The Great Barrier Reef

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As picturesque and naturally wonderful as we imagined, Australia’s Outer Great Barrier Reef was a spectacular sight to see.

Did you know that water makes up about 71% of the Earth’s surface? In fact, more than 90 percent of life on Earth is aquatic and less than five percent has been explored. Although many people are privy to the marine life, this means there is an entire world under the sea that continues to be a mystery for us land-dwellers.

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The Great Barrier Reef, located in the Coral Sea, is the largest reef system in the world composed of approximately 3,000 individual reefs. If that doesn’t do anything for you, this ecosystem can also be seen from outer space. You can’t help but develop a true understanding and appreciation for such beauty when exploring this in person.

Like most avid travelers, this was certainly a bucket-list-item for the two of us and nothing could have prepared us for the up close and personal experience.

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The best way to get up close and personal with such an immense structure made by living organisms is to challenge yourself to snorkel and/or scuba dive. However, both of these activities can be rather nerve wrecking at first because you are using multiple skills underwater. The underwater world and its marine life may not help either if you are nervous. Trust us.

Scuba Diving

After calming down enough to head underwater with an oxygen tank strapped to our back for the very first time, it was as if we were at a museum and for just 30-minutes nothing else mattered. The emotion after a scuba dive is simply indescribable.

Our instructor did not allow us to bring a camera until the second dive, or else we would be displaying a photo of the whitetip reef shark that nearly caused me to faint underwater (if that’s even possible) as it swam toward us and then deviated. Simply amazing.

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Fortunately, during the second dive and at a different location on the reef, we saw a similar (only larger) shark that swam into an underwater cave and if you look closely on our video you can see the fin vaguely. Even though the fish were fun to see, the vibrant and diverse coral reefs were absolutely stunning making this the true highlight at the end of the day.

Tours

There are many tour companies in both Cairns and Port Douglas that provide a full-day experience at the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef and after diligent research; we booked two nights in Port Douglas (immediately fell in love with this town) and a tour with Poseidon. Our research had suggested the outer reef, and in particular the Agincourt Ribbon Reefs, QS ATE Map.inddfor the best scuba diving and some of the most pristine areas in the Great Barrier Reef. In addition to spending our day at this spectacular area of the reef, Poseidon was also a great choice because it was semi-private (about 40 people as opposed to 300), provided great food throughout the day, included snorkel gear (scuba was extra), and had a wonderful team that was professional and friendly. Finally, a beautiful sunny day added to the ultimate experience. We were happy this was the case because we had a short stay and wanted to maximize our experience.

To see more incredible photos from our experience, feel free to visit our photo gallery (click here) and don’t forget to subscribe to the blog by entering your e-mail address.

 

Tropical North Queensland

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After an intimate and affordable Bali we splurged a bit, it being Enoc’s 30th birthday and all, by booking a seven-day cruise along the state of Queensland, Australia. Our hope was to experience a few of the many wonders on the beautiful tropical coast. To maximize the experience, we arrived in Brisbane one week prior to departure and had a fantastic time exploring the city and local spots that were recommended by our hosts.

We found Brisbane to be more energetic and artsy than we anticipated. Still, it wasn’t as busy as Sydney and certainly not as artsy as Melbourne, but you can tell it is developing into a similar scene. In our opinion, Brisbane felt much more family oriented and obviously warmer since it is located on the northeast coast of Australia and is the capital of Queensland.

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We enjoyed the local coffee shops around town, drinks and 2-4-1 chicken parmys on Wednesday night at The Flying Cock (which we randomly stumbled upon in Fortitude Valley and you should too if you’re ever in Brisbane), the exceptional Moreton Bay Bugs, and finally, the many evening markets throughout the city. Among our favorites were the lovely walks along the river in the Southbank area, riding on the train in Australia’s ever so efficient transportation system, listening to music on the streets, and the hip weekend Eat Street Market set on disused shipping containers at Portside Wharf.

Now, it was time to explore the coast and the iconic and most impressive natural landmark, the Great Barrier Reef. Our first port of call on the cruise was the beautiful Airlie Beach where we booked a sailing/snorkeling trip out to the pristine Whitsunday islands.

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The Whitsundays are comprised of 74 islands that are located in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef. At Airlie, there are countless one-day and multiple-day trips available for booking and exploring as much as your budget can handle. Surely, these activities are not cheap.

This was our first time sailing and can highly recommend it, as the views are stunning on these sparkling blue waters and white sand beaches. The only downside to the tropical coast can be the unpredictable weather.

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After a gorgeous day out at sea, we were hit with a terrible storm causing us to cancel the next three destinations on our cruise. We were quite annoyed with the weather and did not want to be stuck on a ship for five days, but we quickly realized it was out of our control and made the best of it.

Fortunately, we were able to reschedule our scuba dive and snorkel at the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef. However, this meant we had to make some serious adjustments to our travel plans and took a heavy hit on the budget by booking a round-trip flight from Brisbane to Port Douglas and a two-night accommodation after cruising.

The experience and post to follow was certainly worth the damage.

Fun Fact: Cindy was hooked on watching The Voice Australia throughout the travels down under. One of the top candidates, Tim McCallum, who lucked out during the new Super Battles segment was casually performing on the street next to The Wheel of Brisbane. It was such a nice surprise to listen to his majestic voice live.

Visit the photo gallery (click here) to see more photos.