Cairns, Australia - Reef Magic Great Barrier Reef Snorkel - February 16

The Pacific Princess was to arrive at 7:00 AM, but was over half an hour late getting in. We walked the short distance from the hotel to the Pier and waited to be let on. Silver Seas was also in port. We watched our ship sail in with the sunrise behind her. We were excited to get onboard and hopefully have some time for a quick breakfast after dropping our bags at the cabin. Our tour tickets for the Great Barrier Reef tour we booked through the ship were in the cabin and we did have time to grab a bite and then meet in the Cabaret Show Lounge for the group.

 here she comes...finally!

 sunrise

There weren’t very many of us for the tour and we were looking for our tablemates that said they were doing the tour. We walked to the boat Reef Magic ll and they gave us our safety briefing and explained the optional tours. Then, we were told the snorkel would be off the back of the boat, not the really nice platform like we had in 2013 or the one we had 2 days ago with Quicksilver. What a disappointment! We were told that the port lecture they had while we were off the ship pretty much talked everyone out of going if they weren’t avid snorkelers. So, our tablemates and a few other people we talked to later said they canceled for that reason. What a shame!

 walk to the boat

inside the boat

The weather was beautiful starting out, but as we got out to the reef it had clouded up and looked like rain all around us. We got in the water and snorkeled out. It was pretty choppy and it did rain while we were out there. There was a nice portion of reef there with lots of fish. We came back in for lunch and then it was time for the advanced snorkel we signed up for that took us out to the wall drop off. The weather had cleared and the sun even came out which always makes the clarity of the water better for seeing everything below.

Here is the video that Greg took:  Reef Magic Snorkel Great Barrier Reef

 ride back to the ship

It was pretty amazing snorkeling out there. A small boat took us out and then we snorkeled back to the bigger boat. We did see a lot of jellyfish (not the harmful kind) and a turtle. Greg got video of the turtle eating one. He has tons of Go Pro snorkeling footage to go through and I will provide links as soon as they are finished. We only have 2 days until the next port, so we will be way behind in adding photos and videos. Sorry guys!

 walking back to the ship

While it wasn’t the tour we hoped for, it still was very worthwhile and we saw a lot. All too soon it was time to go back to the ship and get ready for dinner. We rain into Karen & Steve as we were getting back from the snorkel and we got a bit caught up with what has been happening with each of us. We had to report to immigration and were escorted up to the specialty restaurant where they had set up. They had our face to face and checked our passports before we surrendered them to Princess to keep for our next couple of stops.

Dinner was exciting with the 8 of us catching up on our adventures the past few days. On the way out from dinner we ran into Jeff & Julie and Bob & Phyllis who also did an overland trip and we exchanged a few stories before heading to the show.

We knew there was a new Russian troupe that replaced the Princess singers and dancers for the rest of our voyage and we were excited to see their production show. WOW! The show was HEAT, a Latin Extravaganza and they were beyond professional. Not the typical cruise ship entertainment. (not that there is anything wrong with their shows either, just different. They are also talented, but more emphasis is on their personalities as they also lead Bingo, game shows and all the other activities on the ship.) The performance tonight was excellent, but I’m curious how they will do in the fun and games department.

After chatting with Karen & Steve we headed back to the cabin to unpack more and upload millions of photos. As I keep saying….be patient with us on those. I’m still finishing the uploading of Bay of Islands and Auckland, New Zealand.