Let's backtrack slightly to fill you in...
Our flight from the Whitsundays to Cairns was delayed a couple of hours so we ended up arriving around 1pm. The Hamilton Island Airport was truly the smallest airport I've ever been in... And I've been in some small airports! At one point, we were the only passengers in there. The airline, Qantas, did give us each an $8 voucher to use at the cafe because of the delay which was nice. If I received a voucher for every time I was on a delayed flight, I'd never pay for a meal again!
We were dropped off at our hostel, Travellers Oasis, by an airport shuttle that I arranged ahead of time. We quickly decided to leave our room and explore downtown Cairns. Our private room here was easily the hottest place we have visited on the entire trip ("air con" is $2 for every 3 hours).
We took a quick stroll to the Esplanade Boardwalk, checked out a small market and had a late lunch at Grill'd Healthy Burgers. We had seen this place a few times in other cities so we decided to give it a shot.
Much to our surprise, it didn't look grilled or healthy when it arrived but the sweet potato fries were to die for and the burgers were tasty too!
With full bellies, we visited the dive shop we would be traveling with the next day, grabbed some coffee from Gloria's and did some more shopping before we decided that we deserved a short break from our vacation. We grabbed a slurpee, some popcorn and bought tickets to see a movie!
Don't judge us. A 30 day vacation justifies at least one movie... Plus, they give a backpackers discount for international travelers! The movie (Daddy's Home) was just average but it did feel good to sit for a bit and kick our feet up, especially with an early morning ahead.
The Cairns Dive Centre (CDC) picked us up around 6:45 am and we were on the water by 8:30. We booked an overnight trip on their liveaboard boat, the Kangaroo Explorer. We had read mixed reviews on TripAdvisor but with our dates and the availability for the diving companies, it seemed like the best option and the most bang for our buck... And it was!
The Kangaroo Explorer never actually comes in from the reef so they transported us on a smaller boat, the Reef Kist. On our way there we were actually able to see a few dolphins and a couple of whales!! Whales and turtles were the two things missing from my "must see list" so I was pretty excited about this... Especially after the cancelled whale watches in New Zealand.
We made one stop at Fitzroy Island and then they dropped us off for the night aboard the liveaboard. The Kangaroo Explorer is nothing fancy but it did have 16 cabins, a saloon for eating, a sundeck and a "library".
After a short tour, lunch and a briefing we were able to go on our first introductory dive with a guide (they require this for everyone new on the boat). We got PADI certified in mucky, cold water in Houston so this experience with clear visibility was already amazing!
Each of our dives lasted about 30 minutes and we went on a total of 6 (3 on Sunday, 3 on Monday). The first dive was at a spot called 3 Sisters and the late afternoon and night dive were both at the 'Whale Bomme' at Miln Reef.
For the first two dives, the coral was beautiful (of course) and there were still tons of fish but no "predators" or new friends except for a sting ray taking a nap at the bottom!
Then came the night dive... What a crazy/eerie experience! It is unbelievable how much a reef can change throughout the night. BEFORE we even jumped in the water, we saw a shark at the back of the boat, skimming the top of the water. BARF.
We had a guide for the night dive ($15pp) and it was required for your first night dive but I would have opted for that anyways! Each person had a flashlight around one wrist and a glow stick in one pocket just incase (thankfully none of us had to get that out). Almost immediately after jumping in, we saw a shark with our lights a few meters below us... we didn't take our GoPro on the night dive but the image of that shark is forever burned in my mind.
For the rest of the dive we saw lots of huge red bass, a few pairs of mysterious green eyes and even an octopus! We also hid our lights for a few seconds to see the glowing colors (bioluminescence) of the plankton.
Something definitely ran into me during the dive and I was convinced it was Tyler until I saw him in front of me. I'm happy that I will never find out what it was!
Fast forward through a great night's sleep to our 5:30am wake-up knock and our 6am dive. Nothing quite like swimming with a sea turtle to wake you up! The turtle could not have cared less that we were hanging out with him while he had his breakfast. What a relaxed and beautiful animal!
The last two underwater adventures were similar to the first day's dives but lots of caves/swim-throughs and an excessive number of jellyfish... Finally our stinger suits were put to the test!
I truly feel like I have lived through Finding Nemo experience now.
Clown Fish & Sea Anenomes? Check.
Bouncing around on jellyfish? Basically.
Swimming with a sea turtle? Yep!
Did I mention that I also found a mask and snorkel in the coral? It didn't say P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way or anything crazy like that but it was close enough for me!
After another decent meal aboard the Kangaroo Explorer, we headed back to the harbor on the Reefkist around 3pm. Two hours later we were back on land, ready to eat and even more ready to sleep!
We stopped in at a restaurant/bar recommended by the dive guides, The Woolshed, before heading back to the hostel. For our last ridiculously unhealthy meal of the trip before heading back home to work on our "summer bodies", we enjoyed a spicy pizza, a bowl of wedge fries with sweet chili sauce and sour cream and a few ciders. It makes me so happy that ciders are on tap almost everywhere on this side of the globe!
After putting some money in the air con machine, getting our bags together, uploading a bajillion pictures from the GoPro and booking our shuttle for 3:50am, we were more than ready for bed.
It's going to be a long day of travels tomorrow and it's bittersweet to say goodbye to this insane vacation.
We have done and seen so much over the last few weeks (and wish we had time for even more adventures) but I am ready to see our puppies, friends and families!
We will be back in the USA in 24 hours...
See you soon!
XOXO
Elissa & Tyler
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