Picture Perfect on the reef

Up early (although still not early enough to catch the sunrise) we joined the pre-peak hour traffic and headed to the organized chaos of the Cairns jetties. Here we joined the swarm of tourists heading out for their slice of the great barrier reef. The Reef Experience is exactly that. Well there maybe more to the 2400 km than the few square meters than we saw but we were pretty happy with what we did. 70 odd passengers from all over, 20 or so staff with the attitude and skills to give 'em their monies worth and we were off... We scored one of the classic calm days which most simply wish for.

Our vessel effortlessly sliced through the silky smooth seas whilst the sun made the fish and the coral below glow with a brilliance that made one require sunglasses underneath the diving masks (well ok then - maybe not that much - but it was pretty good). Our first stop at Saxton reef involved snorkeling.

A significant school of tourist fish slowly drifted out from the rear of the ship, intermingling with the natural inhabitants: multicoloured, multi-species and a variety of corals (hard and soft) and the first of many underwater videos.

Lots of free dives to capture the action up close were performed during the day, only the realise at the end of all the events that the camera was on the wrong setting. Well at least we have old fashioned memories to fall back on.... Next came the highlight. Included in the trip was a free scuba dive for beginners. And so we did. 15 minutes later we had encountered ear aches, anxiety, seriously large parrot fish and an amazing views of the reef down deep. Great fun.

After a fajitas lugnch we roared over to Norman reef (not one mention of the old joke) for more snorkeling. The weather was so perfect we moored on the "wild" side to perform more snorkelling, wasted videoing and sunburning of our backs. The free drinks on the way back to harbour went down extremely well, as did the boat cutting through the millpond still water. The day was nicely rounded off with a poignant serving of fish and chips.