Flight to Cairns

Our flight out to Cairns (pronounced “cans” with the soft Australian ‘r’ fading away almost completely) the day following our visit to the Sydney Opera House was pleasant and smooth.  The Qantas domestic flight was on a new 767, and food was good.  We arrived at the hotel for a short and sweet evening and sleep.  The hotel let us leave our big bags with them for our dive trip, and provided us towels, which we have to provide ourselves on the boat.  We were picked up bright and EARLY, at 6:10am.  Fortunately for this night owl, that equated to 2:10pm Dallas time, just perfect.  We woke up even without the alarm clock, well in time to be ready.

The transfer onto the dive boat was seamless and fast.   We were pleased to realize there were less than 20 divers on the trip, just over half the total that the boat can accommodate.  So we really had a lot more space than is typical, and could stretch out and relax.  We enjoyed the light snacks provided immediately as we boarded – fresh fruit and some other goodies.  Before we even knew it, we were heading out to sea.  We were both quite nervous and anxious, and we didn’t do much talking at first.  But soon we were getting to know our fellow adventurers, and spent the three hour voyage to the outer reef talking and enjoying sun and sea.  The journey did get a little choppy, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  David nearly got seasick along with several others, but held it together, and in the end, didn’t have a problem or need to take any medicine.  We talked to our new friend Christine a lot of the way out.  She was adventuring all by herself, since her husband is not very fond of boats and chose to stay back at their resort, so I was impressed at her bravery.

An exquisite moon above lush tropical palms welcomed us to Cairns

Strolling down the Esplanade in Cairns by the beach

Another shot of the Esplanade