Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef and covers approximately 350,000 square kilometres off the coast of Queensland. It was added as a World Heritage Site in 1981. There are countless operators for reef day trips, ranging from absurdly cheap (for Australian standards) to mid-range. We went with Passion of Paradise, one of the few local operators in the market. One of our key considerations was that we didn't want to visit pontoon in the ocean.

Although there were 70 day-trippers on the 25m catamaran, it definitely didn't feel crowded at all. We sat at the very front of the catamaran and the ride out to the reef was uncomfortable as I was sea sick. I spent most of the 2.5 hours with my eyes closed (as it was the only thing to stop me from being on the verge of puking) and just retreated to a happy place in my head. The anti-sickness pills weren't very effective for me!

We finally arrived at the reef - Flynn Reef - and it was absolutely stunning. The water was an amazing 27 degrees and we spent 40 minutes snorkelling at the first location. As I am not a confident swimmer, I had a flotation belt which eased a lot of my anxiety. We saw a turtle and a baby shark!! My boyfriend also saw two clownfish (aka Nemo) but sadly, I missed them.





Lunch was surprisingly tasty; selection of 5 salads and two hot dishes. But as I feared being seasick on the way back, I refrained from eating too much during lunch. The second location was at another section of Flynn Reef but it was a lot deeper! There were more fish at the second location, however as I was quite tired, we didn't manage to go further out to the shallow areas.









For the return leg of the boat ride, we sat at the very front of the catamaran in front of the skipper and it was a lot smoother. They also raised the sails which provided shade (much appreciated) and it was such a soothing journey back to Cairns.

I had a great experience out on the reef and had so much fun snorkelling. For anyone visiting the reef, I would highly recommend Passion of Paradise. I find it so hard these days to find a company with great customer service and the staff were so friendly and genuine.