Whilst in Cairns I could not miss the opportunity to do some diving in the Great Barrier Reef. When we were in Byron Bay we booked a two day tour which included yesterday's Rainforest tour and today's diving with Down under cruise and dive. When I first saw the size of the boat I was a little concerned. I had never dived off a boat that big and with that amount of people. When they split us into groups and there were only 8 certified divers out of the 180 on the boat I felt a little more at ease.

Bobbi and I were in separate groups and after the briefings had finished we were ready to go. It was Bobbis first attempt at diving and after panicking that her ears wouldn't clear she passed the required skills which in itself was a great achievement. However, sadly Bobbi will stick to snorkelling, at least she was able to give it a go in one of the best places in the world!

I got the opportunity to do three dives the first two where at Nelson reef in the morning and after lunch we dived at Hastings reef. I got to see white tipped sharks, spotted ray, hawksbill turtles, a very friendly Napoleon wrasse and lots of other fish. The photos do not do it justice but lots of the corals are dying due the the increase in the water temperatures.

I thoroughly enjoyed the day and would recommend Down Under Cruise and dive to anyone who would like to give diving a go. The boat was brand new along with the diving equipment. Even though there were a lot of people on board they had a brilliant system to make sure everyone knew what they were doing through out the day.