Green Island - Great Barrier Reef - you get out here off the coast of Cairns by high speed catamaran but even so it takes 45 minutes to get there so it is some distance off shore. I went swimming in the ocean and found the water surprisingly warm, salty and the waves very powerful. Routinely the waves would lift me right out of the water. I found it disconcerting to have the sandy bottom suddenly drop off and you are swimming. You can see in the pictures that the coral reef is just below the water and that it is a shallow world for all the sea life that is suported by the coral reef. It was blazing hot at 10 am and despite being careful about not getting a sun burn I still got a slight burn. It was difficult to leave paradise.