My Weekend in the Great Barrier Reef!

Thursday September 8th, I packed my swimsuit, towel, and sunscreen into my backpack and went to sleep early to prepare myself for a weekend of adventure! I took a 2hr flight to Cairns on Friday afternoon and landed in paradise! By the way, its pronounced CANS...yeah I'm uncomfortable saying CANS even though you can see the aussies cringe when I say "Karens." Anyways, I was starving when I stepped off the plane, so I quickly called an uber, checked into my hostel, and searched for a restaurant to eat a late lunch. I remembered talking to my friend Eva, who went here a couple weeks before me, and told me that I have to get a meal at Prawn Star. I was walking around the boardwalk for a couple minutes trying to find this restaurant, but what I didn't realize was that Prawn Star is boat restaurant! I ran down the pier out of pure excitement (and hunger), grabbed a menu and found a spot for myself at a big table with a bunch of people I didn't know. I ordered the salmon sashimi and patiently waited for the food. I sat next to two older couples, a bit older than my parents, who seemed to be good friends by the easy-going banter used at each other. When I got my food, one of the older gentlemen turned to me and told me I ordered one of the best dishes in the restaurant, which was a way for them to bring me into their conversation. I talked to them for quite some time, telling them a little bit about me (where I'm from, what I study, why I'm here, the usual convos). The other gentleman told me that he recently went to Chicago for a conference, to which I was excited to talk about (cause I love Chicago so much). It was really nice talking to them and getting to know them too. At the end of my meal, they made a toast to welcome me to Cairns and to have safe travels. I had a similar situation when I was living in Bloomington IN earlier this year, to which I'm glad I had a parallel between two major life experiences.

After my meal, I walked around the pier for a little bit, taking pictures of the scenery. The pier was kind of short, but nevertheless the views were still pretty.

  

  

After treating myself to gelato and buying a souvenir pin, I went back to my hostel to get ready for the next day. I was in a room of 8 beds, so I was bound to meet some interesting people that night. Once couple was from Ireland: they took the year off from their jobs and traveled in Southeast Asia and Australia. We talked about Hong Kong for a couple minutes, and it seemed like they enjoyed it as much as I did when I went. I also met Emilia who is from Sweden as well as Emilie, Alice, Jade and a bunch of people from Britain. I felt like I was in the British Invasion! Anyways we all hung out together that night, and everyone kept calling me "Sarah From Chi-CAH-go" even though I was the only female american in the group --I couldn't help but laugh! I also met a couple people from D.C. --it was refreshing to hear an american accent other than myself when I talk.


I woke up early the next morning to go to Fitzroy Island. This island is on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef that has similar marine and coral life. I did not have enough time to scuba dive (since you can't dive and fly within ~48hrs of each other) so I chose the route to snorkel instead, and let me tell you, my snorkeling experience did not disappoint! I snorkeled the whole morning and parts in the afternoon because I was amazed at the underwater life. When I began to snorkel, I felt like I was apart of the underwater community: The school of fish swimming together, seeing clown fish and the blue tangs swimming together in and out of the reefs (yes, I did spot the Rainbow Fish and Nemo, Marlin and Dory swimming together. Yeah I know pics or it didn't happen, but again, trust me on this one :D). I swam along side fish that were as long as my arms and as wide as my face! The fish had the most beautiful colors and patterns too. The colors of the coral and plant life were brilliant: bright blues, yellows and pinks. Sadly yes, I did see a lot of bleached coral, but if we take the steps to stop this process, the rest of the reef can remain beautiful and healthy. A couple times I had to pop my head out of the water to see where I was swimming off to, and to pinch my self to make sure I wasn't dreaming!

  

  

Around 12pm, I ate a quick lunch the tour provided and signed up for a glass bottom boat tour. The guide took us around the island to try to spot turtles and squids! I saw a squid, but no picture did it justice, however I got an amazing picture of a sea turtle! I had my camera ready this time. The moment the guide pointed out the turtle, I constantly took pictures to hopefully get a good one out of the bunch. I am proud to present Crush the sea turtle:

I snorkeled for another hour after the boat tour to see more of the reef. I was in awe the whole time, amazed at nature and her ways. I relaxed on the coral beach and took a short hike on one of the nature paths on the island. I have to say, I wouldn't spend this day any other way: it was a perfect paradise. Time passed so quickly I couldn't believe it was already time to board the shuttle ferry to back to Cairns City. I got back to my hostel and took a shower to realize that my back was covered in sunburn-- OW!! --but it was so worth it to see and experience the reef. I got dinner with my D.C friends with Alice, and Kali who is from Canada. After dinner I passed out on my bed because I was exhausted from a fun-packed day, and also knowing in the back of my mind that I had to wake up at 5am on Sunday to catch an early flight.

Even though the weekend went by way too fast and I wish I could have done more (maybe have gone to Daintree NP or Palm Cove) but I am very happy with how this small weekend trip went. I'm glad I did this: traveling by myself and meeting so many different people; I felt like this was a success. I was a little sad leaving Cairns, but I'm happy I got to say I swam in the Great Barrier Reef. Another bucket list item checked off, and another memory for the books!