Great Barrier Reef with Cruise Whitsundays
When I went to Airlie Beach in Queensland I wanted to see the Great Barrier Reef but I was worried about how expensive it would be. Then, I was worried how much I would regret being so darn close but not seeing it. Also, I was worried about not being able to see because I don’t have updated contacts and I cannot see without my glasses. However, I paid the big bucks to go on a Reef tour and the company had optic masks so I was able to see all the fish and corals.
What is the Great Barrier Reef?
The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven Natural Wonders of the World. It is composed of over 2,900 separate reefs and spans an area of 133,000 square miles. That’s larger than the United Kingdom, Holland and Switzerland combined. For everyone that only knows United States sizes, the Great Barrier Reef is about half the size of Texas! The Great Barrier Reef has over two million visitors annually and it can be seen from outer space!
What Company Did I Explore With?
Since I was staying in Airlie Beach, there were a few companies I could have seen the Reef with. However, I went with Cruise Whitsundays because they had wonderful reviews, they had a really long itinerary for the Reef, and they were prompt to reply when I emailed them about optic masks.
Cruise Whitsundays acts as the main transportation between Airlie Beach, Hamilton Island and Whitehaven Beach. They also conduct tours to different places in the region. I went on the Great Barrier Reef Adventures tour and had an absolutely amazing time even though I went alone. The staff were all incredibly friendly and approachable so I didn't feel lonely. The tour starts at $249/adult with additional costs depending on what you want to do! Cruise Whitsundays has their own pontoon out at Hardy Reef. Their pontoon allows for scuba diving, snorkeling, sunbathing, helicopter tours, a trip in a semi-submersible and guided seabob tours. They provide stinger suits (to keep guests safe from jellyfish), masks and snorkels. The tour also came with unlimited tea and coffee, a very large buffet lunch and morning/afternoon tea!
What Did I Do?
So, since I was staying at Airlie Beach I boarded the boat around 8am. We then traveled about 55 minutes to Hamilton Island where some people disembarked and loads more boarded. The trip to Hardy Reef took two hours and I made some friends on the trip. There was period of about 25 minutes when the boat was in open water when the waves were large and it was so hard to walk. I was dumb and decided to find the toilet at that time and explore the catamaran for some photos. I nearly fell down some stairs and a nice middle-aged Australian man offered me his hand so I didn’t faceplant.
Initially, I was only going to snorkel and sunbathe since those activities were included. However, that changed fairly quickly.
I was in the process for signing up for a Snorkel Safari, which is an additional cost but allows a very small group of guests to go on a guided snorkel with someone from the Cruise Whitsundays crew. It was $55 and when I was turning in my paperwork the guy in charge of the Snorkel Safari and Introductory Dives goes, “why aren’t you doing the dive? You’re young and fit? It would be fun!” My new friends were right next to me and they were signing up for the dive so I obviously did, too. More info in the next section!
Besides diving, I snorkeled a lot, went on the semi submersible for a guided tour of the reef, ate from the delicious buffet and took a lot of photos!
Introductory Dive
Absolutely no diving experience is needed for the introductory dive. They want strong swimmers but anyone of any age is allowed to participate. When we had about 15 minutes left on the trip to Hardy Reef, the crew broke the guests into small groups based on the extra activities they had signed up for. We got a run down of the equipment and all the suits we would be wearing and then were assigned a group. I was in the first diving group!
Once the boat docked, everyone rushed off (per usual). Since I was in the first dive group, I wanted to quickly get my stinger suit, diving suit, weight belt and other things read. However, Cruise Whitsundays has a great rule that people in wetsuits cannot board the boat. That caused an issue for me though because the optical masks were on the vessel! I was unable to go back on the boat until everyone disembarked and then I couldn’t put my suits on until I had the optic mask. It was a dilemma but the crew was AMAZING and I gave them my credit card to put on file (necessary because optic masks are expensive) and told them was mask I needed (-4) and they brought me a mask to the pontoon so that I could be on time for my dive. I was in the last dive group but it was okay because I still got all of the time I paid for.
Now, the introductory dive was literally handheld and it was great. There was a 10 minute period where multiple instructors watched us use the mouthpieces for the first time. They ensured our masks were tight enough, that we felt comfortable breathing through the mouth pieces, that we knew the hand signals for many things (water in mask, water in mouth, need to surface, etc.) and other things. When the instructors felt safe with our knowledge, it was time to go to the Reef! One certified instructor went with two introductory divers and literally held our hands. They were in control of where we swam and for adding/reducing the air in our vests.
Me and Maggie, one of the resident fish of Hardy Reef.
We had 20 minutes on the reef and it was amazing! The color wasn’t what I expected, but I learned later that it was due to the fact that human eyes can’t see all of the colors due to the sun. I figured the reef was bleached but it wasn’t. Hardy Reef was hit by Cyclone Debbie and while she damaged the reef a bit, she kept it from getting bleached, which is seen as a blessing. National Geographic apparently films the Great Barrier Reef at night when the white lights from the cameras can capture the colors of the corals. Honestly, if I hadn’t had my hand held during the dive I would have been really nervous. It was floating up a lot and without the instructor, I would not have been able to stay down. I also would have been nervous getting too close to the coral and damaging it.
Snorkeling
The snorkeling was letdown of sorts, only because I went scuba diving first. Honestly, it was great that I went diving first and then snorkeling because I felt a lot more comfortable in the water. There was a huge roped area where we could swim and snorkel. There were also staff members in boats monitoring the water in the off chance that anyone had issues swimming or drowning. Snorkelers had to wear stinger suits to be safe even though the jellyfish are most active from November to May. It was better to be safe than sorry.
I went and snorkeled two time. I hired (aka rented) and underwater camera for the day so that I could capture many photos and videos. I have a 20 minute video from my dive and many shorter videos from snorkeling. There were so many fish to see and so many different kinds of coral that I could have snorkeled the entire time but I eventually got cold and tired.
Food
I obviously enjoy food and my day on Hardy Reef was no different. Fish D’vine, one of the best restaurants in Airlie Beach, does the catering for each cruise to the Reef. There were a lot of options on the buffet and most were healthy (which was so nice since all I did in Melbourne was eat doughnuts). Some examples of food on the buffet: Creamy Coconut Curried Chickpeas, Tropical Carrot, Pineapple and Coconut Salad (it was DIVINE), fresh rolls, ham, chicken legs, and a plethora of pasta salads. I went back for extra bread and Tropical Carrot salad.
Morning tea consisted of half a dozen types of Australian biscuits (aka cookies) while afternoon tea came with a delicious, moist and flavorful blueberry muffin. It was really, really good.
What Do You Want to Know?
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