After travelling over 4000 kms from Sydney, we spent a few days doing not much around Cairns (apart from going to see the dire Da Vinci Code);the weather was quite cool and rainy so we were putting off a trip to the Barrier Reef until the sun came out. But we were running out of time so today we were on a boat at 8am.The weather was still miserable, and the sea rough, so much so that I and about 10 other passengers were banished to the back deck with sick bags......nice! So the barrier reef did not look like it does in the brochures. The sea was bluey grey rather than bluey green and the water was so rough that it took all the effort just to stop the water filling the snorkel and mask!! I went in once and saw some coral but nothing else, Dan went in a few times and saw fish. It was actually quite a comical sight; loads of people desperately trying to snorkel and look at this apparantly beautiful, serene underwater world by kicking and splashing, putting on their masks and then taking them off 2 minutes later to get the water out. I think that snorkelling is a pretty unnatural thing to do anyway - all that putting your face in the water and still breathing - but when the sea is rough enough to sink a small boat its ridiculous. They didn't do the glass bottom boat tour due to waves. On the way back half the passengers were shouting as the boat was thrown around. You have to laugh at the whole thing rather than be annoyed or disappointed though!