Cairns and "Reef Teach"

Tuesday June 20th – We got up early and gee, surprise, surprise; we were almost the only people awake at our hostel. We put our luggage in storage and went on the hunt for new accommodations. We went to the “Accommodation Centre” and they were able to help us find a new place to stay. We decided to splurge a bit and got a room at a nicer hotel called the Mercure. The room is much nicer, it’s quiet, the staff is friendly and helpful, and they can help us book all the activities we want to do while we are in Cairns. There is a pool, and a restaurant with room service! Woo-hoo, I feel absolutely decadent! We decided today would be a leisurely day with our main goal being to book the activities we would do for the next three days. The hotel staff was really knowledgeable in assisting us figure out what activities we wanted to do and in a short time we had the next three days laid out.
Feeling relaxed with no decisions to be made we headed into town to wander, window shop, and eat. Cairns is a small town with a TON of tacky touristy souvenir shops. We bought a couple of obligatory t-shirts and did plenty of people watching. We finally found Sue who was on a break from her dive course. It was good to see her again and I’m beginning to realize how much I will miss her when she goes back to Portland while I return to San Rafael.
Sue told us about a class she would be attending tonight called “Reef Teach” and we decided to join her. I had already read about “Reef Teach” in my Lonely Planet book and wanted to go. Here is what Lonely Planet has to say about it,”...an excellent way to learn about the reef… the madcap lecturer is like an ocean obsessed Ace Ventura- this guy talks FAST. You’ll learn basic fish and coral identification, and how to treat the reef respectfully, as well as more obscure facts, such as which creature breathes through its anus.” The course was all this and more. Paddy Colwell is an Irishman who is a marine biologist and long time dive instructor. He came to Cairns years ago and was so appalled by the lack of information that people on dive trips were being given that he started “Reef Teach” 14 years later he is still going strong. Paddy is extremely animated and obviously loves the reef and his job. After 2 hours I was on information overload! I think I will remember enough to do some basic fish and coral identification and it was a fascinating way to spend the evening.
The three of us wandered around town until late and we said goodbye to Sue who, in the morning, would be heading out on the boat for the next few days.