A Killer Day

This was a great day. An early start got me on my bus to Port Douglas to go out on Wavelength, a boat that one of the travel guides recommended highly for snorkelers. It's a great boat, very comfortable, taking only 30 snorkelers and no divers. One of the naturalists is a whale person.  The captain and I had actually sailed together before because he's friends with some of the folks I used to work with in Santa Cruz.
The first dive spot was my personal favorite in that it had a huge variety of fish, including many I wanted to see. The clarity was amazing and the temperature good in the well-fitting wetsuit they provided. I got some really good pics. The end of that stop was amazing. Unfortunately, I was the only one to see it and I didn't get a picture, but a large (non-dangerous) white-tip reef shark swam right under me.
It was at the second spot that I met the gentleman pictured (not one of my own shots). Killer is a humpbacked Maori wrasse. He came right up to the boat as soon as we got there looking for the squid they feed him. He's much more beautiful than this picture suggests. He's also very friendly and I got to give him a pat. After spending a good while with Killer, there was a guided snorkel tour on which I saw a blue spotted reef ray. Next there was a hearty lunch with huge prawns (shrimp) and cold cuts.
At the last stop, I found Nemo. I also found soft corals like I've never seen before and some huge giant clams that made the ones at Heron Island look puny. The final treat was seeing a red-lined trigger fish. Just beautiful.
Back in Cairns now and well fed. Dinner was souvlaki at a popular Greek restaurant. Excellent. Now it's time to go across the street to the gelato shop for dessert and then back to the hotel. Tomorrow will be an even longer day and I probably won't blog. It's aboriginal culture day and night.