But if I was going all the way to Australia, I wasn't going to miss it. A couple of flights (one a little pricey but worth it!), a rental SUV, and we were settled into Port Douglas, an hour north of Cairns. Same reef, much more relaxed atmosphere than Cairns' bars and backpackers.
I was debating diving but for myriad reasons, snorkeling was just a better option for us on this trip, I'll get that SCUBA certification someday! Just not this time. We certainly had our options of dive operators but ended up with Silversonic, a catamaran that went to three dive sites along the Agincourt Reef, part of the Outer Reef.
The first amazing thing is that when you're above the water you have NO IDEA what is below. You can see where the water is a lighter color because of the shallow reef, but beyond that, it just looks like ocean until your face is in the water and then it's like the doors opened to a new world. It's phenomenal. It's not the rainbow blast of Finding Nemo, but is an incredible elaborate formation of subtle color and movement. The bright green grass that swayed with the currents, the teal fish with shimmery stripes that dart around, the needlefish that look more like reflections than animals- it was better than I'd ever imagined.
We ended up seeing many of the promised highlights- giant clams with purple interiors that closed when fish approached, slow swimming turtles passing by underneath us, even anemone fish darting between the colorful plumes. We even saw a blue starfish.
This wasn't so much a picture taking expedition- it was too much to capture into a frame. But here's a taste of what we saw on the reef that day:
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