Green Island on the Great Barrier Reef

It was another glorious Cairns day when we boarded the Reef Rocket for a day out on Green Island.  This is a beautiful 6000 year old coral cay located in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, just 27km offshore from Cairns.  Easily accessible with travel time only 45 minutes by fast catamaran, it is an ideal way to get a small taste of the world famous Great Barrier Reef.

The Reef Rocket

The trip was soon underway and we watched from the rear of the craft as the view of the city of Cairns started to get smaller and smaller.

Goodbye to Cairns

Reef Rocket was racing along at 20 nautical miles and the trip got rather bouncy once we were out in the open sea.  After a 45 minute trip we arrived at Green Island.  And it certainly looked stunning, sandy beaches, beautiful blue waters, and covered in tropical rain forest.

First glimpse of Green Island

But before we went exploring we had to depart from Reef Rocket and go aboard Big Cat which was moored at the wharf and was serving our pre-booked lunch.  There were queues of people all with the same idea, and obviously with the same dining time on their tickets.  We found a couple of spare seats, got our choices from the buffet, and sat and ate our lunch while watching a TV presentation of the beautiful coloured tropical fish found on the reef.  Then it was time to explore, walk along the wharf and see what we could see.

One of the many welcome signs

I stopped on the wharf to take a panoramic view with my camera.

People were lazing on the beach, while others were busy snorkeling.  We looked down from the wharf and could easily spot colourful fish swimming by.  Others further out to sea were paragliding, and the glass bottom boats were slowly bobbing about looking at the fish.

There was a luxury resort on the island for the well heeled, but we made do with a quick look  look around the shops.  Set in a lovely shaded area with plenty of seating, we sat and enjoyed an ice-cream  - very pleasant indeed.

The shops at Green Island

We had to check our tickets and sure enough, it was time to return to the wharf for our trip in one of the glass bottomed boats.  And here comes one now, ready to disgorge the passengers and fill up with a new bunch of day trippers.

The glass bottomed boat – everyone with eyes down and looking

The skipper took us through a safety talk, as they must these days, and told us what to expect.  We glided over sea grass, and then over some coral.  The tide was out so the water wasn’t very deep.  And then the fish came into view.  A turtle swum by, but unless you were lucky to have your camera pointing at the exact spot, they were hard to photograph as they quickly moved away.  One of the passengers lost a straw  hat overboard and we watched as it slowly sunk under the boat.

Seen from under the glass bottomed boat

The skipper then threw a handful of fish food from either side of the boat.  That certainly produced a feeding frenzy, with the seagulls joining in too.  Divers no longer get into the water to feed the fish these days.  A very interesting little trip, but we both thought that we would have seen more colourful species – but perhaps they were out in deeper waters.

All after a free feed

We relaxed with a cold drink, had a little R&R, and all too soon our time on Green Island had come to an end.  It was time to reboard the Reef Rocket and head back to Cairns.

Goodbye to Green Island

The return trip was even more bouncy and we had to hang on for dear life as a passenger kindly took our photo for us.  Then we sat back down again quickly.  The trip back was much quieter as all around us people were nodding off after their big day out.  Once again, a very enjoyable day exploring.