Fitzroy Island

Today I took the ferry over to Fitzroy Island, about 50 mins from Cairns. It's a much less commercialized island than the more popular Green Island and so the reefs are a lot less damaged and the island is quieter. There were only about 30 people on our boat.
It looked good to start with but then the clouds closed in and about 15 mins from the Island, the rain started, at which point I headed downstairs. The crew came around every 10 mins with sick bags and a lot of people used them! The pilot said it was certainly one of the more interesting crossing he had done. I personally loved it, though I could have done without the rain.

Cairns as we started the boat ride

Fitzroy Island as we approached

I had booked to go sea kayaking but when I got there, the guide said the route we normally takes is a bit rough and if we went out, we would die. (Got to love Aussie bluntness and humor!) So he was going to give it a miss. Which was a shame. But we could use some of the little kayaks in the bay and have access to anything else we wanted and get a refund. There was another girl, Kiely, also traveling on her own and we started chatting and decided we wanted to do the same things so did them together.

We really wanted to snorkel as Fitzroy is part of the barrier reef. So we walked to the north part of the beach where apparently we could see turtles. (It didn't seem worth kayaking for that little distance.) But the weather had stirred up that much sand, we didn't really see anything.

Some of the only reef we saw on the first snorkel

 We were really disappointed. Though when we got out, the sun was shining. The island is beautiful.

Fitzroy Island main beach

We both wanted to give it another go so headed towards the jetty where the guide said there was no coral but lots of fish. I haven idea what he was talking about.

Clam

Blue and red soft coral

Big fish

More fish

Stripey fish

Giant brain coral

Snorkeling selfie

Pretty

 The coral was amazing. I can't want to go diving and hope the sea is smoother and less cloudy! I still want to see Nemo and swim with one of the turtles.
We ended up getting out as we were being stung! At first I was worried it was jellyfish. But apparently it is just sea lice. The mosquitoes of the sea. When I got out, I had lots of red welts and bites over my arms and shoulders. No one mentioned that part! Thankfully they disappeared after not too long and don't have the same long term effects of mosquitoes (though I have some of those bites too!).
After a quick lunch, we headed to the turtles refuge tour. They rehabilitate sick turtles (which are often sick due to eating rubbish). They have mostly green turtles (which make up 80% of the turtles on the barrier reef) and hawksbill turtles.

Berty, the green turtle 

Betty, of a green turtle.

Quick spinach snack

We had also booked a trip on the glass bottom boat. We didn't see much, though we did glimpse a turtle and saw a few corals, but the tour guide was very funny and knew a lot about the corals. And the views of the island were pretty.

On the glass bottom boat

Fitzroy Island

On the beach

After the boat, we figured we had done enough (and there wasn't enough time to go over to the lighthouse and still catch the boat back), so we ended up in the bar chatting until time to catch the ferry. On the way back, we sat inside next to a couple with a little 11 month old little boy called Cody, who was very friendly and sat on my lap playing for most of the trip back. He was gorgeous, not at all shy and going to be a terror when he can walk on his own! He's already a climber!

On the evening I treated myself to one of the few meals out I am going to have here (mostly due to money but also eating out on your own isn't a lot of fun). I had been looking at this restaurant, Ochre, since before I started traveling. And it lived up to the hype. The meal was amazing. I only had the starter of crocodile, prawns and vietnamese pickles which was really tasty so I could have a desert. And I was so glad I did. The lemon myrtle pannacotta was to die for.

Delicious

It is currently throwing it down (I got back just in time). I am hoping it clears up for the weekend but it doesn't look like it. :-(