Australia: Coral Sea Safari

Cairns, Australia

After leaving the Philippines, I very slowly made my way to Australia. Fun fact? You can’t bring Sudafed into Australia. Or at least not an “obscene amount” (one box). Once I got there had a good time, hiking exploring the water front, checking out bats, and going up to the Crystal Cascades Falls. Climbing up until hitting a vertical climb with a large pool under it. Hiking was enjoyable and saw a group of wallabies menacingly hoping behind me.

Crystal Cascade Waterfalls

Mike Ball Dive Expeditions Spoilsport

March 23rd-31st, 2016
Total number of dives: 25 Total time underwater: 28 Hours 47 Minutes

The dive boat and crew were very nice and comfortable. Larger rooms than the ones on the liveaboard in Belize but not by much. Most of the entries were done via giant stride, with a couple done as a back roll off of a dingy.

Osprey reef and the inner reefs, were both very nice. There weren’t as many large animals as I thought there would be and a lot of bleached corals or areas without a lot of corals. There was a decent number of smaller fish and some larger fishes but all in all a bit disappointing due to the environmental damages.

Water temperature was 84-86*F and the 5mm wetsuit was overkill even with the multiple dives done each day. Most days had 4-5 dives each day depending on where we were located.

I would like to go back and see if the corals and various sites have recovered a bit more but I’m afraid it’s former glory is lost for future divers.

Cod Hole

101’ for 60 minutes & 60’ for 72 minutes
79°F

Gotham City

79’ for 67 minutes & 75’ for 60 minutes
78°F

Fairy Gotto

100’ for 70 minutes & 86’ for 73 minutes
77°F

Halfway

86’ for 73 minutes & 87’ for 74 minutes
78°F

Dive 6 Half Poiint Fam White Tip Shark.jpg

False Entrance

88’ for 75 minutes & 89’ for 76 minutes
80°F

North Horn

90’ for 77 minutes & 91’ for 78 minutes
82°

Amphitheater (Shark Feed)

91 for 78 minutes
82°F

Admiralty Anchor

92’ for 79 minutes & 93’ for 80 minutes
84°

Dive 12 Admiralty Anchor Yellow Headed Goby.jpg

Lizard Island

The liveaboard was split into a 3 day, 4 day of the full 7 day trip. On the third day we stopped on Lizard Island and those who were not continuning on jumped into a low flying plane and flew back to the mainland while new guests were dropped off on the island. During the transfer those of us doing the full trip got some time off of the boat to walk around and explore.

Most of the island is a National Park and also includes a luxury resort. It was named Lizard Island by Captain James Cook in 1770. Aboriginal people have been present on the island since (roughly) 4560 BC. The traditional owners is the Dingaal (Dingiil) people an Aboriginal Australian clan, who refer to the island as Jiigurru.