One of the beauties of living up on the Atherton Tablelands is the proximity to the Great Barrier Reef. A trip to Cairns, jump on a boat and you're on the outer reef in less than an hour.
Dad decided he wanted to do a reef trip. I was up for that - I love the ocean, I love sun and the Reef is amazing. We were thinking a day trip although I was keen to stay overnight.
We settled on an overnight stay at Green Island Resort. A better decision was never made!
Green Island, for those who are interested, is a 12ha 6000 year old coral cay located in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, just 27km offshore from Cairns. It is covered in Rainforest which makes it, I believe, one of only a few islands of its type.
Leading up to the trip, the weather had been terrible. It was coming into the wet season and that was proving ever so true on the coast. We weren't daunted though! It didn't matter if it was raining - we could still snorkel, as we'd be wet anyway and honestly, it was a few days away. We got lucky though, the morning we left the sun showed her face and kept smiling on us for the whole duration.
Embarking from Cairns at 8.30 on Monday December 6th, meant a very early start from Ravenshoe. That's ok, Dad drove - I got to doze.
The trip to Cairns took a bit longer than expected, there was a lot of traffic and roadworks, so we arrived at the terminal, just in time to board the boat.
Then we were on our way. It was about a 50 minute trip, I guess - maybe longer, I was enjoying it so didn't really notice the time. Slowly, but surely, we saw the mainland recede into the distance.
The Australian mainland becomes a hazy memory
I thoroughly enjoyed the trip over. I don't really get sea sick and we got to sit out on the deck. I eagerly awaited the first view of Green Island - and I was rewarded!
First view of Green Island from the boat
Clear water and clear reef line
The biggest question we had to answer was ... WHAT TO DO FIRST! Snorkelling or swimming - both things involved jumping in the water and I was champing at the bit. It took a lot of self control not to just jump of the jetty where we had moored.
OK. Checking in was first needed, which we did. Then a trip to the dive shop to get our suits (it was stinger season after) and dive gear and then to our room to drop our bags and get changed.
Getting into the swim suit was a challenge but I managed and then we 'dropped' into the water only to be rewarded again with lovely warm water and fantastic views. Dad had bought the underwater camera so there's a few shots of the snorkel we did.
We spent a good hour or so just floating in the sea, looking at the fish and coral. Eventually though, the physical exercise meant it was time to get out of the water and do ... something else.
Changing out of our suits, we elected that something would be the swimming pool. I told you, I love the water! And after a couple of very relaxing hours in the pool, a wander about the island and down to fish feeding on the jetty.
I'm not generally a fan of fish feeding, I find it a little ... boring. This time though, it was amusing to watch the fish 'watch' where the food was being thrown and head in that direction before it hit the water. Trevally, we were told, could see something like 3 metres above the water! 3 metres! That's twice my height!
A little reef shark also put in an appearance and it was lovely to see.
Sunset drinks were next, followed by dinner. We'd elected to take one of the resort 'baskets' which we ate on the balcony in the room, overlooking the rainforest.
Panaroma shot of the view
The View
And more of the view
We deliberately booked our return catamaran for the latest we possible could on the second day and I'm so glad we did.
After an early morning swim - and I mean early....
Sun is not quite up
Sun is getting there!
What next, we asked ourselves, after getting breakfast in the restaurant (all included in the package we had chosen). Ah, yes, another snorkel. Of course, the suits were still a bit damp but that deter us, we struggled in and this time, elected to drop into the water off the jetty.
We were told, on good authority, there would be a lot of fish there. And yet again, we weren't disappointed. The snorkel was much longer this time and I had fun swimming with schools of fish, seeing clams and Dad even got to see a turtle! I didn't, but these happens - I was probably chasing some pipe fish at the time.
More photos were taken to remind us of the majesty of the ocean.
After the snorkel it was time for more relaxing in the resort pool, lunch and then unfortunately, time to head home.
I had such a wonderful trip to Green Island and I'm so glad that I did it.
Leaving Green Island behind