We woke up on February 4, 2025, half expecting our Great Barrier Reef snorkel trip would be canceled – and it was.   

It occurred to us that our accommodation in the hotel was room 1313 on the 13th floor!  We are not generally superstitious, but we had lost two days of activities!

There were FOUR potential cyclones around Australia, and seven low pressure systems in the vicinity resulting in meters of rain!

The next day was our last chance to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef.  We had a plan B for a half day tour at a part of the reef that was closer in if our full day trip was canceled.  We also had a plan C – a future cruise circumnavigating Australia and to try again some other year.

So, we spent the day watching Cairns off the balcony.  That was not smoke, it was heavy rain. There was too much rain to even venture a walk.

There was a new ship at the dock – the Pacific Encounter.  It was a P&O Cruise Line ship, but was to be taken over by Carnival Cruise Lines in March 2025.

For dinner we went back to Hemingway‘s Brewery.  We enjoyed eating there on our first night in Cairns and it was a quick walk from the hotel.

Randy got a beer flight. Our favorite was Mr. Wongs featuring banana and cloves!  

The next morning, February 5, 2025, the weather looked substantially better.

After walking to the reef terminal, we were able to check in at the Passion of Paradise desk.  Whoohoo – it seemed to be a go!  

Part of the check in process was to determine potential health issues and comfort level in the water.  The representative said that nothing was going to keep someone out of the water, it just defined what the crew were going to do to make it safe.  Even people who didn’t swim had workable accommodations.  We both swim and have snorkeled before.

Once onboard, the boat configuration had me surveying every escape route because of my claustrophobic tendencies.   When I mentioned it to one of the crew, she said she wouldn’t assign anyone else to our table.  That meant we were just four at a table that usually had six or more. That was possible because there were only 70 passengers on board.  They usually sail with 100 passengers but are allowed to have 140.  I could not have done this tour with 140 people in this space!!  As it was, Randy traded seats with me so I felt I had easier access to a way out.

As soon as it was possible, however, we went up top, and stayed up top, most of the day.

I noticed that the Australian flag on the boat was on a red background, not blue. I was told that boats fly the red flag so it will be more visible on the water.

At some point, we hit something hard while motoring.  Everyone could feel it. Fairly quickly, looking out the back of the boat, we could see it was a mostly submerged log. It was very impressive to see how the crew mobilized immediately.  There was no damage to the boat, so we continued on to the reef.

We had some sun and blue skies in the distance but mostly it was overcast with a little rain.

Soon it was time to get our sting suits on. They were necessary because it was jellyfish season.  Ugh..we hated this part! The type of jellyfish we were avoiding were very small but packed a painful punch. Our suits even had mittens to cover our hands. Fortunately the jellyfish did not impact our trip at all.

We went into the “pool” as they called the area of the reef and saw a lot of corals and many fish!! It was pretty cool!

Most cool, was being above a giant clam – think loveseat size!  One of the crew pointed it out and waved her hand above it to make the clam close.  There was a fish inside.  I hope it got out!   We learned that snorkelers drown each year by putting their hands and arms inside a clam and not being able to get loose.

We also saw several types of star fish including this blue one. We didn’t try to take pictures ourselves, choosing to just enjoy the experience.

The crew photographer took pictures of us!

When we got out I mentioned to Randy that I had been getting cold.  Randy mentioned to me that he had been having a bit of trouble with his mask.  Immediately the crew were on it – offering me a wet suit to go over the sting suit and adjusting Randy’s snorkel.  Are you getting the message that this crew was amazing?

They also made a delicious lunch.

I was dreading putting the sting suit back on (with or without the wet suit) and thinking that I might consider my reef experience to be done unless we would see different things at our second stop.  I also really don’t like the sticky skin feeling after being in salt water.

About that time, the skipper said we’d be staying where we were for a second snorkel because of wind conditions at the other site.  My decision was made.  About half of the people made the same decision I did.

Randy went out again as this bucket list item was the reason for coming!

I tried to keep my eye on Randy since I wasn’t being a good snorkel buddy.

The crew was watching too.

When Randy got back onboard, he said he’d seen several things we hadn’t seen before on our first snorkel.  Plus, the sun had broken through a couple times and he was able to see the range of colors that you see in pictures!  He was glad he went out again.

The ship operators had several procedures to be sure everyone was present including head counts by at least two crew and roll call by the passenger number they gave us at check in.  I was #20 and Randy was #21.  At the time, I told him we could remember that because I was 20 when we got married and he was 21.  He didn’t remember that!  Too long ago, I guess!

The ship’s crew had done a great job, including organizing and cleaning all this equipment.  As you can see, some people chose to dive the reef.

On the two hour ride back to Cairns, they offered a Great Barrier Reef marine life chat.  I’m usually all about learning whatever all I can, whenever I can, but not this day!  Not only did I not want to be down stairs with a lot of people, but I didn’t want to interrupt being up top in the wind!  The second in command joined us and we spent about 30 minutes talking.  He was a native Kiwi, who had lived in Australia, helping others snorkel or dive the Great Barrier Reef for 20 years.  He was planning to go back to New Zealand in the next few months to help care for his mom.

As we check snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef  off Randy’s bucket list, the only place that remains on our lists from years past is Petra, Jordan for me.  Petra was on a cruise itinerary in 2023 but we chose to cancel given world events.

Of course there are still way more places we’d like to go to than we’ll ever get to!  We have some very cool trips in the queue, we just hadn’t considered them “bucket list” destinations with longevity.

We walked back to the hotel and were so pleased to get cleaned up and get the salt water stickiness off our skin!  I had an impressive sunburn even though I never felt like I was sitting in the sun!

We chose to go back to Hemingway’s AGAIN.  It was close, easy,  and very good.  We hadn’t had pizza in at least three weeks, so why not have it three times in four days?

Next up:  We return to Sydney.