Kayaking with dolphins

On the Saturday, I booked diving and sea kayaking in Palm Mar, just south of Playa de Las Americas. I was the only one so for the morning dive I had the 2 instructors all to myself. We went a little deeper (14m) than you are supposed to go as a beginner (12m) but that was fine with me. I couldn't take any photos and honestly it was to murky to see much. But I did see some sting rays and an octopus. :) However I think having dived the Barrier Reef, I may be spoilt for life. 

Getting out was a mission. We dived from the beach which is stones and has a sharp drop off. Getting out with tanks and weight belt, plus my legendary grace and balance ... never going to be described as elegant or particular effective. Some people on the beach were watching and laughing. I dare them to do any better! 

Palm Mar beach

After lunch, Paolo took me sea kayaking. A family had booked the use of some kayaks but went off on there own. We headed out to look for dolphins but they didn't want to come and play that day.

Around the fishery again.

Good view.

It was insanely hot on Saturday. I ended up dumping my cap in the water a few times to cool off. Thankfully I had loaded on the sunscreen so I didn't get kayakers leg. (I saw an example of this while in Virgina. Not a style I want to try. Though I appreciate Kenny showing this style off so I could avoid it.)

Calm waters

We wondered/paddled around, chasing glimpses of dolphins but they were much too quick for us. (Though it is amazing how much quicker you can paddled when you are trying to get somewhere. Or not show your partner exactly how useless you are at this.) There were only 2 lone dolphins and they were babies, which apparently is unusual as they are usually in pods. I think these were 2 teenagers off on a joy ride and didn't want to get caught out on their own. The adults are more curious than the babies so we only caught glimpses as the dolphins fished around the nets (spoiling their dinner I bet).

Checking out the cliffs.

Dolphin!

It was around this time my waterproof camera decided it did not like the heat. So the photos became increasingly washed out. (I think it is time to save up for a new one.)
We checked out a sea cave which on my own, I would have avoided. Thankfully Paolo knew what was safe.

Sea cave

If it had of been down to just me, I would either still be out there or would have never managed to get out in the first place. I would like to think I managed to pull my weight in the paddling department, but I can't delude myself to that extent.
We were out for about 2-3 hrs and that is a lot more upper body than I have done in a while. It was a lot of fun, but I still ache now, 3 days later. 

Great Barrier Reef!

Saturday was the highlight of my trip. I went diving on the Great Barrier Reef! This is something I have wanted to do since I was little. I spent ages researching which company etc to go with and was glad I did. Some take you out to a platform to dive from and I didn't really like that idea. I went with Quicksilver, who take you out on SilverSonic, a 45m catamaran. And it was quite a small group.

There were only about 50 on the boat (some have a few hundred which I didn't want). There is another reason but I'll get to that in a bit. The trip took about 1.5 hrs and they take you out to the Agincourt reefs which are on the outer reef. They are the only company allowed to dive here so there weren't hundreds of other boats in the area either. I booked to do one dive and 2 snorkels but after the first dive they said there was room if someone wanted to do a second and I jumped at the chance. The first stop (and my first dive) was at the Three Sisters reef, on Agincourt 2. (There are 3 Agincourt sections of the reef.) After the intro session, we got ready and then waited.

A long time. I was desperate to get in and started. But there are only 4 people to each instructor and
they have to take people down in pairs and make sure they were ok with the tests, such as changing regulator, clearly your masks, and equalizing. And some in the group before me had a lot of trouble. (He ended up getting out and getting a refund.) Then it was my turn. You waddle to the back of the boat. (there really is no elegant way of walking in flippers - you either pick you feet up and look like a frog or shuffle and look like a penguin. I went the penguin route.) And then just jump of the back of the boat. Because they weren't sure how good everyone would be, they didn't allow me to take my underwater camera on the first dive.

But the dive was awesome. I swam with 2 reef sharks! And it was so beautiful.

After the dive we went to Phil's reef (named after a guy called Phil!), also in Agincourt 2, and they served lunch. I had been given some great advice the day before by a couple in the rainforest. Get a plate of food, put it somewhere safe, and go snorkeling. Eat when the boat is moving. And because no one else did this, I had the reef to myself.

Pretty colored coral

More coral                                    

Snorkling selfie

Parrot fish and friend

Big fish

Coral valley

Lots of big fish

 It was quite a shallow reef which was great for snorkeling. And there were so many fish. It was even better than I though it would be.

Shallow seas

I decided to keep my stinger suit on while snorkling. Partly just in case (I did not enjoy the sea lice

stings) and it also kept me warmer.

One of the other reasons I chose this company was they have a license that allows them to stop

and swim with Minky whales if they spot them. It is very early in the season so I didn't expect to see any. But as I got back form snorkeling, I heard there was one out the front of the boat. So as soon as I was given the ok (there can only be 16 people in the water at one time) I jump out the back and raced around to the front. You have to hold onto a rope to make sure everyone stays in one place and does't disturb the whale.

I saw a blur in the distance. And then it swam under us and I saw another blur. And then it saw beside us. And it was no blur this time.

He just slowly swam passed. About 8m long, he was a good deal bigger than the estimate of 5-6m I heard on the boat. He was beautiful! And then he was gone. I had pointed the camera and pressed the  button a few times but there was no way I was going to take my eyes off him long enough to check. But thankfully I did get some photos.

After the whale I went back on board to eat even though I could have stayed in the water for another

15mins. I needed some time to relax. :-)

The second dive at our final stop was at Turtle bay, which is Agincourt 3, section D.

Unfortunately I didn't see any turtles. (But I figure with the whale I really can't complain!) As we were getting ready, some mentioned there was a tiger shark but he left before we go in the water. :-(

As we had all been through the intro before (plus 2 were certified), we just want start down. And our instructor, Justin who was awesome, said we would just stay down as long as the air lasted out! And he showed us all sort of beautiful things. And brought some fish food to attract more fish!

Giant fish!

Nemos!!!

Giant clam

Coral and hiding fis 

More fish 

Lion fish

Proof I was there!

Eating the rope

grumpy

Coral from below

I was so conscious of not touching or bumpy into any coral. However our instructor showed us a piece of soft coral we could touch. It was really soft and squishy!

I ended up hiring a waterproof camera for the day and I was very glad I did. We ended up going down about 10-12m which is deeper than I think my little waterproof will cope with. Plus this one had a bigger screen so I could even do some artsy shots.

surface

into the deep

bubbles.

Not so artsy. Scuba selfie

Solo diver

Group ascending

We stayed down about 40 mins. And I didn't want to leave. As we got back to shore, the weather started to cloud over again. We were so lucky with the weather. Apparently it was the best day for a long time and likely for a while as the weather is supposed to deteriorate for the following week.
I also knew diving the barrier reef would be cool but I honestly never expected it to be that amazing. It was better than my wildest dreams!

Happy diver!

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. :-(