March 3rd, 2025
Great Barrier Reef day. Both Viking and Oceania offer Great Barrier Reef trips and it is a ride out to the reef (approximately 2 hours) and then you get on a pontoon for the afternoon and you can take a ride on a submersible, look at the reef through an underwater platform or for extra money you can go scuba diving, parasailing, helmet trips and helicopter rides. They also serve you a buffet lunch on the platform. Viking & Oceania both charge you 399 dollars for the trip and you can book the same thing direct at 160 dollars each. We did this last year when we were here so we did the same thing this year.
We walked to the terminal where all the reef boats are and our trip was not until 10:30 so we did not have to get up and out right away. Since we were a little early we browsed some of the shops at the terminal and we found this hat display.
We are a little confused how the gator hat made it in with all the souvenir hats from Australia but there it was.
Our view from the reef ship and you can see how close it is to the terminal where our boat was docked.
The reef boats are huge with multiple levels and very comfortable seats and air-conditioning. The first stop you make is to Green Island which is a very lush island with white sandy beaches and crystal clear water. A lot of people got off here to spend the day. It is an hour ride to Green Island and then another 45 minutes to the pontoons. I went ahead and signed up for scuba diving while we were on the boat because I had bought a long sleeve shirt in Cairns that said “scuba diving in Cairns” and I could not wear the shirt unless I actually went scuba diving. They did the dive briefing on the boat and told me there was only 2 of us that were certified divers so it would be just us and a dive master. The dives you do on the reef are very shallow dives, no more than 40 feet. On the pontoon boats they have a ton of full body skin suits which are very thin but cover your whole body including hands and feet and they even have hoods. They said this would protect you from jelly fish and also the sun. They really want you to use the suits when you get in the water. They were nice and then you did not have to worry about sunscreen or getting to much sun. Kathy very much liked hers.
As soon as the boat docked with the pontoon I got set up for diving while Kathy found us a place in the shade to store our stuff. Kathy went out snorkeling while I went diving. The diving was not really that good because the water was cloudy but we did find some clown fish so that was enough for me.
These 2 were at the end of the dive and were a great shade of orange almost red.
These are your standard clown fish.
After the dive we had lunch which was okay but we were not expecting anything great. Then we went back out snorkeling and the water was much clearer snorkeling than it was for diving.
A parrot fish and a orange striped trigger fish.
A giant clam and the picture of the reef and then the drop off.
At 3:15 they blow the horn to let you know to get out of the water and start getting ready to leave. They have fresh water showers on board the pontoon and changing rooms.
At 3:30 you leave the pontoon to head back to Green Island to pick up all the people we dropped off.
The pontoon which is anchored to the spot. There are several pontoons in the area.
You can see the light colored water showing where the reef was. They had snorkels, masks, flippers, skin suits and even life vests for you on the pontoon.
We made it back to the harbor at 5:30 and a quick walk and we were back on the boat.
We have a sea day on Friday and then Thursday island on Saturday. We went to Thursday Island on the world cruise and there is not much there so we doubt we will get off the boat. Plus it is a tender port and we are only there until 2pm.
This is us (the blue dot) sailing to Thursday island and to get there you have to sail through the Great Barrier Reef. When you watched the wake of the boat it looked like we were weaving back and forth but we were staying in the channel and trying to avoid the reef. The water was very smoothened we are going very slow. When you looked on either side of the boat you could see light colored water and also sandy islands sticking up out of the water.