Travel Journal: Cairns- The Great Barrier Reef

 11/29/2024

While it’s Friday evening where we are- it’s Thanksgiving Thursday at home in the USA 🇺🇸

Although we are having an amazing adventure we can’t help but feel a little home sick today. We are always grateful for our family and friends and of course our fur babies. We want to wish all of our loved ones a blessed and wonderful Turkey Day from The Land Down Under ♥️♥️🇦🇺

Fittingly we spent today feeling extra thankful and full of gratitude. Today we conquered a huge one and we snorkeled some of The Great Barrier Reef 🪸 We got drenched in rain to make it here today and the sun came out for a perfect day ☀️

This one was huge for many reasons and definitely was one of our travel moments that pushed me far out of my comfort zone. I am not a fan of being on boats in the ocean and I get seasick but thanks to a lot of Dramamine and a little bravery I did it and can now say I have snorkeled The Great Barrier Reef 🪸 

We saw so many bright beautiful corals, so many fish and of course sea turtles. You could actually hear the parrot fish crunch coral under you 🐠 When waves wash up all the old coral on the beach sounds like a pretty wind chime. 


Wanna visit the reef ? 

If you are like me and get seasick very easy- a quick 45 minute ferry to one of many small islands along The Great Barrier Reef is a great way to go. 

You get all day to explore a beautiful tropical island and snorkel right from the beach to the reef- rather than being on a boat all day and snorkeling from there.

We chose Fitzroy Island and it was a solid choice.  From phenomenal snorkeling and scuba opportunities right from the beach to the famous Nudey Beach (not actually a nude beach just the name 😁) this island is a must when in Cairns. It’s also has a turtle rescue. 

I will be honest though- even on totally smooth seas like we had, if you get seasick easy you WILL feel sick on these ferry rides. My hack to avoid that yucky seasickness? Ride on the back of the boat and if you can be outside instead of inside, it helps a lot ! They were handing out a lot of sick bags inside the boat and if you already feel seasick, seeing others get sick sure doesn’t help. The air outside kind of helps you focus too. Obviously taking presumptive Dramamine is super important too and I avoid eating much before we go. That is why this was a great choice for us- at least it’s a short boat ride and then you are not on and off a boat ALL day. Some normal tours take you to various reefs but you get in and out directly from the boat so you will be fighting that seasickness all day long! The other perk of the island options is that you get to explore a super remote beautiful island and hike around too ! 

Speaking of hiking, when on Fitzroy, be ready for some hiking straight up boulders to get to some beach areas - or you can hike the rainforest to a peak that’s overlooks the island. 🥾Also make sure you are ready to swim a lot - we snorkeled over 2 hours and it’s definitely a good workout 🤿 What an experience it was to hike this remote island in the rain !


It’s honestly overwhelming when you start to plan seeing the reef as The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system,and is made of over 2,900 individual reefs, and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres (1,400 mi). Just like all of Australia itself- it is massive 😱 The best place to start is your ability level and how you want to see it. 

You can fly over it, snorkel, scuba, take a submarine, glass bottom boat and more. There’s seriously endless ways to see it and seeing any part is absolutely worth it. My advice- just stick with your comfort and experience level, you really will enjoy seeing any part of the reef! Don’t overwhelm yourself trying to see all of it, you will never get close!

We feel accomplished, grateful and very exhausted at the end of the day today. To see any part of this natural wonder is an honor and we will never forget the magic of seeing the colored coral and its many beautiful inhabitants. SO grateful for the chance to explore the Lords creation and for our countless other blessings. 

Happy Thanksgiving 🇺🇸♥️♥️


https://www.australia.com/en-us/places/cairns-and-surrounds/guide-to-the-great-barrier-reef.html


#travelthelanddownunder #visitcairns #snorkelthegreatbarrierreef #travelblogger #yolo #fitzroyisland #protectourreefs

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