5 days in Cairns..?

Well written, and quite accurate.

One of the nasties you didn't mention, but is the most dangerous - the box
jellyfish. The only place inside the reef you should be swimming from early
October to late May is a swimming pool.

Also, snorkelling is a much better bet for another reason. As a certified
diver, I have had the misfortune to watch uncoordinated people who can't
control their buoyancy, and just plain idiots standing up on the coral...
This is not only a living treasure, it's one of the great wonders of the
world, and also under threat.

The very LAST thing we need is another klutz getting certified (not that I
imply that's you, mind) and learning the hard way at the expense of our
coral. If you must learn SCUBA, get certified, and PRACTISE somewhere you
won't do too much damage... You'll be so busy learning the ropes anyway, you
won't appreciate it as much as snorkelling.


"mack" wrote in message ...
Lars Henriksen wrote:

Hi all.

We're three students from Denmark (tiny country in Europe

had a good time there especially Christiania (about 30yrs ago)

Our main goal is to go diving at the great barrier reef

a bit about the reef. People think that the reef is a horizontally
extended pile of coral with a peaked ridge in the middle, somewhat
like the Rockies or the Andies and that you can swim along it and
go deeper and shallower and see different things.

It's not. The little animals that live there and make the reef like
being about 3m underwater, no more, no less. The result is that the
reef is a series of relatively flat areas a couple of m in diameter
of coral. Once you reach the edge of the coral and swim over the edge,
you are looking into the abyss. I have no idea how deep it is below this,
but I couldn't see anything. I could see at least 10m down, it was like
looking over a cliff edge. A few m further on, you get another piece
of reef. The reef then is a series of near cylindrical pillars 3-10m in
diameter

The place where the reef is alive (colored) is the part facing up
which gets the light. The sides of the pillars, as you look over the
edge, are white going to grey, as you look into the abyss.
Nothing is living there - it looks like cement or limestone.
I have no idea how the lower part of the pillar was formed,
but the sides of the pillars are straight.

If you like looking at pretty coloured coral in the sun with giant clams
a metre or so across and every colored fish you've ever seen in Jacques
Cousteau,
you only have to go down 3m. I know diving with air tanks on the great
barrier reef sounds really cool and I'm sure all your friends will be
really impressed when you tell them you've done it, but you only need
snorkelling gear to go down 3m. The water is so clear you don't even
need to go down. You can see it from the top. Taking air tanks to go
down 3m is overkill and a hassle of the first order.

Be aware that looking down onto the coral while you're lying on your
face looking through your snorkel mask at the coral, you will burn
every piece of skin on your back and legs. My girlfriend covered
herself with cream but didn't realise her one piece cosie was going
to ride up about 1cm once she got into the water and put her hands over
her head. She had a burn mark on the top of her legs that took 6 months to
go
away.

(just for fun - not to get a certificate)... Can
anybody give us an idea of prices, places to go (diving or something
else)
or guided tours around that area..?

There are standard tours out to the reef to a platform drilled into the
coral.
Since you're behind the reef (which goes our for 50km or so) there is no
surf
so the water is flat and you won't get sea sick. All sorts of people go
out
there, not just people who want to go in the water, other people look
through
underwater port holes (older people etc). The reef is pretty sick in
places
due to global warming, silt in the water, pollution, crown of thorns star
fish etc, so you get taken to a select (rather than typical) part of the
reef.

There are buckets full of snorkel masks etc, you just grab one and dive
overboard.
You're there for about an hour, which is about as much as your back can
take
even
with suntan cream. They give you lunch while you're at the reef. Forget
about
it,
go snorkelling and if there's any food left afterwards go have it,
otherwise
bring some of your own food.

There were people with air tanks etc. They got to go down into the
white/grey/dark
abyss and didn't see anything alive or colored. If that's what you want to
see,
then for sure dive with tanks. Otherwise snorkelling is fine.

If you're rolling in money, you can go out to the reef by helicopter with
the
rich
tourists (who seemed all to be German when I did it) and meet the boat at
the
mooring
point. You get a good idea of the structure (pillars) of the reef from the
air
that you won't see easily from the boat. You also see large (1-2m)
turtles,
skates
and sharks, that you won't see from the boat. It was about $100 25yrs ago.
I'd
recommend
it if you can afford it. It was one of the experiences of my life and I
only
go for free things usually.

A note of caution. An american couple were left in the water a few years
ago
when the boat departed and weren't there the next day when people figured
out
they were missing. Presumably they were a shark's dinner. When I did it,
you were responsible for yourself and were expected to be back in the boat
by leaving time. I expect lots of noises and tooting etc accompanied the
departure and you're never more than 10m from the boat/platform anyhow,
and presumably the boat crew had a cursory look around. Legalities weren't
like they are in USA, where you be expected to indemnify the company if
you
drowned using their snorkelling gear. At the time in Australia, no one
thought
of these things, you were expected to look after yourself. Later a note
was
found in the couple's hotel which could have been interpreted as the
couple's
suicide note. I expect the crew probably counts heads before departure
now.

As well, DO NOT go swimming in the water back at the beaches in
Cairns unless you know what a stone fish, a crocodile and lots
of other nasties look like. The locals don't and you shouldn't either.

There are lots of nasties in the lovely looking tropical paradise.
If you want to go surfing you have to go below (ie south) of the reef,
which stops about 100km south of Brisbane. Go surfing at Manly beach
in Sydney and eat some fish and chips for lunch.

Really appreciate it, thanks in advance...

have fun

Joe
--
Joseph Mack NA3T EME(B,D), FM05lw North Carolina
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