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We had hoped to get out to the Barrier Reef as far north as possible as this would have meant a shorter ride out in weather that was just not playing ball.

Unfortunately, the best vantage point - Cooktown - doesn't have anyone with a boat big enough (real shame), so we headed for Port Douglas where we signed up with the crew of Habana (seating capacity of 180 which is relatively small compared to some of the boats that go out from Cairns).

The weather was totally crap, the ride out was so choppy, we did well to hold down our complimentary muffins!

But once we were out there, we were overwhelmed by the beauty of the reef. It wasn't as colourful as it would be on a sunny day, but it was full to the brim with fishies and huge coral (probably some of the largest we've seen. We also managed to spot a reef shark and a turtle.

Ok, not all the photos on this site are ours, some were provided by the photographer on Habana.