Day 48: Airlie Beach and the Great Barrier Reef

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Airlie Beach is our stop today, Cairns tomorrow and then after a few days at sea we will pull into our last stop in Australia, Darwin.




Getting off a big boat and getting on a smaller one


"And the weather started getting rough..."


And they demonstrated how easy it was to get into the water, to breath, and the jackets were adjustable with air so they could control what depth you were at.  They tried and tried but snorkeling or diving without being able to swim is still a step to far.


After almost two hours of the roughest sea we have seen (and the deployment of many barf bags for the passengers, we arrived on the pontoon wharf at part of the Great Barrier Reef.  The wharf had an underwater viewing room where you could see many fish.  The also had a semi-submersible boat that took you right over some of the shallow parts of the reef.












Here are some of our fellow passengers going for a closer look.


This was the semi submersible 



Wow, look at the clear coral (ok, it was the picture on the wall to tell us what each fish and coral was.


A lot of different looking coral





View of the inside of the ship and the viewing windows.


A couple people saw glimpse of turtles but the one on the board inside the ship was the closest we got.


Not a lot of big fish. And they were fast so it was hard to get a good pic



These clams were actually 1-2 feet wide



We actually went out in the semi-submersible twice.


Then one more stop in the viewing room on the pontoon wharf before heading back out to the  heavy seas.







Even got a closeup of a couple of the divers


While the seas were still heavy, the ride wasn't as bad.  They did have to deploy the barf bags again but not as many. But we both made it without needing them. Toni listened to music and Rob somehow was trying to do Suduko and Word Search as we bobbed up and down, side to side. But kept our minds occupied.


Since we did not eat a lot of the lunch they had out at the Reef, we needed a snack when we got back. Just a quick call or a few clicks on the app and snacks on the balcony as we sailed away.



Dinner after getting cleaned up.  Ash Wednesday fish (Rob said Lent is on east coast time since he forgot what day it was and had a ham sandwich for lunch. He said it was still Tuesday at home then. Maybe when we are near Rome he can get an official call on that!!)


What a day and no time to rest because we will be in Airlie Beach in the morning.





 

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