April 4, 2018
Weather is better today and the ship was able to anchor and will be allowed to send tenders ashore today.
Tender
We were fortunate to secure two spaces on the Reef excursion and that will be our main activity. Since the ship will overnight here we can visit Cairns tomorrow.
A large catamaran picked us up at 11 am to take us to the platform for the 1 hour 45 min trip.
When we debarked we had to decide quickly which of the 3 activities we wanted to do first- submersible ride, glass bottom boat or the underwater observation room.
We chose to wait in line for the submersible as it had the smallest capacity. After 20 min wait we boarded and went for a 15 min. tour of the ocean where we saw different coral formations and a few fish. The coral was not very colorful and I don't know if it is because of the global warming or that is the natural color.
We got off and headed to the buffet lunch which was not very good considering the price of the excursion + the also ran out of some food choices.
After lunch we got in line to ride the glass bottom boat which was pretty cool.
We could see ok even though the windows had some algae on them.
Afterwards I went to the underwater observation room to see the fish swimming by.
Others on the tour went either swimming or snorkeling. There was even a tubular water slide.
Safety boat with lifeguards
An hour before the tour ended one of the crew had a demonstration of different sea life and spoke about ea. one. I was able to take only two photos - a sea cucumber and a starfish. The other sea animals blended in so well they were hard to photograph.
At 5:15 we boarded the catamaran for the ride back to the ship which took 1 hour 45 mins.
We went to the cabin to drop off our belongings and had dinner at the Oceanview cafe buffet.
This was one of the highlights of our Australian trip.
Weather is better today and the ship was able to anchor and will be allowed to send tenders ashore today.
We were fortunate to secure two spaces on the Reef excursion and that will be our main activity. Since the ship will overnight here we can visit Cairns tomorrow.
A large catamaran picked us up at 11 am to take us to the platform for the 1 hour 45 min trip.
When we debarked we had to decide quickly which of the 3 activities we wanted to do first- submersible ride, glass bottom boat or the underwater observation room.
We chose to wait in line for the submersible as it had the smallest capacity. After 20 min wait we boarded and went for a 15 min. tour of the ocean where we saw different coral formations and a few fish. The coral was not very colorful and I don't know if it is because of the global warming or that is the natural color.
We got off and headed to the buffet lunch which was not very good considering the price of the excursion + the also ran out of some food choices.
After lunch we got in line to ride the glass bottom boat which was pretty cool.
We could see ok even though the windows had some algae on them.
Afterwards I went to the underwater observation room to see the fish swimming by.
Others on the tour went either swimming or snorkeling. There was even a tubular water slide.
An hour before the tour ended one of the crew had a demonstration of different sea life and spoke about ea. one. I was able to take only two photos - a sea cucumber and a starfish. The other sea animals blended in so well they were hard to photograph.
At 5:15 we boarded the catamaran for the ride back to the ship which took 1 hour 45 mins.
We went to the cabin to drop off our belongings and had dinner at the Oceanview cafe buffet.
This was one of the highlights of our Australian trip.
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