Day 2: First night on the boat and we slept beautifully. Roxanne and Flo, had breakfast ready for us and were already getting the kayaks out in the water. The morning's plans: kayaking around the shallows of Pearl Bay to catch a glimpse of sting rays and blacktip sharks. Both creatures are extremely cautious and are gone within seconds but we still managed to see at least 40 sting rays and maybe 5 sharks....pretty impressive! The rays have beautiful glittery, shiny grey skin that cathes the sun. The sharks are about 1m long in general and are the opposite of "Jaws", they however are not curious and are gone in seconds of spotting us. We also got a close up view of a mother humpback whale and her babe traveling past us a couple of hundred meters away...


Back to Summertime lunch is ready and so is Flo with a whole lot of information on scuba diving, safety signals and the reef. I am the only certified diver out of the 15, so i get special treatment and can dive alone with Roxanne. Everyone else piles into the little dingy and is whizzed across to the reef spot, Roxanne and i dive from the boat. The water is cold, but the sights make up for that in seconds and as my breathing finds it's normal pace, the great barrier reef opens up it's beauties to us. 45 minutes later, we come up for fresh air and i diss the air tank for a snorkle and join Yann. He is hovering over a beautiful hawksbill turtle. He has already seen 4 as he is quite apt at diving down several meters and holding a rock for a minute or two in the shallower waters.
After two or three hours of water-born activities, we head back to the boat for tea and biscuits and a soak in the jacuzzi, sipping wine as the sun goes down...
(to be continued...)