Ever since we arrived in Australia last October, we have been drooling about the great diving along the reefs of the Great Barrier Reef. Our two daughters, Heather and Christina, went diving here in Cairns about 13 years ago and just oozed excitement every time they talked about the great dives they had along the Great Barrier Reef.

Mary Margaret and I, up until today, have been a bit disappointed in our snorkeling experiences at Lady Musgrave Island and along the reefs within the Whitsundays Island group. While the reefs were beautiful and were teaming with fish, the visibility of the water would be called murky at best. Not being able to see things until you are right on top of them diminishing the experience significantly.

Well, let me tell you, that all changed today! At Mary Margaret’s suggestion, I had booked a day long trip to the outer reefs aboard the Reef Experience for today. It was it bit more expensive than most of the other reef boats but this one took you out to the outer reefs of Hastings reef and then a reef near Michaelmas Cay. Past this last reef is just the open Coral Sea.

One the way out, the dive master told us that the water clarity has been improving all week and on the way back to Cairns, he said that today was the best he has seen it for this season. We had about 25 to 30 meters of visibility, which is great. During the summer months here, the visibility grows to 50 plus meters while during the winter, it shrinks to about 10 to 15 meters. Thus, today was exceptional for the winter months.

Besides going much further out than the other boats, the other reasons you paid a bit more for this trip was that they served you a nice breakfast, a great lunch and then wine and cheese on the way back. They also give you a free 20 minute SCUBA dive at Hastings Reef and then other another 45 minute dive at Michaelmas Reef for only $55. Plus, for these dives, you do not have to be PADI certified.

Now I first started SCUBA diving with my dad back in 1962 and continued to SCUBA until 1968, when I went off to college. After college, I could no longer SCUBA divie because that is when they started requiring certifications to dive. We were just married back then and we had no money to pay for certification so I stopped SCUBA diving. Since we started cruising, I opted for our Hookah system, which does not require any certification.

Anyway, when we reached Hasting Reef Mary Margaret and I snorkeled for about and 1 ½ hours while I waited my turn for the first SCUBA dive. The reef was awesome and I will post many, many pictures to show you what we saw. Instead of writing about it, I will let the pictures tell the story.

At Michaelmas Reef, Mary Margaret snorkeled and saw a wide variety of fish and corals but she did not have the underwater camera. Instead, I had it while I went SCUBA diving. During my dive we got up front and personal with a greenback turtle, swam over a shark resting on the bottom and dove down a coral wall that was studded with all kinds of colors and fish. It was great!

Today made up for all of the other times we have dived on the Australian reefs in the murky water. It was just a stupendous experience.