Cairns

The shipped arrived at 7 am today which means we got on land by 8am and headed straight for the marina.  Our goal today was to snorkel in the great barrier reef.  Went into a boat booking office and used the last of our Australian dollars to take a catamaran to Green Island.  Since we had our own snorkel gear we opted for the included glass bottom boat tour.  We arrived at Green Island by ten and, since our tour was for 11:45 we went for a walk around the island on an interpretive boardwalk.  It took about forty minutes to walk almost completely around the island.  
The glass bottom boat tour was great, The Cel saw a sea turtle come up for air and we saw giant clams, lots of huge fish and very colourful smaller fish.  Near the end of the tour they do fish feedings which draw a lot of fish to the boat.  When we told the skipper we were snorkeling he recommended swimming to the left of the sea grasses and said that we might see some turtles.  So off to the beach  to commence snorkeling, Marcel with excitement, me with trepidation .  The water was so warm that even when you got to that one critical spot it was no issue.  It was warmer than a bathtub. It was also so shallow that there was lots of time to get comfortable with snorkeling.  I wished I had spit more into my goggles at the beginning as it became fogged up as the swimming continued. The first bit was in sand and then through the sea grasses which was cool as there was lots of fish and small coral.  It was in the sea grasses that we came upon an agressive colourful fish.  It came charging at my mask twice and then bit Marcel on the toe.  Makes me want to eat fish for dinner.  It will be great tucker (while in Aussie land we have been watching some of the episodes of Bush Tucker Man that the Cel downloaded from the internet last fall.) Past the sea grass we came upon the larger coral.  It was fantastic; a variety of colors and shapes including stag horn coral (even blue in colour).  For a time we followed schools of hundreds of tiny neon tetras that flashed in the sun like tiny diamonds.  They led us to the bigger coral outcroppings.  Throughout our swim we would see little cave-like openings in the sandy sea floor or in the coral and see all manner of fish dart into them as we approached.   Saw lots of sea cucumbers but the highlights were seeing the blue clams which were phosphorescent royal blue with white rims.  They would suddenly close as we would draw near them.  Then if you floated above them you could watch them gently open and close as they continued their careful filtration of the sea.  Perhaps the most startling and interesting highlight was  the sea turtle that Marcel found.  As we got closer it just burrowed deeper behind the coral .  Fantastic.  Its shell was at least two feet in size.  By this time Cia was getting really tired so we swam back to the beach.  The Cel was swimming like a fish and I was struggling like a beluga so I beached myself on land and The Cel headed out again. As soon as he did he got stung by something but continued to the coral  but was unable to find the sea turtle again but he still had a great time exploring the coral some more.  
Then we went to the resort on the island to shower and change and then we returned to the boat for the 15 mile trip back to the mainland.  We had $9.80 in coin left and went to the bar on board to see  if we could get one beer and some chips.  The bartender counted out our money and said we could have two beers so we asked for recommends and ended up with Toohey's Extra Dry, which the Cel highly recommends! We then told him to keep the .80 cents as we did not want to take it home and he said he could not take tips so gave us  two biscuits.  A great lunch.  
The average temperature in Cairns this time of year is 38.9 degrees and when the sun was out it was definitely hot.  The Cel swam in a t shirt to prevent burning his  back while snorkeling.  Cia didn't put enough sun screen on the back of her legs so the next day she is sitting on pillows until the burn settles down.  That part of her body has not seen sun for years.

Cruise tip: there is no need to pre-book snorkeling trips to the great barrier reef because lots of tour operators go out to the various islands every day; but be there by 8:30 in the morning.  We took Big Cat Adventures who were very good.  Look at options as the price for a full day is often the same as a half day.  It is worth bringing your own snorkel gear and you do not really need the flippers.