Even with all the great things in Australia, this was the highlight.
Amazing coral, amazing fish, amazing swimming.
We took two trips. Both were snorkling because a cold caused my eardrum
to get hurt on the plane trip to Cairns, and I could not equalize.
The first trip was from Cairns on TUSA to Hastings Reef. For the second we
used an outfit out of Port Douglas called Haba and went to Agincourt Reef.
Agincourt Reef was vastly superior -- clearer water, more reef, more fish,
more living coral. But even Hastings was still a great experience.
The photos here are from the afternoon of the Hastings Reef dive to
a location called the fishbowl. It was better than the morning site.
I rented a digital camera in waterproof case for the day. Unfortunately,
the photography guy made some error and did not copy my morning photos to
CD, or even deleted them. I didn't get to find out because oddly he
got the bends after the trip and went into hospital.
We also shot on film at Agincourt. That's not processed yet...
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Model poses in her wetsuit
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Many boats were out at Hastings Reef that day
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Three scuba divers explore the deeper reef
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This was the dive photographer. I figured I would take a picture of him as he took one of me. Though an experienced diver, he got the bends after the trip and had to go to hospital. He recovered, slowly
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Large spotted fish
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Sand Cay out in the ocean
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More boats around the reef
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As noted we snorkeled and did not dive. Truth is though, most of
the colourful coral is close to the surface. The divers spent most of
their time in deeper, less colourful areas. They were able to see the
fish that hide under the reefs, and of course can also stay still and
get closer to various things, but snorkeling should not be considered
a bad choice.
Tusa had better snorkel gear actually, while Haba was superior in every
other way, most importantly reef site. What reef site you get depends
on the captain and what the tourists on the boat ask for. For example,
one diver told me that the best site in his view was just a bit further
out, but they only went if you asked.
If you go you can choose between giant boats (Quicksilver is the main company)
which have pontoons moored out at the reef and smaller boats with just
a few divers. We picked the latter and think it was the right choice
based on what we have read, though the pontoons and larger boats will
have more facilities.
