Morning all. More updates from Sue Kershaw's World Cruise on Arcadia
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Friday 24 February 2017 - Last sea Day to Yorky's kn*b
Another very hot and humid sea day. I love this weather. My shoulder is on the mend but I am not returning to the exercise classes until after the Barrier Reef snorkel. I went to the spa to use the Hydropool to blitz my shoulder under the needle jets then after only half an hour headed back to the balcony and the sun. I stopped en route to pick up some fresh fruit for breakfast.
A very extremely relaxing early morning. The colour of the water is now a turquoise blue and I am itching to get into it.
We had a meet up of old friends and new ones who had joined in Sydney. Another great crowd on board and a mixture of Aussies and Brits. We learnt some good info at the meet about some of the ports we are visiting.
Lunch as per usual on a sea day was on our balcony with a bottle of Sauv Blanc. We need to treasure these hot sea days as, after Alatoa, the six days to Japan will gradually get very cold before warming up again after Hong Kong.
At 3 p.m. The Headliners performed an afternoon show of Blame it on the Boogie. As it clashed with the Spanish Class I gave this a miss. It is the first cruise I have known them to do afternoon shows.
As a little extra for the Ligurian members of the Peninsular Club a Cocktail Party was held in the Globe. 115 of us. The Captain was there and plenty of officers. We couldn't get any info out of the loyalty team regarding the new brochures being released next month other than there are some new and exciting itineraries. I think I will invite her round and see if a few drinks will loosen her lips. It was a great evening and our officer friends ensured our glasses were never empty.
We missed the show because of chatting but as it was the second show for the comedian we weren't that bothered.
Tomorrow will be one of the highlights of the cruise for both of us.
I am going to the Barrier Reef, something I have dreamed of for so long and Garry is going on the Kuranda Railway.
Sat 25 February 2017- Yorky's kn*b
The day started bright, sunny and hot. A fairly long tender into Yorky's kn*b but the town had provided larger catamarans to help out.
My trip to the Barrier Reef didn't need a tender as we were collected from the ships pontoon onto the largest catamaran I have ever seen. There were 340 of us and still loads of spare seats.
The first deck had comfy padded seating with tables in between, a bar which sold drinks, ice cream and snacks along with suncream and sea sickness remedies, the galley was behind the bar and the very good wash room facilities were in the bowels of the ship below water level.
The 2nd deck was similar but had doors leading out to an open sided deck with plastic seating and a roof to protect from the sun and rain.
The 3 rd deck was half completely open to the weather with doors leading forward to another covered comfy seated area with a TV screen showing the reef.
We could all move around freely as there was plenty of room in all areas.
It took about 90 minutes to get to the pontoon which together with the boat would be our home for the day. This consisted of trestle tables under cover, an area where Stinger suits and fins were handed out, then outside were the snorkels, masks and safety vests.
It was easy to get into the water as there were bench seats in the water to sit on to put our fins and mask on then another level led into the water.
It was an unbelievable sight to see all the beautiful coral and the thousands of differently coloured fish of all shapes and sizes. The clams were huge and one in particular must have been over 4 ft long. I was pleased that I had opted to accept the stinger suit as the jelly fish were humongous. I was just in 7th heaven and couldn't believe I was actually snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. I had dreamt of this for so long and it was actually happening. Snorkelling in the Caribbean will never be the same again after this experience.
The weather started off really good but deteriorated at around 11 a.m. when the heavens opened. It didn't spoil the snorkelling but anyone wanting to sunbathe was disappointed.
It was a well organised day with inclusive trips available on a semi sub and glass bottomed boats for those that didn't want to get in the water or had snorkelled for a while then got changed.
A guided snorkel, seawalker helmet dive and scuba diving was also available as were helicopter rides all at a price of course.
I just wanted to spend as much time as possible snorkelling on the reef. I took many photographs and can't believe how well the coral looked. The reef certainly didn't show any signs of erosion where we were.
Lunch was served at around 11:30 and finished for 1 p.m. It consisted of different curries, rice, salad, huge King Prawns , different meats and fresh fruit. Cheese and biscuits and coffee or tea was served later.
The weather continued to be mixed for the rest of the day with bright sunny spells followed by torrential rain. It was very hot and humid and the best place to be was in the water. Close to the pontoon was a huge fish called Walter. He was very friendly and appeared to enjoy being touched and held for photographs. They must feed him at the pontoon because he stayed all day. He must be the most photographed fish on the reef.
The finale of the day was the feeding of the fish. I am now convinced that fish have memories as just before feeding time hundreds of them arrived at the viewing windows including baby sharks which I hadn't seen all the time I was in the water. Once the food was thrown in there was of frenzy of fish thrashing around and jumping up out of the water to get to the food.
All too soon the head count began and we were soon on our way back to Arcadia. I just wanted to rewind and do it all over again.
Garry did the Kuranda Scenic Railway trip and thoroughly enjoyed it except for the guide who decided to stop off at a pie shop which wasn't on the itinerary but which took at least 20 minutes out of their visit to the rainforest, and meant that they missed the guided tour of the animals at the rainforest wildlife park. There was a tour in a world war 2 vintage army duck where they had a guided tour of the plants of the rainforest, including the most lethal plant in the world aptly named The Stinging Tree which can cause severe paralysis and even kill.
The coach driver couldn't drop off passengers in Cairns so they had to go back to the tender dock and then catch the shuttle into Cairns. The good news is that it was worth while as he came back loaded down with Schweppes tonic water.
After the long day we decided to skip dinner in the MDR and just showered and then sat on the balcony with room service and a bottle of very inexpensive Rosé Wine which we had purchased in Aldi at Manley. It was surprisingly very good and I wished we had bought more.
Tomorrow we have a relaxing sea day and another Around the World Coffee Morning to attend.
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Especially half way through a world cruise 
in readiness for tomorrow's port of Kochi.