Long day on Green Island

Today we started early to catch the first ferry across to Green Island.

We went to the terminal and picked up our tickets, then waited in line for quite a while before finally being let on board, where we could borrow some stinger suits and snorkelling gear. The ride over was nice but uneventful. When we arrived we were greeted by this guy swimming just off the main pier:

First we picked up a baseball cap for me because it was hot enough to need one!  I quite like it, though I’m not usually a hat person:

The image of the rainforest heading to the sea as we arrived on the other side of the island was truly postcard worthy!

We snorkelled for a bit before deciding to head over to the other side of the island which was apparently much less populated.  On the way we passed a crocodile place which boast the largest crocodile in captivity….  we gave that a hard pass, seems cruel to just keep him in captivity in such a small space on such a small island, just for tourists to gawk at.

On the other side of the island we stumbled across a group of turtles, which we tried to swim with and capture on GoPro, but without success.  None the less, it was an awesome experience to head into the water with these magnificent beasts

After a short hike back we headed back to a pristine beach again for another round of snorkelling.  About 5 minutes in, Manja suddenly raced out of the water, and I was certain something had bit or stung her. When we got to the shallows she told me that there was a shark right behind me, and not a small one. I probably should have been freaked out, but honestly I was just annoyed that I missed it! We went and had some lunch to calm our nerves a bit.

Disaapointed to have missed the shark sighting, Simon stares out into the sea

A bird walks by

As part of the tour we got to choose some extra activities, and we chose a tour on a glass bottom boat. It was really quite pretty!

When we got back we decided to spend some more time snorkeling on the other side of the pier. We narrowly missed out on snorkeling with a turtle, and it was still really pretty.

Eventually it was time to return.  To get all the tourists on board, the boat was allowed to do a fish feeding, which both the gulls and the fish seemed to love

After that it was time to enjoy the ride back into the sunset.

Back in Cairns we grabbed some dinner at a lovely and romantic restaurant. Tomorrow it would be time to fly back to Adelaide, so we celebrated the last night of this awesome trip before dropping into bed.