Waking up to a misty morning
Coming over the Tablelands and into CairnsDIARY/PHOTO JOURNAL - Page 14
Week 19 - July 23, 2018 - July 29, 2018
Time for Queensland! Yes, we worked our way eastward and dropped into Cairns after passing through some beautiful mountain country. What a contrast to find ourselves immersed in lush green valleys after all that red-dirt desert. Alas, it will be a long time before we truly can leave the red-dirt desert behind as it will take weeks to clean it out of Cinderoo.
Waking up to a misty morning
Coming over the Tablelands and into Cairns
Our time in Cairns was not so much for anything to do with the city, but rather, for its famous neighbor, the Great Barrier Reef. We reserved a four-day liveaboard dive trip that would give us the opportunity to explore the GBR and just enjoy being surrounded by this natural wonder. The Ocean Quest was large enough to have 50 people on board and yet, with three decks, a large lounge, a dining room and your own ensuite bedroom, we never felt crowded. If anything, we all had the same purpose and were all excited for everyone's discoveries.
Gerson readying to board the Sea Quest (shuttle boat to the Ocean Quest)
Leaving Cairns in our wake
The Ocean Quest awaits
Our ensuite bedroom and Gerson checking out the dive equipment
The liveaboard 'tour' is quite the arrangement as people can join the boat any day of the week, they just get shuttled out to the Ocean Quest and the people departing, leave with the Sea Quest. You can stay for one night or more, as many as you want to pay for. We chose the three-night, four-day dive experience and it allowed us to not feel like we had to dive every single time and gave us the opportunity to enjoy a bit of snorkeling when it was low-tide. As it was, we logged in a total of 28 dives and two snorkels between us and that included sunrise dives and night dives as well. What an experience!
Our first reef to explore was the Norman Reef and every place the Captain anchored the boat, it was like a different undersea world for us to explore.
Cuttlefish - a Cepholopada (like an Octopus, it changes color)
Cool fish, weird sea cucumber and one grumpy puffer
Gerson and his dive buddy (followed him for quite a bit)
Easy to see why this is called a Giant Clam
Although we were on the verge of
exhaustion after two dives the first afternoon, we could not resist enjoying the
beautiful sunset, a good dinner and a great night dive.
Lovely sky over the GBR
Two difficult critters to find at night - the Lionfish and a very robust eel
(and very fast)
The Great Barrier Reef is considered to be the largest living organism (looking past the fact that it is comprised of billions of living organisms) and includes the reefs, the habitats between the reefs, over 900 islands and coral cays, not to mention a substantial number of coastal beaches, headlands and estuaries. The 2900 reefs support over 1500 species of fish, over 400 species of coral and hundreds of species of molluscs (clams, snails octopuses), echinoderms (sea stars, sea urchins), sponges, worms, crustaceans and seaweed. Add a number of marine mammals (dolphins, whales, dugongs), dozens of species of birds and include six of the planet's seven species of sea turtles and you have one magnificent and vitally important 'organism' in our presence.
My view upon descending for the sunrise dive
Coolest: Pineapple Sea Cucumber
Great camouflage - Grouper
Obviously, not a morning-fish
Just a turtle passing by
Our morning dive smiles
View to Norman Reef - stunning above and below
A passing Spotted Ray
A rarely spotted Black and White Lionfish
Not sure what fish but nice spots and some colorful giant clams
We had the opportunity to do three dives in the
morning, one in the afternoon and then a night dive. And, if dancing with
all these beautiful creatures was not enough, we witnessed a large pod of Pilot
Whales round up their lunch while we were waiting on ours. Pilot Whales
are among the largest of the oceanic dolphins (exceeded only by the Killer
Whale) and have a distinctive snub nose. At first, we did not realize that
we were seeing Pilot Whales and thought they were some sort of dolphin until I
reviewed my photos, and there they were.
Quite the efficient Pilot Whales using teamwork to rustle up their lunch
Afternoon dive time
Time to explore more of the Norman Reef
Another Black and White Lionfish!
Inside of one of the ocean's most efficient filter, the Giant Clam
After a bit of a rest and another nice dinner, we opted
out of the night dive and instead, opted in to participate in a platform
immersion with a lot of big fish and a couple of sharks. If the ocean
cooperates, the captain lets the guests lay on the dive platform and 'snorkel'
under a few inches of water to watch the rather large fish and the sharks that
like to hang out in the light at the back of the boat. We hung on through
the tossing swells and had the visitors careening by within inches of our faces.
Quite the rush!
Just another beautiful sunset over the GBR
Our visitors - Gerson and me at far right (I had to sit up and take a
break as the tossing on the platform was a bruising experience)
And we woke up to do it all over again, this time on
the Saxon Reef.
Sunrise did not disappoint
White Tip Reef Shark
Early morning luminescence by the coral
Lovely and graceful fans and soft coral
Never get tired of Giant Clams or Green Turtles
We were in good form for our mid-morning dive
Love the spots
Unicorns do exist! Unicorn Fish is just weird looking
The only drawback to staying on a dive boat for many
days, is that you will meet people and they leave before you do. We met
quite a few wonderful people; however, we had much too short of time to enjoy
their company.
Saying goodbye to Jon and Gorka (from Spain) and new BDFs (best dive friends)
Saxon Reef
Low tide meant the reefs were accessible in a few feet of water and we could not resist taking the time to snorkel. There are many people that would look upon snorkeling as the lesser of the two activities; however, when it comes to a low tide on the reefs, snorkeling is the best way to observe the incredible life-system on top and around the reef.
Low tide for the afternoon dive
Just clowning around with Clown Fish
Beautiful bright blue fish everywhere
Gorgeous colored fish
Something's a bit off in the first picture, I wonder which fish does not belong
More Giant Clams - their 'filters' are amazing
Gerson taking a closer look
I love the Giant Clams
Then came time for our last night dive. We were still on the Saxon Reef and anchored in an underwater sandy bay area with a few 'bommies' (coral clusters that can look like pinnacles or large rock formations) and a bit of a long reef ridge with tentacles of reefs stretching outward along its length. We were told there may be a shark or two and definitely our lights would attract the Giant Trevilly, a rather nosey fish that will sit right on your flashlight to see what you are looking at just in case it's 'food'. What we did not anticipate is that we attracted much more than the Giant Trevilly pests in that we must have had 25-30, various sized, White Tipped Reef Sharks cruising around, under, over and in one case, through (my legs) us. Well, needless to say, our 40 minutes of air was used up in 15 minutes and we, at an accelerated swim, returned to the boat.
The Captain, upon hearing why we
depleted our air so fast said that he had not seen that many sharks in this area
before. He stated that there must have been a dead creature nearby and
that brought the sharks (and a lot of Giant Trevilly - but then, who's counting
when you are dodging sharks) and that it was probably a good thing we quickly
exited stage left.
The hardest part of taking these photos was to not be photo bombed by the Giant
Trevilly (pest fish) - but lots of sharks!
Our final day diving allowed us three morning dives, a mad rush for a hot shower and a lazy couple hour wait for the shuttle boat to take us back to Cairns. We were fortunate as a man from France, Max, needed a buddy and we two became three. The amazing thing is, is that Max is somewhat deaf and underwater, that really does not mean anything. Although he recently received his dive certification, he was a very good diver and I enjoyed sneaking in a bit more dive time with him.
Gerson entering the water with Max nearby
Gerson watching a turtle cruise past
Yet another shark and pretty Parrot Fish
Purple contrast to the coral with these polyps
Enjoying all the dive had to offer, including sitting on a tree wedged in
between bommies
Max having a sit as well
We made it back to Cairns and just flopped inside Cinderoo as we were pleasantly exhausted. As we were leaving the next morning to head up north to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree National Park, we had just enough time to hang our stuff to dry, eat and go to sleep. And, sleep we did, like the dead!
On the way to Cape Tribulation - nice lookouts and a dial showing the distances
to recognizable places
Cinderoo's first ferry ride across the Daintree River
Gorgeous views and tree-lined roads where the rainforest meets the ocean
One of the special things about the Daintree National
Park is that it is home to the endangered Cassowary bird (less than 1000 in
Queensland). This flightless bird is something out of Jurassic Park and
like so many of Australia's animals (platypuses, bilbies, kangaroos to name a
few) looks like it was pieced together from several other creatures. The
Cassowary can be as tall as Gerson, has three razor-sharp, dagger-styled clawed
toes, a bright blue head, red wattles, a helmet-like horn and shaggy black
feathers. But, this odd, endangered bird is vital to the rainforest
ecosystem as it can disperse the seeds of more than 70 species of trees that
depend on the bird 'fertilizing' their seeds by passing it through its digestive
system.
Signs everywhere but no Cassowary in sight, until....
We saw Cassowaries! A momma and baby - fascinating bird!
Cape Tribulation was truly stunning and we took
advantage of a day of downtime to relax.
Cape Tribulation at low tide
Gerson strolling the beach
Our short walk from Cinderoo to the beach was itself beautiful
Where's Louise?
Mangroves at the point of Cape Tribulation
Perfect companions
We opted to just spend the time at the beach until I saw a 'tour' wherein you visit the Cape Trib Farm and get to spend an hour tasting various tropical fruits grown on the 88-acre farm. The farm was literally grown by the parents of the present owner, Merran (and her husband, Jeremy) and every tree was planted by the family. Thirteen acres are devoted to tropical fruit trees from around the world and we had the absolute indulgent pleasure of tasting 12 of the seasonal blessings.
Although there was not a bad tidbit in the bunch, there were clear standouts as our favourites: Citrus Maximus/Pommelo (a cross between a mild grapefruit and a different citrus taste, and huge!), Yellow Mangosteen (a cross between a potent passionfruit and a tangerine and no matter how you tried to avoid it, the taste would pucker your entire face and we loved it), Cuban Fibreless (a mild, almost flowery taste that just hit the spot).
Go here to read more about this magical place: https://www.capetribfarm.com.au/
We walked a couple of kilometers to the farm and had fun with these 'parasol'
palms
Cassowaries love these bitter fruits
Our samples for the day and Merran preparing our tastes
Loving the Canistel and the Citrus Maximus/Pommelo
Green Star Apple
Rollinia
Just a lovely farm
We had to eat all the samples, just had to (Yellow Mangosteen, Citrus
Maximus, Black Sapote, Sapodilla, Soursop)
And to top off the day, it was 'eat whatever was in the freezer' night and that meant we had to dig into our Barramundi, scallops and prawns and make use of the campground's BBQ kitchen area. It was the night cap on a perfect day.
Nice view from Cinderoo
Gerson doing what he loves and I did too! Barramundi (delicious fish),
scallops and prawns
Cape Tribulation was an absolute success and we debated whether to stay another day but alas, we wanted to start heading south and lazily meander through eastern Queensland.