Other trip days
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Cairns Boat Ride to Green Island
Wake up call at 6:30 AM after a short night of rest. At breakfast—Jean gave us Jann’s birthday card to sign (even though Jann was sitting at the next table). Jann was promoting the Queensland passionfruit which was more tart that the ones in Sydney and yellowish-green on the outside instead of purple. Some of the people that did not go to Kuranda told us about the hotel pool that actually had a sand beach in it. Boarded the coach with new driver (Peter II) for a short drive to the pier. Jann passed out the tickets for the half day and full day options on Green Island (for the ferry boat) and we also got ticket for scuby-doo. Boarded a smaller boat to get out to Green Island because the bigger boat was already scheduled. Sat the very back of the boat, next to the red ensign. Rain or splash got the seat wet but we had swimming charles on underneath. The ride was choppy but I did not take any ginger pills (this is a seasick preventative that you need to take 30 minutes prior). During the 30 minute ride to Green Island, divemaster gave out the standard questionnaire. During the trip we also should have gotten the snorkel gear that they passed out but we messed up. Originally said that we could not dive due to Kwut’s asthma, but they changed their mind. So we were scheduled for a checkout and refresher dive with the guy and an intro dive with the girl at 2:15 PM.
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Cairns Crocodile Park
When we got to Green Island, I went shopping for an hour and the Kwut went to the Crocodile Park.Then sat with Jann and had a light lunch consisting of a drink and some mango IK.
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Cairns - The Submerser and Scuba Diving
At 12 noon we got on the “submerser” where they took you out to the reef and you could view and film the fish and other things. Saw some groupers, remoras, corals and other colorful reef fish. Felt queasy when the submerser got into rough water during the fish feeding. Got back from the submerser at 12:30 PM.and filmed some birds while Jann guarded our shoulder bags. Arrived at the Eye-Spy boat at the dock to go scooby-doo (Great Australian Cruises). Got on a smaller dive boat with a group of on-ons that were doing the Introductory Scuba. We put on our gear including some loaner dive skins and we stopped at the reef. Made a giant stride entry off the starboard side of the boat and swam to the back of the boat for a refresher and check out. Kwut had the first session with the divemaster, then I went. I almost forgot to switch from snorkel to regulator when descending until the divemaster reminded me (really rusty). The checkout consisted out mask clearing and regulator clearing. Then we followed the divemaster for a 5-8 meter dive (limited because we were flying the next day). The dive gauges were all in metric units which was disconcerting at first.We saw lots of coral including a tiny boxfish among the coral. A colorful flatworm was flopping though the water. We also saw some stingrays in the sand. The divemaster found a sea cucumber and let us touch it. The divemaster went up for a peek and led us back to the boat because the introductory group was already done and back on board. Snorkeled back to the boat and got up the steps. Removed our gear and returned the dive skin that was provided. Made trip back to the Eye-Spy almost running into some snorklers that were far away from the shore (Open Water?). Back on the pier, Jann was tired of minding the bags and brought them with her. We walked back to the food court area and hurriedly showered and changed back to dry clothes. Rushed back to the pier to for 4 PM to get a hopefully better seat on the ferry. At 4:30 PM the boat with the captain (Andy) departed for Cairns.
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Cairns - Dinner and Shopping
Passed a large sailing yacht and a military landing craft on the trip back. Arrive back at the dock seeing the Sea Quest boat. Walked a long way to the coach (not where it was supposed to be) and another driver (Vito). Jann was pushing Barnacle Bill’s for dinner, but the driver thought it was a tourist trap. Got back to the hotel tired, rested for an hour before setting out again. We went west from the hotel to avoid Barnacle Bill’s. Saw some bats that were flocking at dusk, also meeting a nice young Welsh couple. Walked along the Esplanade (the main restaurant and shopping street near the waterfront). Stopped at one souvenir shop and got a Cairns cap and some Great Barrier Reef playing cards. Walked almost as far as the Hilton, noting dinner prospects along the way and seeing Rick (eating at Kani’s). We walked back and ended up going to Kani’s (where Rick was still waiting for the check-a bad sign). Menu had weird stuff like Barramundi and Coral Trout, Mud Crabs, and Red Claw. I got the Seafood Salad with reef fish (which was just Barramundi) and red claw (which turned out to be Aussie crawfish). Service was really bad, took forever to get the food and then the check. On the way back we saw Mike in a shopping arcade (like a flea market) which closed at 11 PM, but unfortunately did not reopen until 4 PM (since we had some time in the morning). I wanted to get some aboriginal souvenirs but did not want to wait to get sales clerk. We tried to get back to the hotel but accidentally started walking 1 block too far inland. Actually found an interesting area before pulling out the map and get the bearing straight. Found an internet cafe and sent e-mail back to M and Bear (20 min for $1). Finally made it back to the Oasis, before 11 PM. Kwut did the wash and we stayed up till 1 AM, because we had to dry clothing from Green Island.
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