Green Island

Jen finally finished the first half of her SCUBA training - she's officially a Dive Control Specialist! That means that she finally has some time off, so we're trying to act like tourists for a while.

Last Friday, we spent the day on Green Island, a tropical cay off the coast of Cairns. And thanks to backpacker bingo at the Woolshed, where Jen won a free fare, we only had to pay for one person - sweet deal. A cay is basically an island formed of dead coral, so rather than sand, the beaches actually consists of coarse fragments of coral and shells. Birds from the mainland dropped seeds there (from both ends, according to the tour video), which eventually grew into trees, etc., resulting in a rainforest paradise straight out of Swiss Family Robinson. We spent the first half of the day snorkeling in the blue waters off of the island, swimming through the seagrass and coral, checking out the crazy fish, clams, sea turtles, prawns, and other creatures.


I found out that a goatee prevents proper suction with a mask, meaning my mask leaked like a sieve, but Jen, with her SCUBA wisdom, trained me in the fine art of clearing the mask underwater. The alternative was covering my mustache with vaseline - it might help form a seal, but I wasn't about to smear vaseline over my face for the day.

After the snorkeling, we ate lunch while attempting to fend off the aggressive island birds, which chase after french fries like crack addicts. Then we took a stroll around the island. Jen, unfortunately, had a losing run-in with a rock, which resulted in a bloody toe and flapping flesh - gotta watch out for those island rocks, they jump out of nowhere! A kind resort-worker patched her up good as new.


Otherwise, we had a great day on the island. Next on the itinerary: the rainforest.

A few Green Island pics: