“How different can it be!” I thought to myself, as I smiled and shook my head as one more nice crew member came over to me and said “You SHOULD try this at least once! I’m going to make sure you don’t miss this experience!”
Another cute guy from the crew winked at me and said “You and me. Right after lunch alright?” Another wink. Lol, if only it was just what it could mean!
Date: November 1, 2016
Location: Somewhere on the ocean, over the Great Barrier Reef, An hour away from Cairns, Australia.
Company: An absolutely amazing crew of 17 and 74 great strangers
I had reached Cairns the day before on October 31st, 2017. I hadn’t had any specific plan other than to see the Great Barrier Reef and their Rain Forest. Though I’d checked online for day cruises when booking the trip, I couldn’t make out one from the other, so decided to get to Cairns and figure it out here. I found a tour guide place right below my Hostel (Flying Monkey Backpackers Hostel Experience to be another post!)
Though a bit steep, I went ahead and booked a seat on the “Ocean Freedom” Liner for 250 AUD.
I had seen some cruises from 120 …150 AUD, but those had no costs other than the cruise cost included, also, those cruises carried 150 or so people. They charged ~50AUD extra for food and more for glass boat rides and snorkelling gear and what not. Ocean Freedom included everything in their 250; Lunch and tea, Glass Boat ride (which I was most excited about!) and free snorkelling gear. They also were one of the few cruise ships that didn’t just go and dock in one of the islands like Green Island for a few hours. Here, we got to be on the ocean the entire time! Except for about half hour on the ground. ;)
The ticket told me that I was to reach the docks at 8:00 am sharp to board the ship. “It’s just around the corner” she’d said.
Around the corner ended up being a good km away, and had to run the last 300 mts as I was getting late. I found the docks, I entered a building where I had to give my A4 print out ticket and change it to a small ticket with my agitation rising. I made it in time though, and was all set! :D
Ocean Freedom was a cruise liner which could hold about 105 people at a time. It had an observation deck/ seating area, lockers and toilets on the first floor and a covered seating, dining area and landing area on the floor below.
As I was already from a hot city, I chose to sit in the covered area below which had cool sea breeze making it lovely. There were four U shaped tables, and in the one I picked was a British couple and a Japanese girl.
The crew was 17 of the most fun and diverse people I have ever met in my life. They all were so full of life and obviously in love with what they did. A super thing about this cruise was that there were only 75 on board, with a huge crew of 17, so we all got individual attention most of the time. They made us all feel so welcome and comfortable. Even the safety talk was the most engaging safety talk ever!
“See that white bobbing thing all the way over there? If that’s too close to you, that’s it.”
“Don’t cross that red floating line. Sharks. Don’t go there”
“Which side is your right? Oh no, you stay close to us throughout pal!”
“As you know, there are only 2 toilets on this cruise ship and more than 70 people. So we want to make sure that it’s comfortable for everyone to use. Have you been to the loo on a cruise ship before? It's not go in, do your thing, and leave. It’s an EXPERIENCE. It’s go- find your footing- remove pants- hold on to the railing for dear life- do your thing- try not to slip and fall as you put your pants on again- get out when your still alive!”
“If something unpleasant happens in the loo, don’t leave a nasty surprise for the next unsuspecting bloke. Find Scott, he’ll take care of it. If you’ve looked everywhere, and can’t find Scott, let one of us other crew members know, and we’ll find Scott. So he can take care of it”
*
We stopped at a spot before lunch. The anchors were lowered and the glass boats disengaged from the main ship. Boy, was I looking forward to that! The snorkelling was open even there, but I don’t know swimming, and I’m someone who stays away from animals even on land, would I go in the water for the sea animals to approach me?!
The glass boat was safe though, and I couldn’t wait to get on it.
The Japanese girl and I chatted for a bit. She said she was also scared of fish, but before I could think kindred spirit, she went snorkelling anyway. Ah well. The lady (from the British couple duo) was also not going to be going in the water, so we happily chatted away till it was our turn on the glass boat.
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| The Blurry fish you can see ;) |
Did you know that all that talk about the “The Reef is fading away” is just hyped data to get more funding for research? Yes, it is fading, but that’s only a small percentage of it which is near the surface, and that’s natural.
We saw the rare (to see) ridley turtle!! And loads of fish. So many fish. However, the glass boat was just like looking at fish in an aquarium with some colourful corals around.
*
Lunch was AWESOME !!
After random food and being slightly unwell the previous day, to eat a proper full meal was heaven. Lobsters, yum seafood salad and some great meaty stuff – it was exactly my kinda meal. I had lunch with a European Couple – girl from Germany, guy from Sweden, who had met while backpacking in Australia. They were on a “Working Holiday” visa for 2 years and had more than a year left to go.
They took turns taking up odd jobs like even manual labour or bussing tables. Whatever they needed for the day to get by. They had won this cruise in a bar the previous night and they had a million stories to tell.
With us was an Indonesian girl – who was really jealous that they got to be eligible for 2 years of Working Holiday visa, when Indonesians got only One year, non-extendible. She had finished about four months of hers, and was sad that that time had run away too quickly! (And I sat there wondering why I never knew such a thing extended) The Indonesian girl asked me where I was headed next, and I happily said Sydney.
She: Oh me too!
Me: Oh wow (thinking it would be cool if we were on the same flight)
She: When are you going?
Me: Tomorrow evening, I take that 2:30 flight out of Cairns. How about you?
She: Oh me... I’ll be there in a month or so. I’ll be hitchhiking and covering the smaller towns and cities on the way.
Wow! Some people really know how to live their lives!
(End of Part 1. Read part 2: Finding Nemo and Neverland! HERE)
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| I'm sure the corals had more colour ;) |
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