Barrier Reef

From Cairns to Port Douglas by bus. Port Douglas is a nice small town that expands it’s population during peak tourist season. We were taking a trip with Quicksilver out to the Reef on the next day, so we took a walk to find the location of the marina. Here we were greeted with a sign that trips might be postponed due to inclement weather. Thankfully, our trip wasn’t. Over the reef was a large structure anchored in place featuring a restaurant, an underwater observatory, places to scuba dive from and a dock with a glass-bottomed boat. When you get into this you descend onto the V-shaped glass bottom and sit down. You then look out through the angled glass at the undersea world beyond. The whole trip took about an hour. Not sure if it was the glass of the boat, or the fact that the sky was overcast and dull but the vivid colours I had expected to see were not present. This was a bit disappointing, but to see up close such a wonder of nature was an experience worth having. After this trip, we ate, visited the underwater observatory – some great views of snorkelers, scuba divers and hundreds of curious fish, then we headed back to Port Douglas for the next leg of our Australian trip.