Snorkeling in Great Barrier Reef

Flying from Sydney to Cairns feels like going to another country, there’s a tiny moment that I thought I was in Cancun, Mexico. I guess it’s the sudden climate change (from dry to humid) that reminds me the feeling of landing in Cancun from Virginia, the US.

Cairns is very different from Sydney. The weather is hotter and more humid; the landscape is more wide-opened, because they don’t have many tall buildings. All in all, it’s not that type of city you often think of, but a city that lives with nature.

Table of Contents

• Logistics

  • Getting to Cairns CBD from the airport

  • Booking a snorkeling tour in advance

  • Prepare a GoPro if you can

• 3 things I discovered when snorkeling

Logistics

Getting to Cairns CBD from the airport

You have 3 options to get to the Carins CBD (Central Business District) from Carins airport (CNS):

1. Take a bus

2. Take a shuttle bus

3. Take a Uber

On google map, it shows you the option of walking for an hour and taking a bus from the stop there, which doesn’t sound fun for me. On the airport website, it says you can book a local shuttle bus, which costs AUD$22 one way. My recommendation is to take a Uber, which costs around the same price as the shuttle bus but easier.

Booking a snorkeling tour in advance

Many people go to Cairns for Great Barrier Reef, and there are actually 2 parts of the Reef:

1. Outer Reef (Hastings Reef, Saxon Reef, Breaking Patches)

2. Inner Reef (Fitzroy Island, Green Island)

You’ll see many tours taking you to Fitzroy Island and Green Island, which actually belong to Inner Reef. If you have time and budget limit like me, you may want to choose Outer reef, which is said to have vibrant corals and colorful fish compared to Inner Reef. (👉Outer Reef tour I used here on GetYourGuide)

Prepare a GoPro if you can

Well, it’s too bad that GoPro didn’t ask me for an endorsement (JK). I do recommend bring a tool that allows you to take photos under water if this is an one-time experience in your life. Or it would be great to join a tour providing underwater photo shooting service.

I wasn’t prepare a GoPro or any other tools. So the only thing I could do is to immerse in the activity, appreciate the beauty and try my best to record it in my brain database.

3 things I discovered when snorkeling

1. I am truly a land animal that doesn’t know how to breath in the sea

2. My lung is so weak that I got tired easily

3. It is so quiet when soaking in the water that I even thought of death

Of course I discovered many marine lives - huge reefs that extend endlessly, fish that has beautiful turquoise color, and turtle that are sometimes too shy to be seen, but that’s for the first 30 minutes. For the rest of 1.5 hours, I was trying to pace myself and realized I am truly a land animal that doesn’t know how to breathe in the sea.

I tried to find a way to explore without relying on the swim ring. My way is to breathe under the water through the snorkel for 3 times, quickly lift up for some tiny seconds and then dive into the sea again while swimming forwards, which obviously is wrong because I felt tired soon after doing this for 2 times.

Now thinking back, I think my issue is that I didn’t get used to breathe through snorkel either under the water or above it. When my face is above the water, I often subconsciously opened my mouth like I was on land, rather than continued breathing through the snorkel. Plus my body for some reasons didn’t float enough, I kept having sea water in the end:/

Anyway, in addition to the confusing and frustrating snorkeling experience, I also discovered how quiet it is when soaking in the water, which even makes me think of death. Not sure if it’s the frustration that makes me imagine something bad or it’s the tiredness that makes me want to stop trying. But one thing is clear - when you feel tired, you really need to take a break!