Great Barrier Reef

Lori and I just spent 3 days diving and snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef and we had a fantastic time. We left early Sunday morning on a live aboard boat with 32 passengers and 6 crew for a 3 hour ride out to the reef. Most of the cabins have bunk beds, but we managed to snag one of the few cabins with a double bed. It wasn't the 5-star accommodation that Lori has grown accustomed to, but it was nice. Most of the other passengers were young adults who are backpacking around the world. Our time on board was spent diving, eating and sleeping.

It's been awhile since we've gone diving so I took a 2-day refresher course last week. Lori didn't have time to fit the refresher in, so she just snorkeled. The reef is truly spectacular. The only downside of our trip was the visibility under water wasn't great. Normally the visibility is really good, but we are in a period when the algae is blooming so there is a lot of algae in the water. Still, it was an amazing trip.

I guess I should give you some background on the reef itself. It's actually made up of 3,800 individual reefs and islands. It stretches from the southern coast of Papua New Guinea down the coast of Queensland for about 2,300kms. We had 11 dives planned over the 3 days, but I only managed to do 8. I went snorkeling with Lori once and the other times my legs were just too tired. Everything gets harder as you get older.

I bought a small underwater camera for the trip. I managed to get a few good shots, but I definitely need to improve my underwater photography skills. Here are some of the different corals we saw, including fan and staghorn coral among others. Just a side note, the deeper you go, the less colour you see. You lose red first, followed by orange, then yellow and so on.

Of course, we saw lots of sea life as well. In addition to thousands of fish we saw turtles, giant clams and stingrays.

I found Nemo, in case you were wondering.

And yes we saw sharks and barracudas, but they do not bother with people at all. Most of the sharks we saw were Grey Reef Sharks and they were about 5 feet long. I did a night dive while I was out and that's when most of the sharks showed up. The lights under the boat attract the smaller fish and the sharks come to feed on them. For those of us in the water, it was hard to see the sharks, but Lori stayed on the boat and she could see them swimming below us.

I shot some video as well. I apologize for the poor quality, it's a combination of poor visibility and poor skills on my part. I stitched a few together into a little movie.

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McGinty's

Lori stayed in Port Moresby this weekend so I'm on my own. We've had a lot of rain lately (I got soaked twice this week) so I was going a bit stir crazy. When the weather cleared on Saturday afternoon, I decided to get out and have some fun. A few days ago, I spotted an Irish Bar a few blocks away. Now, between being in the Navy, going on holidays and our latest adventure, I have seen a lot of the world and I can say with confidence that there are 2 things you can find anywhere in the world - the first is a Chinese restaurant and the other is an Irish Pub. This doesn't mean that they are always good, but they are everywhere. This place looked like the real deal so I checked it out and I was very happy I did. The criteria I use to judge a pub is: a) can they pour a proper pint and b) is there live music. McGinty's is a yes on both fronts.

They have a folk showcase on Saturday afternoons. Everybody shows up with guitars, mandolins, accordions and flutes. They just sit around the table and play. It's a little like a Newfoundland kitchen party and when they played Sonny's Dream, it really felt like I was back in St. John's. Of course, that changed when I walked outside and there wasn't any fog.

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Tropical North Queensland

One of the things we noticed when we first came to Cairns, was how similar the terrain and climate is to Port Moresby. It makes sense when you consider how close they are to one another. Southern Australia has 4 distinct seasons, but this area only has a wet and dry season, just like Papua New Guinea and just like PNG the El Nino effect has had an impact on the weather this year. Talking to the locals, we've discovered that at this time of year, we should be seeing a lot more rain than we are. We did get a taste of the wet season this past weekend though. Lori came up Thursday evening and we had plans to go up the coast to Port Douglas, but we ended up spending most of our time indoors, catching up on our Netflix watching, because of the rain.

It was a nice change though. After months and months of the exact same weather every day, we welcomed the rain. Plus it gave us the perfect excuse to lounge around and watch TV for a couple of days.

Another indication that we are living in a tropical climate is the wildlife we see. Every evening around sunset, I can sit on the balcony and watch the parrots come home to roost for the night in the nearby palm trees.

There are a few different types (I have no idea what their names are) but the most popular ones are green and red. There are so many, that the noise can be deafening. Just as they are settling in for the night, the bats are waking up and taking to the sky. To me, these bats are enormous and they may even be known as flying foxes, I'm not sure. It's hard to get a picture of them flying at night, but I was out for a walk one day and I saw these guys sleeping. Kinda creepy, but very cool at the same time.

There are times when I'll be in a restaurant or a grocery store and it feels like I'm back home in Canada, but then I walk outside and feel the tropical heat and see parrots and giant bats flying around and it's obvious that I'm not.

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