Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

The last stop on our holiday in Australia was Cairns: the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef.

The first picture is the view from our hotel. Once again the mountains and the ocean were in close proximity as in Syndey giving this area many different attractions.
Our hotel had a "sandy beach" pool which Dylan loved!

This is a view of the Cairns Lagoon out by the coast.
The second day in Cairns we headed out on the TUSA 5 with the company TUSA Dive to explore one of God's wonders - The Great Barrier Reef.
Leaving the harbour

Adrian, one of the crew members on board the ship made a special point to take care of Dylan and his parents. Below, Dylan is hanging out with Adrian in the captain's chair making sure we are on the right headingAll suited up and ready to head into the Coral Sea and be awed by the Hastings Reef The whole family headed out into the water! Daddy was carrying Dylan as we swam from the boat.

At the first dive sight Dylan wasn't sure what to think! On the last step as Rory and I pulled on our masks and slowly sank into the cool water Dylan started to cry. I can't blame the sweetie since the water was a little chilly at first and his parents had strange faces! We took turns treading water and holding Dylan while the other investigates the reef.

At one point in time one of the crew members swam over with the life ring to see how Dylan was holding up. Dylan had stopped crying and was hanging out by that point but is never one to turn down attention. He and the crew member, Paul, (if I remember correctly) played the drums on the life ring for a while which was too cute

Rumor has it that Dylan is the youngest child to head out into the water on one of the dive trips (or so says a crew member)

As I swam around the reef taking in the coral, fish and light streaming down from above, I marveled at the Lord's creativity! I could have snorkeled for hours without stopping.

At the first dive stop Rory told me about this huge fish , a Humphead Maori Wrasse, that he swam around with while I was on Dylan duty. It was half his size! The picture below taken with the Kodak underwater camera does not show the true size of this fellow. After lunch at our next dive stop I was able to see this big daddy as well. When I was following him around he did the most peculiar thing with his mouth. At one point he stretched his lips way out showing a strange whitish connective tissue between his head and mouth -Fascinating!

After lunch we stopped at our next dive spot along Hastings Reef. It was nearing 2pm when we were all suited up and ready to head back in. This time Dylan was great with all of us heading into the water - no tears! Swimming away from the boat Dylan began his sleepy singing. Rory asked me if he was awake and the answer was no! He had started to fall asleep on Rory's shoulder in the water as we swam away from the boat! We both found this hilarious as I would guess you are at the moment. Rory swam back to the boat to give Dylan a chance to sleep while I snorkeled. Dylan stayed asleep for the parental hand off and the whole trip back to the harbour. He was a magnificent trooper!
Snorkeling can be exhausting!