Cairns Cruise Review

[SouthAussie100]

Hi all,

arrived safely back in cold old Adelaide from our 2 week holiday in Cairns and realised I haven't written my cruise review :eek:

 

It was a perfect cloudless 25 degree Cairns morning. We excitedly arose about 7am so that we had plenty of time to make our expected embarkation time of 8.45am at Finger B at the Marlin Marina, Cairns. We arrived at the Marina about half an hour too early just to make sure we beat the crowd of about 10 who were taking the same cruise.

 

At 8.45 on the dot, we embarked upon the rather homely "Catch A Crab" vessel. She was a delight with clean carpets, rather spartan but adequate toilet facilities and spacious covered deck. Small kitchen facilities were also provided with bottomless cups of free tea and coffee ! Very generous we thought. Also, soft drinks available in the esky for a small fee.

 

Captain Tony introduced himself personally to us all and made a point of remembering all of our names for the entire cruise - we were very impressed! He was a friendly fellow who apologised that his crew (of one) was sick that day and so he would be looking after all of our cruising needs himself.

 

Finally, sail away at 9am with a sound ringing of the bell and a few curses from Captain Tony as a considerably larger "Quicksilver" Reef Cat pushed in front of us to leave the Marina first. At last open water as we turned right out of the Marina and headed into the cobweb of estuaries teaming with crocodiles and hopefully mud crabs. Our outbound cruise was approximately 40mins where we stopped amongst the tropical forestation next to the sea inlet. Captain Tony (who is also apparently the cook, cleaner, crab catcher and onboard entertainment) grabbed a long hook and remarkably pulled up a crab net full of delicious mud crabs. He told us that he has about 50 traps along the estuaries. None are marked for location else some other 'captain' comes and pinches the booty !

 

After giving us a bit of a chat about how to tell the difference between a male and female (which must be returned to the water) and how strong the claws are. He showed one crab actually rip through a soft drink can, amazing. He then invited us to try one of our fingers in place of the can. hell no ! We continued another 10 minutes or so along the calm water to another trap until he had collected enough to ensure a hearty amount for lunch.

 

While Captain Tony (CT) cooked and prepared the crabs he provided hand lines for us to fish. I caught the ugliest fish I'd ever seen in a 'toad fish'. (see pic) It was then that we had a good chat and found out that CT had been on the Pacific Star this Feb. Apparently he was the winner of the FNQ weight loss challenge and won the cruise as first prize :) We talked for ages about what he thought about the PS and what a fabulous time he had (small world !!). A real character. He said the hardest part about losing the weight was NO ALCOHOL. As part of his prize he won $1000 too. Which he apparently spent on ALCOHOL !! He had us laughing a lot !

 

Finally, the dining room opened, tables were set and lunch was served - the freshest mud crab you could ever taste with fresh rolls and delicious salad and fruit platters. Accompanied of course by a mystery chardonnay delivered from the silver bladder of a cask...bloody beautiful :D

 

All too soon, we were homeward bound back to the Marina. On the way CT entertained us with funny stories of his PS experience and then demonstrated his very clever harmonica skills with a resounding version of Waltzing Matilda and Advance Australia Fair !

 

We arrived back at the Marina about 1.30pm and all agreed we had a ball. Disembarkation was uncomplicated and speedy with only a small mishap of someones hat blown off. A short walk back to our rent a car in the Pier carpark and back to the Waters Edge Apartments (which I can also highly recommend) for a bit of a power nap before the next adventure.

 

Hope you've enjoyed my review :o

cheers

Vanessa

[DucknChook]

Thanks for taking the time to do your review Vanessa, just a warm up for September hey.

Mmmm just love crab too.

[suexxx]

Southaussie100. Sounds like a good time was had by all. Thanks for posting Suexxx

[SouthAussie100]

Thanks for taking the time to do your review Vanessa, just a warm up for September hey.

Mmmm just love crab too.

 

yes, thought I'd have a practice before the real event in Sept and was feeling left out with all the new reviews coming up ! Just imagine, if I can prattle on this much after our 3 hour 'cruise' imagine a weeks worth. oh dear, I hope it doesn't turn into a snooze fest !! :o Just a bit of silliness really !

 

Vanessa

[DucknChook]

yes, thought I'd have a practice before the real event in Sept and was feeling left out with all the new reviews coming up ! Just imagine, if I can prattle on this much after our 3 hour 'cruise' imagine a weeks worth. oh dear, I hope it doesn't turn into a snooze fest !! :o Just a bit of silliness really !

 

Vanessa

 

LOL I did the same for a habour cruise Chez and I did for 'The 2 Queens', it was a 3 hr cruise and my review was twice as long as yours! We will be on Pearls of Tahiti for 28 nights-you poor things will have a bit of reading then.