Australia Day 8: Our Great Barrier Reef Adventure
Today is a public holiday in Queesland, Australia, it is the day they choose to celebrate the King's birthday. Now mind you King Charles of England's real birthday is November 14th, but today is the day for celebration…and the only thing we see all day about it, is that they charge an extra surcharge at breakfast because it is a "holiday"…real fun celebration! Like public holidays in the US, many people have the day off of work and school, and some businesses are closed, but nothing that effects us.
We have a lot of things to bring with us today as we are bringing food for lunch, changes of clothes, towels, sunscreen, drinks and stinger suits. Because of all the things we need to haul we decide to Uber down to the pier for a 7:45 a.m. check-in. Walking would probably take 20-30 minutes.
When we get in line to check in, we see a sign warning of rough seas today. It says if you want to reschedule you can ask when checking in. When we get to the counter I ask the lady but she says “I don't know why it says that, the seas aren't that bad today.”
Note the red arrows for today only..
We decide to go ahead since there's no guarantee that the next day will be better and we're running out of days before leaving.
We go out to the pier and get in line. We decide to sit on the lower level of the boat. Landon is worried about getting sea sick, so I give him half a Dramamine. Plus I put some seasickness patches behind his ears that are supposed to help as well.
I also can suffer from seasickness, so I put some of the seasickness patches behind my ears too. Kailey loves roller coasters and such, so I’m not worried about her.
Nate thinks if we sit towards the front of the boat, we can see out the windows as we look forward, which may help. Unfortunately the movement is more exaggerated in the front. And the seats are low enough that you can’t really see out the front windows anyway.
The boat trip takes about 50 minutes to get to Green Island on the great barrier reef, which is the closest point of the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns (most other popular snorkel locations are a 2 hour boat ride away). By the time we are halfway out the seas are getting pretty rough. Kailey starts crying, which often means she's about to throw up. I'm busy talking to a lady about our glass bottom boat tour, so Nate takes Kailey towards the back of the boat to see if that will help. After I get my stuff put together I go back to swap with Nate as Kailey usually wants me when she's not feeling well.
I'm helping her holding a barf bag. I see another boy heading our way who’s throwing up as he walks by, and I’m trying to shield her from looking, as that alone can make some people throw up. But within minutes she's joining him. Thankfully I catch it all in the bag.
There's still 15 minutes to go before we'll reach the dock. Kailey does pretty good as we pull up to dock, however as we wait to disembark the boat is still rocking quite a bit. A few bags later and we are back on solid ground.
Our glass bottom boat tour is coming up in less than an hour, so I give Kailey half a Dramamine as well as the sea sickness patches behind her ears.
I wasn't sure how comfortable the kids would be snorkeling in the ocean. We had practiced at home in our pool but it's not quite the same. That's partly why I booked the glass bottom boat tour, that way they will see some sea life even if they don't want to snorkel.
Thankfully the smaller glass bottom boat is in a more protected area and there arn't any big waves to deal with. As soon as we get on the boat we can see lots of fish through the glass floor. It may help that there is the distraction but I have the bag at the ready in case we need it.
They give information about the different kinds of fish you see and the reef as they troll along. The tour is about 30 minutes in total, and at one point they even feed the fish a little, (they have a permit to do so) which brings loads of fish up to the boat. As we are heading back to the dock we even see a couple of turtles off the boat in the water as they surface for air.
View of Green Island
After arriving back to the island we go get our snorkel gear. I grab our towels and stinger suits out of a locker I had rented, and we head towards the beach.
Stinger suits are a light weight lycra suit that helps protect against jellyfish stings. Stinger season typically starts later in the month, but there can be stingers at any point of the year. They also protect your body from sunburns as they cover you like a wetsuit. They do rent them here, but I purchased them before we came as some reviews said they only had a limited number of them.
We had heard there is a greater chance of seeing turtles along the pier (inland from where the boats dock), as there's lots of sea grass there which is what turtles like to eat. Nate's goal is always to see turtles while snorkeling so that is the area he wants to go.
Nate wades into the water to put on his flippers then he helps Landon get his gear on. I help Kailey before getting my own on. The water is quite shallow, which makes it difficult to swim. We go under the pier towards the sea grass, but it is still so shallow even 50+ feet from shore, there is only around 1-2 feet of water under me.
Landon says he is freezing and wants to head back to shore, so we all head back together. The only thing I really see on this short excursion is a humuhumunukunukuapua'a, which is the state fish of Hawaii.
I knew Nate would be disappointed with only 5 minutes, so I tell him to go back out and I will stay with the kids on shore.
Nate has to go at least 200 feet from shore before even finding a little deeper water. It is still shallow, with only a couple of feet between him and the highest coral and the sandy bottom was at most 8’ down. He does see some colorful fish and even a turtle, so the snorkeling goal is met.
After Nate makes his way back to the beach, Kailey wants to try again so I take her out. The tide is still going out and it is difficult walking because we don't want to step on something sharp. Finally about 150 feet out Kailey asks if she can put on her flippers, so I help her do that and she lays down in the water. It's still too shallow for me so I take the strap of her snorkel life vest and I pull her along (almost like walking a dog). Once the water starts to get a little deeper I can put on my gear. Nate had offered me his Gopro, but I want to focus on Kailey to make sure she is okay.
As soon as Kailey and I get into some deeper water we see a bluespotted ribbontail stingray (about 18" diameter body), which is really cool. They can be dangerous if threatened, but it swims away, and we don’t pursue it. We then see lots of pretty fish in the coral. After 15-20 minutes she wants to go back to shore and Nate and Landon are walking out to meet us. After Landon hears we saw a stingray he wants to try again, as a stingray is one of his favorite animals.
We go back up to the beach with Nate and Landon, get a drink of water, then head back out snorkeling as a family. This time we walk around 200 feet from shore to start snorkeling. We don't see any rays this time, but we do see some cool fish. Landon does great this time and has a way more enjoyable snorkeling experience.
When we are done snorkeling we take off our gear and return it to the rental place. As much as we would love to continue snorkeling, it's just too difficult with the tide so low. We had been warned that there will be a very low tide today, (because there's a full moon tomorrow) and they were right!
It takes several trips back to the locker to get all my clothes to get changed, because for some reason I keep forgetting to grab things. After getting all changed we sit down at a table to eat the lunch snacks that we brought. There are birds stalking around our chairs waiting for any crumbs to fall down for them to gobble up. The birds are pests on the island trying to eat food, and they told us that the only snakes on the island are fake snakes to try keep the birds away. Landon keeps looking for them, but is disappointed to not find any rubber snakes.
After eating we head to find the crocodile exhibit that they have on the island. Green island is one of several places that they will bring problem crocodiles to when they are a danger to the public, either harassing humans, or attacking farm animals or pets.
Green Island used to house a croc named Cassius, who was the largest saltwater croc in captivity. He was 18 feet long and weighed 2,870 lbs. He had been captured in 1984, but they really don’t know how old he was, probably between 80-120 years. Cassius died in November of 2024, so we missed seeing him by 11 months. However they still have other large crocs to see.
When you first walk in, they have you go into a hallway that looks like you’re walking into a boat. There are fish tanks on either side of this hallway, with cute little tropical fish, like clown fish and blue tang fish, which are the fish from Finding Nemo, among other fish.
We then walk outside and find cages with fencing. Mind you the fencing doesn’t look too sturdy, so no leaning on them as the crocs are literally on the other side of some of them, sometimes only about a foot or two away. There's a sign on one of the fences that reads "If you throw something into the fence, you'll be asked to retrieve it!"
The first crocs we come to are Bulla and Bella. They typically have a male and female in the same cage, so they don’t end up with the male’s fighting for dominance. The only real way to know the difference between a male and female according to a croc guy, is to put your hand "down there" and check, which he said is unpleasant for both parties involved. Otherwise it’s their size, as the females don’t get nearly as large.
Bulla the Male Croc is 14.1 feet in length and weighs around 1322 lbs. Bella the female is 9.1 feet and only weighs around 440 lbs. Both of these crocs came from Fly River in Papua New Guinea. Both are estimated to be around 50 years old.
Bella
The next two crocs are the only active crocs, as most the other ones don't even move a muscle. Both are also from Fly River, Paupa New Guinea where salties (salt water crocs) are a big problem. There’s around 35-40 fatal attacks there every year, and many more that aren’t fatal.
The Female Minnie is only 4.9 feet and 130 lbs, and they estimate her age around 45 years old. The male’s name is Boss, and he’s 7.5 feet long, 352 lbs, and around 60 years old. These two give us some appreciation for how they can move in and around the water. They say that Boss has killed and eaten 3 of his girlfriends already, so I would be a bit nervous living with him if I was Minnie.
Boss before he heads for a swim
There is signage around that gives interesting information on crocodiles. One thing they say is to make sure you stay at least 5 meters or just over 16 feet away from the river's edge, as they often rest near the edge of the shore, ready to strike. They can use their powerful tail and hind legs to launch their bodies forward the entire length of their bodies! Oftentimes they rest with just their eyes and nose out of the water, so they are easily missed.
Crocodile females will lay around 70 eggs, and depending on the temperature outside it will depend on if the babies are male or female. 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 F) will produce mostly males. If it’s above or below that you’ll have mostly females. It takes 90 days to incubate the eggs.
If you look at a croc you’ll see there are bony looking scales down their backs. These scales and scutes create wake patterns that interfere with each other, effectively cancelling out the ripples that would typically be created by them moving through the water.
The next two crocs are Trinity and Babinda. I forget to take a picture of the sign showing their information, so I don’t have stats, but they are equally impressive as Boss and Minnie. Trinity was caught in 1998 near the Trinity Inlet which is in the Chinaman Creek, near the boat docks of Cairns. He is believed to be responsible for an 18 year old girl who was attacked by a croc. Thankfully the girl was able to get away with the help of friends, and only had minor injuries. But they caught Trinity and brought him to Green Island to reduce the risk to humans.
Babinda is a rural town near Cairns, probably where this croc was caught, as the Aussies have a pretty straightforward way of naming the crocs they capture.
Crocodiles also have what look like tiny black dots all along their snout. Those are actually pressure sensors. They have the ability to not only hear in surround sound, but feel in surround also. This means that if they are in the water, and something comes down to the river's edge, they know exactly where it’s coming from, even if they are below water with their eyes closed. Crocs have a special third eyelid that is clear, and closes when they go underwater to keep their eye clean in murky water. But they don’t need to be able to see in the water as they can use their pressure sensors to feel what’s in the water.
Crocs also have what’s called a pallet valve, which allows them to shut off their throat so that they don’t get water down their throat. This allows them to be in the water with their mouth open and still not drown. When attacking in the water they will try pull their victims underwater to drown them before they tear them apart to eat them. To be able to swallow they have to surface, as they can’t swallow under water.
Next up we come to the big boy of the show (now that Cassius has passed away), and that is Bronto. It’s hard to imagine that Cassius was another 3 feet longer, as this guy is huge! He’s just over 15 feet long, and looks massive compared to the female in the cage, Xena, who is only 6 feet long.
Saltwater Crocs have 66 teeth, and are constantly growing new replacement teeth inside the hollow root of an existing tooth. They go through a set of teeth almost every year.
As I walk up to the cage with Whitee and Iknowa, Whitee is laying in the water with just his nostrils and eyeballs exposed. I can hear him exhale as he sinks into the water, and he’s gone without a trace! We were in the area for a while, and I keep looking for him to pop back up, but there is no sign of him. He’s no small croc, as he’s almost 13.5 feet long and weighs around 661 lbs. Whitee is from Innisfail, Queensland, Australia. They say large crocodiles can remain completely hidden in water that is only about knee deep.
Iknowa the female is 7.8 feet long and around 286 lbs. She’s another croc from Fly River, Paupa New Guinea. She’s around 60 years old.
Crocs are amazing jumpers too. Small crocs can leap up to twice their body length, while large crocs can jump about ⅔ their body length. They will use this tactic to catch birds out of the air, or whatever is on the menu! So keep your arms and legs inside a boat at all times if you’re in croc country.
Crocodiles have amazingly strong immune systems, so they heal very quickly and rarely get sick. However their mouths harbor dangerous bacteria that means a bite from a crocodile can lead to serious infections if left untreated.
The last croc to see is named Grandma, which is kind of funny as she’s not much older than some of the others, at 60 years old. She comes in at 8.2 feet long and 396 lbs. She’s in a cage of her own, which may be because the front several inches of her top jaw is missing, probably bit off at some point by a croc she shared a cage with, as there are pictures of her at Green Island looking normal. She’s another croc from Fly River, Paupa New Guinea.
When we are done admiring the crocs we still have a little extra time to kill before our boat comes to pick us up to head back to Cairns. There is a boardwalk through the rainforest, so we walk that path for a bit and find a path out to the beach.
After about 15 minutes we head back towards the dock, get everything out of our rented locker, and get in line.
You can see the tide is back in just before we left. This is about how high it was when we tried to snorkel the first time off the beach behind us.
I give the kids half a Dramamine about 30 mins before we leave and Nate and I take some ginger pills they have on the boat just in case. Thankfully the seas are not as rough on the way back to Cairns, and none of us have issues with getting sea sick.
Since we aren’t in as big of a hurry when we get back to Cairns, we walk back to the hotel from the pier. When we get to our hotel we find that the AC isn’t working. Nate goes down to the front desk to inform them. They tell us the power had gone out during the day for a short time and some of the AC units in the building weren't working when the power came back on. They say they will have a guy come fix it.
It's about dinner time so we head to a restaurant called Milky Lane. The decorations in the restaurant are huge murals on the walls of different music artists, and the menu also has cutesie names too, like a Kevin Bacon burger and the Beyondce burger which was a Beyond meat pattie burger (vegan). Nate thinks long and hard about a vegan pattie, but settles on a Post Malone with a fried chicken pattie and mashed potatoes.
Kailey gets the kids loaded nuggets, which are chicken nuggets topped with bacon, shredded cheese and cheese sauce…she says they are the best chicken nuggets ever! Although it's probably because she loves cheese, nuggets look like a pre-made frozen type that they probably reheat and add the toppings to. The rest of us have burgers, and they are all pretty good.
Nate also ordered fried mac-n-cheese bites, unfortunatly they sounded better than they tasted.
They have a special going on for a minion milkshake, and the kids really wanted one so we let them get it. It is banana flavored ice cream with caramel sauce.
Since I’m not eating dairy, after we are done we go to a gelato place that sells vegan options and I get a scoop of mango and passion fruit vegan gelato in a cone. It’s actually very creamy and delicious. I let Nate and the kids have a taste too.
As we get back to our hotel the lady from the front desk and the AC repair man are coming off the elevator. She tells us that the AC is fixed, and asks if we want some warm cookies. She says she will send them up to our room. About 5 minutes later we get a knock on our door and are handed warm cookies. We eat them on the balcony. We are still having little tiny ants in our room, so we don’t want extra crumbs inside to attract more. The kids are loving these "welcome" cookies, and are thinking this is the best hotel ever!
We all need showers before bed after a warm, sweaty and salty day. I can see we all got a bit of a sunburn, but thanks to our stinger suits it’s only on our faces and Nate’s head.
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