Dean &
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Grand
Voyage--2012:
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The next morning started with a beautiful
sunrise over the Sydney skyline and a rainbow as seen from the ship.
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We had a light breakfast and walked from our
Darling Harbor dock around to Circular Cay to the ferry terminals
along the waterfront. Along the way, we marveled at the sandstone
bedrock which serves as footings for the bridge as well as the
neighborhood known as The Rocks.
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The unsubtle centerpiece of a traffic circle made us laugh. The
beautiful sandstone blocks create interesting patterns on many buildings
and walls.
 
We bought all-day tickets that can be used for ferries, buses, and trains. Our first destination, Manly Beach, was a
45-minute ferry ride. Since it was Sunday, the ferry was filled with
young people and families heading out for a beach day.
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We walked from the ferry dock through the historic town center across a
narrow isthmus to the beach which faces the Pacific Ocean--not the harbor.
 
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When we looked in one direction, the beach was fairly
empty. But the other end of the beach was filled with a dozen or
more kids' surfing classes. The younger kids were running relay
races into the water and back, while the older ones
were learning to handle themselves on the surf boards. Each
kid's name was written on the bathing cap.
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These seagulls with the red beaks and legs are Silver Gulls. After
walking for a good while along the beach and back through the town
on a different route, we took the ferry back to Circular Cay. (Next time
we come here, we'll spend more time and hike along the trails that
go out to the high bluffs that we sailed by as we entered Sydney
Harbor.)
A one-legged
seagull sat on the ferry's bow until the ferry's speed knocked it
off.
From
the bow of the ferry we approach Circular Cay. Ho-Hum, it's the
opera house again...
This ferry was more crowded than the early one we'd taken out to
Manly Beach. ~ ~ ~
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We hopped on a bus across the way from the ferry
terminal (using our day-passes) to head out to another famous
beach, Bondi Beach. We saw a different view of the city from the
bus and there were several places where we would like to have
stopped, but time was limited.
Bondi is a beautiful, long, crescent-shaped beach with good waves.
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Next to the beach this saltwater pool carved into the sandstone is
part of the complex for the Surf Life Saving Australia. They call
themselves the Bondi Icebergs
 
We walked most of the length of the beach and waited for our bus back to
Circular Cay.
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Instead
of walking back to the ship, we decided to take the Darling Harbor
ferry. There are 5 wharfs used by the Sydney ferries, so we inserted our
day-passes in the machine at the correct wharf and only had to wait a
few minutes for the next ferry. It would make several stops around
the harbor.
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The first stop was Luna Park. You enter the park
through the mouth of the giant face. We just had to take a photo of the eyes
and eyelashes of the face--scary.
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The ferry stop was about half a mile from the
Amsterdam. We walked back to the ship and again marveled at the
amazing contrasts of old and new, and at how carefully they've been
merged together.
Dean stands out in his new Manly Beach T-shirt.
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As we sailed away that afternoon, we took a photo of the historic
observatory and then bid G'Day to Sydney.
So far, this is our favorite city and we'd love to come back to
spend more time here. Next stop is Cairns, Australia, a two-day's
sail northward. The big attraction there is the Great Barrier Reef.
We plan to go diving.
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We arrived in Cairns in the morning at high tide. The light on the water was
wonderful, and then as we came into the docking area, a double rainbow
marked the boat that we would go out on--the second large cat next to
the one with the blue and red hull.
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Hundreds of sailboats were moored on the opposite side of the
channel near the mangroves. The walk to the
dive operation was only three blocks from our dock. So the 14 of
us--9 divers and 5 snorkelers walked over. The fast cat with almost
200 people stopped at an island let off 50 or so folks who would
spend the day there. Then it continued another 45 minutes out to a
large platform moored over a shallow spot on the reef.
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We were surprised that they fed the fish--all for
photo ops. Photographers were ready to take your picture petting a
large tamed fish (probably an Emperor Wrasse) or next to a giant
blue clam--photos were ready for you to purchase before you left the
boat at the end of the day.
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The blue tipped elk coral was beautiful.
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The visibility was only about 20 or 30 feet--too much
activity and the place was over-used, but still, we saw some interesting
corals and small fish as we moved away from the platform.
 
The clown fish lurk amongst the poisonous strands of the anemones. We
found Nemo!
 
Once we swam away from the snorkeling area, we spent most of our time in
the two dives exploring a coral wall.
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The giant blue clams are simply amazing with their iridescent
membranes. Some seemed to be embedded in hard coral
and may not be able to reach their full growth.
 
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We love the bright blue of the Christmas Tree worms and so many
others...
 
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The frilly black and white fish on the underside of the platform
is a Lion Fish, which has become invasive in Florida's reefs, but
it belongs here.
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The Great Barrier Reef is a huge ecosystem that's more than 2,000 miles
long. It's all protected and we saw lots of interesting organisms,
but we won't dive from a platform here again. We'd love to dive from a boat
that could drop us in at a less-dived site.
We did not get back ashore until 6:30pm. We'd thought
that we were going to go out and see a little of Cairns
(pronounced cans) in the evening since the ship was not leaving
until high tide at 3am, but we were tired and very soon after we
returned, there was a downpour that lasted a couple of hours. So we'll leave Australia without
experiencing this city and head
to Indonesia...
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Dean's
Log: Days 51-58
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