Our last day trip

Tue 27 October… We had a nice Thai meal last night after watching the fruit bats fly past in the park in Cairns. Then it was back to the hotel for an early night in a proper bed but we couldn’t sleep!! Today we had one last treat and went out to the reef for the day. A very modern boat which carries a maximum of 30 punters, but there weren’t that many on it. We went out to Michaelmas Cay which took about 1 and a half hours, tied up just off the sandy island, where there were 1000’s of sooty terns breeding. We snorkelled here over the reef and saw lots of stuff, some nice coral and loads of different fish. The underwater visibility was excellent and we could have dived from the boat if we hadn’t sent our log books and certificates home in a box last week! The snorkelling was good but not like the real thing .After a nice lunch on the boat we moved to Hastings Reef, where again we could have dived but had to settle for snorkelling. The sea was as blue as blue and very clear. There is a glass bottomed boat moored there so we had a go on that, a little disappointing as we didn’t even see as much as when we were snorkelling. Back to Cairns Marina then driven back to our hotel by courtesy coach. Showered and a beer then out for a Chinese/Vietnamese meal……It has been an excellent panic tanning day!