I hate it when people ask me, “What was the highlight of our trip?” For me, it’s the totality of the trip, not one incident or even day that makes a trip memorable. But there’s no denying that snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef would be pretty high on my bucket list if I had one. And unlike Bali, which for me didn’t live up to its billing, the GBR came through with flying colors. 

We mustered to go ashore at 9:15, bussed to the GBR charter dock and all 250 of us were on board before 10 for the hour-and-a-half ride to a floating pontoon anchored over the tour company’s assigned section of the reef. As our bus driver predicted, winds were light and the seas calm with only a slight swell. 

The pontoon is a huge platform supporting both scuba diving and snorkeling. It can hold in excess of 300 guests. They also operate a “semisubmersible” a tin-can looking craft that seats 26 in its oversized keel beneath the water. We took the 30-minute cruise and saw similar fish and coral as we did snorkeling. Lunch was served. It’s quite an operation, especially considering the 250 passengers today average at least 70 years of age. 

The big deal, of course, was the hour we spent snorkeling. We’d done snorkeling with Jeff and Carter in the BVIs last Spring and in Hawaii with Esme in Hawaii last Summer. So, we knew what to expect and, as I said, the GBR was the equal of the other two. See the pictures – mostly coral scenes – to get a sense of what it was like. 

Rather than take a bus back to our ship, we walked along Cairns’ very nice waterfront. It was a long walk since we had to pass the length of a P&O cruise ship, a real boat, complete with a water slide and an uncountable number of decks. Different market segment, for sure. Not many Orion passengers would make it down a waterslide, although a surprising number of, shall we say, questionable oldsters did just fine snorkeling. I shouldn’t be so quick to judge the old people with whom we are traveling.

Tomorrow: Townsville and a look at the other Queensland tourist attraction, the rain forest. No more snorkeling until day after tomorrow.

By the way, for those keeping score at home, we’ve now been on the road for 15 days, with 15 more to go. Half way!

Judy has been shooting video on her iPhone and has a movie covering our time in Indonesia. Here’s the link: https://judyrick.zenfolio.com/p618424729/ec30e6d5c

Check it out. It’s sure to relieve the boredom you’re suffering from all my still shots. She’s putting together a movie of the video I shot underwater today. We’ll put that up soon.