The Great Barrier Reef and Crocs...

My 2nd day in Cairns was the primary reason I (and most others) come here- to dive and snorkel the Great Barrier Reef.  I booked a tour with a well regarded boat which included hotel pick up, 2 introductory scuba dives, unlimited snorkeling, high staff to customer ratio and lunch- all for about $250, which I thought was not a bad price considering all they do (e.g. they put your fins on/off you every time you go in the water which was nice as those things are a pain).  You can pay less, but I wanted a safe and good experience and they were (deservedly) rated very high.  .

Now here are all my photos from the trip-

Of course I do not have an underwater camera and I was planning on buying some photos from the pro on board, but her camera turned out not to be working underwater that day...my bad luck with cameras is now affecting others.  In any case, it was a great experience.  The intro scuba dives- each lasting about 25 minutes- were a lot of fun, tho my right ear did not seem to like the water pressure changes.  The guide was excellent- you go down about 35-40'.   But truthfully, you could see almost as much snorkeling as diving- the water is very clear and the reef is not deep (less than 6' in places)- and it would be worth it simply to go and snorkel.  There were all sorts of large and small fish of all colors- red, blue, pink, orange, green, etc. as well as really colorful,exotic and texturally interesting coral.  It was undoubtedly the most fascinating water experience of my life.  No sharks or sting rays, which are actually pretty uncommon according to the guides (not sure if it was the parts of the reef we visited, the time of year or what).   Anyway, I liked it so much that they had to blow the whistle for me to come in at the end- thankfully they did not pull away until I got on board.

And for those doubters, here is my dive certificate-

Yup, a full blown, fully accredited 'Certificate of Recognition', which is almost the same thing as a PADI Dive Certificate and qualification in my book.

The next day I traveled 1 hour up the coast to this private natural crocodile park, which turned out to be excellent.  They have different shows and feedings of the crocs, as well as on Australia's venomous snakes.  The saltwater crocs are huge, impressive and pretty frighting in their power.  They can be 20+' in length and their jaws are the most powerful on earth. In fact, when you hear them snap their jaws shut, it sounds like a gun going off- boom!  The guy who got in the arena with them...my hats off to him-

These are fresh water crocs, much smaller and far less threatening-

Can you tell the difference between the fresh water and salt water (below)-

The crocs infest many of the beaches here- as you do the jelly fish during the rainy season- so most of the beaches are closed this time of year.  This guy might have wondered why he was swimming alone-

Sorry, but I was not going to jump in and save him if he was attacked by a croc-