Snorkel/Sail Cruise on the Great Barrier Reef

The first reservation that I made for this trip after purchasing my plane tickets was for a 3 day snorkel/sail cruise out to the Great Barrier Reef. I have always wanted to go there and have wanted to go on an overnight sail on a sailboat. This was a chance to kill 2 birds with one stone. After quite a bit of research online, I finally found a 65' sailboat that just took 10 passengers rather than a huge speed boat that took a couple of hundred. I checked to see if there was room for us and if Laurel liked the idea. There was room so I signed us up. I knew that it would be a perfect way to end our trip.

At the hotel in Cairns the concierge called to confirm that the sail was on (everything here is weather permitting) and found that we were good to go. We showed up at the dock at 7:45 am and were told to take off our shoes and pass them with our bags up to them. So, no shoes for three days. My kind of trip! Our crew was really nice. The captain, Sean, was from New Zealand and looked like he had been on boats his whole life. He was a very fit, tan, good looking guy in his late 50'. Our diver instructor was named Johnny and he was from Scotland, in his mid 20's and tan and cute. The cook, Jenny, was an Irish girl who had only been with the company for a month. They were a great crew.

The other passengers were a couple in there early 30's from France on their honeymoon and 2 Dutch couples. Not an Aussie in sight. I was so excited I could hardly stand it. The boat was beautiful. It was all wood, even the mast. There were 4 sails, though we never put the front sail up. We motored out of the harbor and into the ocean. The crew put the sails up but we kept the motor on because it would take 4 hours to get to the reef even with the motor on. One of the Dutch women got seasick right away. Apparently she had a migraine that morning. She should never had come aboard because she was stuck on the boat once we left. She was miserable all day and night so her husband arranged with Sean to have them dropped off at a pontoon out at the reef so they could go home on a day trip boat. Bummer for the 3 Dutch folks who got off, but it meant then that there were just 5 of us passengers and the the 3 crew. We had plenty of room that way which was really nice.

We arrived at part of the reef (it is made of 2900 individual reefs), had lunch and got ready for snorkeling. I had been warned by some people at home that we would have to wear these unattractive lycra bodysuits to prevent jellyfish stings but it turns out that the stingers are only near shore. Laurel and I both opted to wear them anyhow to prevent sunburn and provide more warmth and bouyancy. They were quite comfortable and made us more visible to the crew from the boat. I happily jumped off the boat into the water, eager to snorkel. Laurel has a phobia about jumping into water and has only once even jumped into a pool and that with my patient encouragement. She had no choice here if she wanted to snorkel. It took a little bit but she did it. And she did it 7 or 8 other times as well during our three days. I was quite proud of her!

The water was about 84 degrees and crystal clear. We swam over to the edge of the reef where the fish were swimming among the coral. It was so amazing and yet I think that each time we went in the experience just got better and the water more clear.I loved swimming in schools of fish and with turtles and above the amazing coral. We saw a couple of eels, a stingray,a barracuda, turtles and countless variety of fish. We usually would snorkel for about 45 minutes to an hour and I think I went in about 9 times during the trip. The crew all loved to go in as often as they were able. They took turns taking people out on scuba dives. We went to a lot of places that the bigger boats didn't go to which was really nice. There weren't any other people snorkeling in the same reef as us. Just us and the fishes...

The food was good and plentiful. We ate in the back of the boat under the shade tent at the table they set up in there when we weren't motoring far. It was a pretty quiet group. I think that having a lot of different first languages made conversation more difficult. We mostly spoke English but we attempted French to include them when we could. Conversation got easier when the Dutch left and the group was smaller and had started to get to know each other a bit. I liked hearing the crew's life stories. They were plenty talkative if you got them going.

It was really hot on the boat, especially in the sun. There was shade under the canopy in the back so we often retreated there. Toilets on boats are always interesting. There were 2 on this boat and both required climbing up a step to sit on them. It took some acrobatics but I got pretty good at it after awhile. I was afraid of getting dehydrated so I drank a lot of water and had to visit them quite a bit. We were allowed one 3 minute shower each day. I was glad to get the salt off of me and feel clean after my last snorkel of the day.

I dreaded sleeping down below because it was so stuffy due to the heat. I asked if I could sleep upstairs and the crew said I would be too cold on the deck and that they slept under the canopy. I said no problem but Johnny said that there was one place up there if I wanted to sleep near them. I didn't want to bother them so I went down below. But I couldn't stand it. I crept up the stairs with my pillow and slept in the open space that Johnny had said I could use. But I didn't bring a sleeping pad and the deck was hard and narrow and my knee hurt a lot. I didn't sleep much. One of the Dutch guys came up and slept outside on the deck. I don't think Sean slept much with us moving around so much.

The next morning we woke up early since we had gone to bed at 9 pm and the sun rose at 5 am. The French couple and Laurel and I went for a pre-breakfast, post instant coffee, snorkel. It was fabulous. The fish were very lively and plentiful. After an hour the crew called us back to the boat for breakfast of fresh fruit salad, cereal, yogurt, bread and toppings, including vegemite, nutella and peanut butter. I was disappointed that the coffee was instant, but I wasn't about to complain.The sun was already hot by 6:30 am and we slathered on the sunscreen all day long. We motored to another snorkel spot to drop off the Dutch. They climbed down on to the inflatable speed boat and the captain took them to the pontoon. We then headed to a better snorkel spot and went for a pre-lunch snorkel.

That night I decided that I was going to bring my sleeping pad up and sleep outside under the stars on the deck. I lay on my back looking up between the rigging at the bright moon and twinkling stars and thought that life doesn't get much better than this. I slept like a baby all night. I hadn't slept that well in months. Maybe I should always sleep on a rocking boat under the stars with a cool breeze blowing over me. I knew that I was going to be sad to have this part of my journey over. My only disappointment with the cruise was that we didn't have enough wind to sail. We had to motor from sight to sight which wasn't unpleasant, but I never got to experience true sailing on the boat. Maybe next time...