so I knew scuba diving would be pretty challenging for me.
While he was taking his class, I wandered around the island.
The sun came out and it was beautiful. Anyone who's been somewhere tropical knows it can go from rain to sun in a matter of minutes, so we really lucked out with sun at the perfect time.
These birds are everywhere on the island, and they're so fast! Running around and snatching people's breakfast, they're hilarious:
While walking towards the national park, I found this hidden gem (okay, it's not really hidden, Green Island is pretty tiny):
It's a crocodile sanctuary. At first I walked past it and into the national park:
After about 5 minutes, I turned back, paid $19 and went into the sanctuary.
Puffer fish:
They also had an aquarium with a bunch of different reef fish:
and giant sea turtles:
There are few things I love more than turtles, especially giant ones! However, I was here for some crocs and boy did this place deliver:
It was actually terrifying because I was the ONLY person in the ENTIRE place and I knew for a fact the chicken wire wasn't holding anything back if they could smell my sweet, human meat and wanted a taste. I took my pictures (a couple even followed me with their eyes...OMG I'm freaking out!!) and I ran to the aboriginal art section (random, I know):
Somehow, this was only slightly less creepy than being alone surrounded by giant crocodiles.
This was cool:
I basically got out of there as quickly as I could without looking like I stole something. The guy who worked there was super friendly and told me I should come back in 20 minutes because he's doing a feeding and it's a whole different ball game seeing them move. My mouth said "sure thing!" and my mind said "HELL NO! See ya!" I went back to tell Aaron about my brush with death, but he was still in his class:
Turns out, he got a private lesson because the other people doing it needed a translator. I'm not racist in saying there are A LOT of Asians in Cairns doing the GBR tours. So much so, that almost all the staff on the boat and island were Asian (speaking better Mandarin than English, BTW) and all the signage had English with Mandarin underneath. It makes total sense because they were everywhere and they travel in packs. You just see giant groups of them scattered all over. Trust me when I say, you don't want to get stuck behind a pack taking pictures. You might as well bring a sleeping bag. Okay, that last part was kinda racist, but I'm Asian and I take more pictures than anyone, so I think I get a pass.
So, I waited for Aaron to finish his class and I told him about my date with danger and he wanted to go and see the damn things for himself! Is he crazy? So, we went back and watched the feeding. I'll admit right now, it was one of the coolest/most terrifying things I've ever seen.
Videos 1 and 2 are of the 2nd biggest croc in the sanctuary, and boy did he put on a good show. The smaller croc in there with him is the female that's basically only there to keep him happy. Here are some screenshots:
Video 3 is Cassius. I didn't know this at the time, but Cassius is the largest and oldest croc in captivity in THE WORLD. And he looked me in the eye and almost ate me (I could tell he was about to bust that cage open and go for me, okay?)!!!
Here are his stats again:
Cassius is much slower than the other crocs, so his video wasn't as exciting, but man is he a monster. The guy said these crocs could totally bust out of their cages if they really wanted to, but they keep them happy, so they don't want to. WHAT?!?!? That's what you're going with?! They're too happy to leave? I'm sorry, but we all have bad days. What if a croc has a bad day and eats the whole island? Then what? You just change the name to Croc Island? Man, that is just not good enough for me, sorry.
That didn't stop us from being completely obnoxious and trying to take a croc selfie:
"All they found was a camera and a few beard hairs. Look how happy they were in their last picture. If only they knew what was to come..."
We finally made it outta there with only a half hour to spare until it was time to leave the island, so we rushed to the beach and threw on our wetsuits to snorkel. This time we had super thin wetsuits (the water is warm) and only needed them to repel jellyfish. It was jellyfish season and if they sense skin they will sting, so the thin suit keeps you from getting stung.
We didn't go out far enough to see anything except a few random fish, so we gave up and headed back to the boat.
Farewell, Green Island (soon to be Croc Island)! Bye Cassius!
On our way to the Great Barrier Reef!!!
It started raining again and we were sitting on the top deck, so we got pretty soaked.
Oh well, I give up on being dry or looking like anything other than a hobo today.
So pretty out here:
Once we got to the reef, we anchored up next to a pontoon, where we would be spending the rest of the day. The pontoon had it all: a section for the buffet, a section of tables and seating, a section to get all your snorkel/ dive gear and get in the water, a section to get on the submarine and go for a ride and an upstairs smoking section. If all that wasn't enough, you could get back on the ferry boat and hang out too.
Let's tour the pontoon:
This is where it anchored to the ferry:
Buffet area:
In case you get lost:
Wetsuit rental:
They have seating on the side of the boat to sit and put on your flippers for snorkeling:
Scuba diving/snorkel gear area:
Divers enter the water under the boat:
This boat takes you to a helicopter for a tour (you have to pay extra):
You can rent a "Scuba Doo," which is like an underwater scooter:
They're version of the AquaSub:
You can go on a half hour submarine ride (for free):
Upstairs smoking and seating:
Okay, so that's pretty much the gist of the pontoon.
Aaron did a pontoon tour video, if you're so inclined. Aaaannd there's a part 2.
Soon after we arrived, they started the buffet and we were first in line:
I grabbed a little bit of everything. They had a bunch of different curries (remember it's Asians galore) and salads, shrimp and fruit. Overall, not too shabby! Buffet tour!
After we ate, we got in our wetsuits again, picked up some gear and went for a snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef. OMG can you handle it??! I was freaking out! 
I had a bunch of bubbles on my face and Aaron was wiping them off and I just thought it was sweet:
They had an underwater photographer who's made friends with a Napoleon fish named Wally and Wally just follows him around and takes pictures with everyone. It's really incredible. I've never seen a trained fish, let alone a fish that likes people and likes to be pet like a dog. Crazy!
We ended up buying some of the pics he took. Here's one of us with Wally:
Aaron got a bunch more when he went scuba diving. You'll see!
Wally was stunning and like I said before, SO friendly. He would rub against your body and you could pet him and he loved it! We got a video and some up-close shots:
This is Wally coming right up to the seating area, literally sticking his head out of the water just to be near everyone:
He had the most beautiful patterns on his skin. In Australia he's called the Maori Wrasse because members of the Maori tribe often design their tattoos based on the skin of this fish. Nature is amazing, isn't it?
Saw a bunch more fish:
I saw a jellyfish and that was it, I was out of the water in a flash!
Aaron did his intro scuba diving class and the photographer got some shots of him with Wally:
Way cool!
While Aaron was scuba diving, I went on the submarine ride:
For some reason, I could see through the glass clearly, but I couldn't really get good pictures. Everything looks the same color. Oh well.
It was really nice to be able to see the reef without being wet.
After the sub tour, I still had 20 minutes until the ferry left the pontoon, and I figured I might not ever come back to the GBR, so I gotta get in one last time. I snorkeled and ended up seeing Aaron scuba diving down below! I tried to get it all on video, but I kinda sucked. Here it is anyway. And part 2.
Then I got out and met up with Aaron, who had a blast!
Overall, we had the best time ever! The Great Barrier Reef was on my bucket list and it exceeded all my expectations. It was absolutely wonderful and I hope we get to come back someday. There's really nothing like it. There were so many fish we couldn't even get pictures of. It was one of the best days ever and it's an experience I'll never forget.
Best post ever amazing fish so beautiful
ReplyDelete:) love it!
ReplyDeleteSo amazing!!
ReplyDeleteWally is HUGE!
ReplyDelete