Great Barrier Reef

Hello everyone!

We are sorry that you haven't heard from us in a while. Lately, we either didn't have anything to report or didn't have sufficient WiFi. We have now traveled further down the coast, but before we talk about that, let's start with our trip to the Great Barrier Reef.

On Monday (3rd October), we were picked up in the morning to drive further north to Port Douglas, as the reef there is said to be better preserved than in Cairns. When we arrived there, it wasn't easy to get on the boat because the lady on the phone completely misunderstood my name, so we were listed as Ella (instead of Sarah) with a very fancy last name. Fortunately, we were able to clarify this misunderstanding and join the tour. Since the journey to the first dive spot took a while, we received our briefing for the dive (or dives for Sarah). The first sick bags were already put to use, but luckily not by us🎉. When we arrived at the first spot, we quickly put on our wetsuits and fins and got our oxygen tanks. Before we could jump into the cool water, we did some dry exercises on the boat. For example, how to switch the mouthpiece (there is a spare one if you lose the other). Then it was time to go into the water, where we practiced everything again and got used to breathing underwater through the mouthpiece. When everything was ready, the dive finally started. Our group consisted of four people and our guide Adam, so two of us held onto each other and Adam had a "twin package" on each hand. This way, no one could get lost and we didn't have to do much except breathe, which was good for the beginning. We saw quite a lot of fish and the diving experience was also pretty cool. After about half an hour, we returned to the boat, where we took off our oxygen tanks and went snorkeling for a while. Eventually, we went to the second spot where we only snorkeled, there weren't as many fish as in the first spot, but we still liked it better because the corals were more beautiful. Maren even saw a turtle! We also had lunch, which was actually quite delicious. Then we continued to the third and last spot, where I (Sarah) did another dive. So, I squeezed back into the wetsuit and off we went again, this time with just three people + Adam. We didn't have to do the exercises from the first dive again, so we could dive straight down. This time, everyone was even allowed to dive on their own, which was a completely different feeling than being pulled by our guide the whole time. Especially changing direction proved to be difficult at times, resulting in a few collisions between us, but nothing serious. I just tried to dive a bit away from the others and really enjoyed the dive. In the meantime, Maren was snorkeling and after the dive, I joined her. Then we drove back and after a little nap, we were back at the harbor and took the bus back to Cairns.

The tour was definitely worth it, especially because of the diving, but we were a bit disappointed with the reef. We did see a lot of fish, but many of the corals are dead or quite pale, which is very sad.

Unfortunately, the photos of the reef are just screenshots from videos and therefore not of great quality, but I don't feel like making it more time-consuming at the moment. A few pictures were taken at a waterfall in Cairns that we visited with a local.

See you soon, Maren and Sarah!