Up at 7.45am - changed and ready to go! We're going to Quicksilver Pontoon!! Drove out of the hotel at ten past 8am, off we went to Port Douglas. An hour later, we pulled into Marina Mirage, after going slightly too far, backtracking and then doing a U-ie to catch the Quicksilver bus. Got our boarding passes and on the boat (if you call that a boat - looked more like a spaceship) we went.
It was smooooooth sailing over the GBR to Agincourt Reef at the continental shelf where the Quicksilver pontoon was situated. After a bit of convincing we managed to rope M&J into doing an intro dive... we didnt want them to miss the chance to experience the joys of scuba! After sighing up for the intro dive together, we watched a safety video together with other intro dive participants. Before we knew it, we were there! First up was our group - diving with Takumi (Jap instructor), so we went directly to the dive area and got kitted up.
Down the dive platform we went and I was amazed at the Giant Napolean Maori Wrasse hanging around there. M&J did some basic exercise (mask flood and reg recovery) while Vinny and I was busy snapping away photos of our mates first dive and also the marine life around us. Julie freaked out at first, but after awhile, she got used to the feeling, and slowly, we went down.
First stop, a boulder sponge coral with live-in Christmas Tree Worms. These are cute - they come out and retract when you pass you hands over them! Next stop, resident clown fishes greeted us at the anemone. M&J were wrapted they saw Nemo!! Off we went to the next stop which was a giant clam where a vicious pink damsel was attacking me - giving me multiple fish hickies on my leg while I was trying to take photos of M&J's first dive experience. Sheese. As we slowly swam away, we bid goodbye to the cute marine life up close and personal.
Back on the surface.... lunchtime! YUM. Grabbed a platefull of food and stuffed our hungry faces. After round 2 of food, we went for the semi-submersible ride where we saw lots of coral, lots of fish (I liked the chocolate-dipped fish the best - reason why they are called that is because they are chocolate brown except for their bright white tail, making them look like they had been dipped in chocolate....), saw 2 sharks (a juvenile and an adult white tip) and a lone turtle swimming under the semi-submersible. Back on the main pontoon, realise time is running short. We went to the snorkel platform for a quick swim around. They did a last feeding (unscheduled) which was real cool coz I missed the last feeding. Nice nice nice!!!! Out we swam to the nearest reef, and before we could say WOW (which was what we felt coz of all the fishes and the colourful coral), the horn blew and we had to make our way back to the pontoon and back on the boat for our trip back to Port Douglas.
We walked around Marina Mirage for a bit but couldnt find a place to eat. Drove into Port Douglas township and looked at eating Nautilus (recommendation from Nic and Lisa, my work colleagues), but decided against because we werent that hungry yet (it was only 5pm). So off we went back to Cairns. Looking through the Cairns guide, found a 20% off seafood resturant aptly named Raw Prawn but we have to be seated and order before 6.30pm. Good deal - so we quickly raced (no we didnt speed)... down to the Esplanade got into Raw Prawn around 6.15pm. Perfect timing! The food was fanastic... though not cheap. I am thinking they probably didnt give us the 20% discount. But when we asked, they said it was already applied. Oh well.... It was a tiring day.... all that diving and snorkeling and driving and pigging out on good seafood... brrruup! Time for bed I think... ZZzzz
