“Life Under the Sea is Better Than Anything They Got Up There ...

Just look at the world around you, right here on the ocean floor, such wonderful things around you; what more are you looking for? Under the Sea, under the sea, under the sea! Darling its better, down where it’s wetter – take it from me!”


Not to your surprise I have Little Mermaid on my laptop, which I enjoyed watching in my hotel room the last night in Cairns. It put me in such great spirits having just experienced the world under the sea for two days – early morning swimming with sharks, mid-afternoon gallivanting with Nemo and early evening dives to witness feeding time.

The grandiosity of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is truly remarkable. It is actually comprised of about 2,900 reefs and is equal in length of the drive from Australia to New Zealand (it would take you about three days of straight driving to cover from the top of the reef to the bottom).

For a couple of days, I lived on a vessel that anchored itself beside different areas of the GBR. The boat was gorgeous. It boasted a sundeck, heli-pad, hot tub, dinning room, bar, TV area, multiple hangout spots, not to mention the array of underwater gear off the stern. The boat can house about eighty passengers plus crew but when I took the trip there were about thirty of us including the crew.

The best part of living aboard was that I was, at some points, the only one in the water. We all went diving and snorkeling at fairly different times so it was likely I was in the water alone and if there were others in the water it never maxed four people at a time. This is quite different from most day trips where you have thirty or forty passengers all jumping in the water at once, which scares most fish, at least the good ones. This is the reason why I was able to discover such phenomenal life under the sea. I was simply observing their life, not disturbing.

I hope the photos and the videos somewhat do it justice. It is easy to see why the Great Barrier Reef is one of the Wonders of the World - checking off the wonders day by day!! Great Wall of China, Niagara Falls, Great Barrier Reef, all checked and next week I will cross off the Taj Mahal!



Taxi boat to get to the "live aboard" boat


Beautiful morning


Captain


Home for two days


In the middle of the ocean


Getting ready to climb over!


Our room


Under the sea












Gorgeous


Nemo










Hot tub time machine




Anyone out there??








Lounge


Dining Area


Bar


Gearing up






Barney


















Tanning on the deck


Heli-pad




Goodbye GBR!


Hello Cairns!


Cairns