THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

THE GREAT BARRIER REEF AND MISSION BEACH:
One if the things on my bucket list (must do things before you kick the bucket) is to snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef.
As it was nearly time for us to turn around I decided to do this trip from Mission Beach instead of Cairns so early on Sunday morning we left Bramston Beach and headed south to Clump Point Jetty at Mission Beach. Brian dropped me at the wharf as he didn’t want to go.
What a fabulous day I had!! The boat went to beautiful Dunk Island first (which is very close to Mission Beach) to pick up some passengers. I met a nice couple from Melbourne and we had time to have coffee at the beachside cafe there before we took off again.
We then headed 20 kms out to sea to the outer reef. We had been told that on the last few trips they had seen whales on the way out so with great expectancy we kept our eyes peeled. Sure enough before long we say the spurt of water of whale breathing. It was a baby having a wonderful time frolicking around, splashing and leaping. The boat headed towards it so we could get a closer look. We wondered where Mum was and before long we saw this massive black back appear on the surface of the water. She obviously was keeping an eye on her little one as all mothers do. Soon she led him away and we continued out to sea.
Soon we saw some white sand in the middle of the ocean which is a sand island. We pulled up nearby and you could see turquoise blue water and the darker patches of the reef.  
They feed the fish from the back of the boat and soon there were lots of bright blue fish with yellow tails plus a large fish that looked like a groper (it was some sort of cod) and a large long silver fish -you can see I’m not up on fish types- swimming around the boat.
Donned in a wetsuit I was keen to jump in and see this underwater wonderland for myself.  The beauty and the colours are just amazing. I saw so many varieties of fish, large, small, tiny, colourful, striped, spotted, some in large groups and some feeding by themselves. Some just swim slowly and others dart around feeding of the coral. There were some giant clams and the flesh around the shell was a deep purple dotted with iridescent green spots. They have a large mouth at on the end which opens and closes. The coral is all sizes, shapes and colours and changes depending on the depth of the water. The blues, yellows, purples, greens and pinks show up during the day and apparently you see the reds and oranges at night.  Quite lot of the coral was damaged by Cyclone Larry and some of it died but there was a still lot that has grown back.  I also saw some blue star fish and lots of thick sea slugs on the seabed. There was one small shark lying on the bottom (thank goodness.)  Every moment you discover something new or see another variety of fish. It is fascinating and very beautiful.  We had three hours here and I was in the water most of the time all though I did take a trip to the sand island on the inflatable boat which they provided. It was strange to be standing on this little bit sand in the middle of the ocean. I also went in the glass bottom boat which was nothing compared to snorkelling
A delicious lunch was served but I asked them to keep me a plate as I was too busy enjoying myself.
Finally very wrinkled and waterlogged it was time to leave the reef. On the way back we spotted some more whales and once again the boat went over towards them. They are so graceful and when it was time for us to move on one “waved” to us.
Back to Dunk Island to drop of some passengers and then back to the jetty after a wonderful day and an amazing experience.
I can thoroughly recommend Quickcat Cruises at Mission Beach for a great day out with friendly staff who are just out to give you a good time and are very easy going.
 I asked Jenny and Gerry, my new found friends back to the van for “happy hour” so that was a great end to fabulous day. They were keen to see the caravan as they are thinking of buying one. They live at Doncaster and that is where Jenny and Doug are staying in the caravan park there in Melbourne. Small world!