Cairns Australia and the Great Barrier Reef
After arriving in Australia we spent the first few days touring the Waterfall Circuit and visiting one of the local Zoo's.
The waterfalls we saw weren't that impressive compared to the ones we had seen in Hawaii, but it was still a very nice drive around some beautiful countryside.
Zoo's in Australia are much different from the ones here in the state. In most cases you can get extremely close to the animals, and in some cases even feed and pet the animals. Even some very dangerous animals, like the crocodiles where still close enough that someone as tall as me, could have reached over the barrier and touched them.
After adjusting to the time change it was finally time to start our Live Aboard with Mike Ball Dive Expeditions for a 3 day Fly/Dive trip to the outer ribbon reefs and the World Famous Cod Hole.
We met at the Cairns Colonial Reef Club, where we met the other members of our cruise, and did some last minute paperwork. At that time we were bused to the local airport, where we boarded small 10 seater airplanes for a low level (<1000 ft.) flight over the great barrier reef to Lizard Island.
After our arrival at Lizard Island we were taken by small inflatable hull dingies out to the Super Sport vessel, and met the crew for the first time.
By noon we were at our first dive site, and we did 3 dives the first day.
The reefs were very amazing! Lots of life, both big and small at every site. The coral isn't as colorful as Cozumel, but to me it was more impressive, and the soft corals were very nice. Also, the marine life was the real attraction. Large schools of fish were very common sites.
Sometime on the second dive my camera flooded, which was a total bummer, as I surfaced after only 30 minutes into the Cod Hole dive, which was supposed to be the major site of the trip.
The next day we had the opportunity for 5 dives, and from this point on, I shot the C5050 with the D180 Strobe, which was very difficult to adjust to, but thankfully I'm happy with the results.
On the 3rd day we did 4 dives.
The diving was absolutely amazing! I'm going to have a hard time going back to Cozumel after diving the Pacific.
The Mike Ball crew was excellent as well. The Super Sport Boat was certainly nothing special. But the crew was awesome! The food was excellent, and the Trip Director, Kerrin, gave the most entertaining and informative briefings I've ever heard.
All in all, it was the best trip ever, and I'm going to have to find a way back there some time soon.
You can view the entire gallery here.
