We were up bright and early ready for our day trip on the 'rum runner' out to the Great Barrier Reef! We were very excited until we checked on Holly and had a rather unpleasant surprise! Both of her left hand tyres were flat, one completely and the other nearly there! 1 we could have dealt with, but 2?!! And we were in the middle of the rainforest, had no reception on our phones and it was Sunday! Great!! There wasn't much we could do as the minibus came to collect us for our trip so we decided to forget about it until we returned later in the day!
So, the minibus took us down to Cape Tribulation beach where we waited for a tiny boat to come and collect us and take us out to the big one that we'd be on all day! We had to get on the boat by walking through part of the sea, tad concerning when there are warnings everywhere about crocs and marine stingers!! One of the crew said that it is one of the only organisations where passengers have to board through such high risk water! Anyway we all squashed on this little boat, all 32 of us, and we had to hang around for 2 crew members. While waiting the boat started to let some water in, but the guy, who was quite cocky anyway, reassured us that it was fine and that it would soon shift once we were moving. We were waiting a while for the other 2, and the boat continuted to fill up to the point where the back left corner was virtually under water, with a few concerned looks from fellow passengers, he continued to reassure us, but you could see the sweat forming as he started to realise that perhaps all wasn't ok!! We were concerned as he had told us that he had seen 2 crocs on his way back to the beach the previous evening!! As the 2 crew members finally arrived, they looked rather worried and begun moving people around to balance the boat and we we set off before the last member was barely on the boat!! The water did shift by the time we had reached the big boat, with the driver cursing the other 2 on the way! Even the Captain commented as we boarded about how lucky he was! EEK!
Anyway, we set sail towards Mackay reef on a beautiful day! It was lovely sitting on the deck as we cruised along, there were hardly any boats to be seen, as only 2 go from Cape Tribulation to the reef, and because its a protected area. When we reached the reef we were able to snorkel in the surrounding waters. We were considering doing an introductory dive here but as I am asthmatic, it was a straight NO from the crew so that went out the window! We donned our snorkeling gear once more and entered the water! The difference from when we snorkeled in Cairns was huge, it was so much clearer and you could see right around you instead of just your inital surroundings. The fish were happy to swim around us and some of them were amazing colours! The corals were far more colourful here and some were of incredible shapes and sizes, some even moved!! We spent about an hour snorkeling and on our way back in for lunch we passed a stingray..we left him to it though! We had an underwater camera but we'l have to wait and see how well the pictures turn out!
We had lunch provided which we tucked into before being given an info talk about the reef and the local area (the rainforest).
After lunch we could snorkel again for another hour or so. We didn't waste any time and headed straight out! We made sure we explored different areas and this paid off as we saw different fish, including multicoloured ones and some funny looking swordfish types! We even had the pleasure of swimming alongside a friendly turtle for a while, he was very amusing as he often bumped into the coral, and they moan about humans ruining it?!! The sea started to get quite rough towards the end of the snorkel and a few people ended up being rescued by the crew! We battled our way in through the current and waves, and saw yet another stingray!
The ride back to the beach was a very bumpy one, but very refreshing in the cool winds. We ended up splitting into two groups to go back in the smaller boat to the beach, cant think why?! And the guy admitted that he didn't actually like small boats as they terrified him! Hmmmm, could have guessed that one!!
While waiting for the minibus it dawned on us what awaited us back at the hostel, 2 flat tyres!! Having both forgot about it all day, we hadn't really formed a plan of action! Luckily there was a lovely receptionist working and we made it just in time before reception closed to use the phone! We were reassured that two new tyres would be brought out and changed the next morning. Phew! The poor receptionist ended up going home a tad late because of us, oops!
Anyway, a reassuring end to a very happy day! We ventured to the cafe on site for dinner and chillaxed in the lovely setting, completely surrounded by rainforest! By the time we had finished dinner it was rather dark and as we started the walk back, we realised that the path wasn't lit, at all!!! We had to use the little light from one phone to find our way through, and it wasn't pleasant!! I don't think I have ever walked so fast and squeezed Marks hand so much in fear!! There were odd noises coming from every direction and we got some odd looks when we reached the car park at the other end! Mark was happy though, he spotted a frog on the path and sat talking to it while trying to take a photo, needless to say we got even more odd looks!!
We collapsed into bed, very shattered, but very satisfied with what we had spotted on the reef!