With such a lovely setting and the copious amounts of food from the previous day, a strangely weird decision for an early morning was a good one! Leaving the sunshine, sea crashing and birds to wake me up, I headed down to the beach for a run on the untouched sand and some really great sun. Couple of pictures of the amazing setting below.

After a quick bite for breakfast looking out over the sea and sun rising, we headed out to a pontoon on the famous Great Barrier Reef with Quicksilver Boat Tours. The large boat takes around 100 odd people I guess for the day and a selection of snorkelling, diving, helicopter tours and pretty much anything else you want to pay for.

The 50 minute and rather windy ride out to sea went pretty quickly, and first up we went for an introductory dive. Now don’t think it’s a pool type thing, we were literally thrown in at the deep end. A quick intro in the sea on the platform and we descended into the depths holding hands like small children.

The sea was so clear and the views of the coral and marine life was unbelievable, the early worry and nerves about a watery grave soon disappeared as we held hands like small children and swam our way across the ocean bottom. We saw the cast of Nemo, and of course the Great Barrier Reef, well known Greg (a Maori Wrasse fish).

It was all over far too quickly, as 45 minutes passed and we headed up to the surface. A quick change and we went on the hunt for Sea Turtles with our ‘fins’ and snorkel! An hour guided tour with the marine biologist and 2 sea turtles (or maybe 1 seen twice?!) and we were ready to head back to Port Douglas. A once in a lifetime day, and another tick off the bucket list!

The evening was spent at Flames of the Forest, a very exclusive, aboriginal dinner in stunning setting on the edge of Daintree Forest. The food, entertainment and company was to die for, the Kangaroo was awesome! We then headed back to the luscious Thala Beach Lodge.