October 18th: Great Barrier Reef

on the cruise boat after our first snorkle

the dock

our boat

 inside the boat

the kitchen that fed over 100 people

 fish of the reef

 on the Great Barrier Reef

 complimentary... really hard to eat on rocky water

bubbles from the scuba divers

clown fish

giant clam

another giant clam

trying to see people over the waves (all on our noodles to keep us afloat without much effort)

Today we went to the Great Barrier Reef. It was a very interesting experience as I had no clue what to expect. I was surprised to find that the reed if not one large strip of coral but rather little reefs that all make up one large reef. The pictures are from a professional underwater camera that my friends rented. It was a very overcast day and that made the water very murky but it was still difficult to see because I can never quiet get the hang of not getting water in my goggles. the first snorkel spot we went to was nice and one girl saw a sea turtle. I saw a huge fish that I have included a picture of from Google to show what it looked like. It was huge and so big it could hardly get itself to swim properly. The second dive spot was a lot more colourful and that is where most of these pictures were taken. I saw sooooo many different brightly coloured fish and even electric blue tree coral. The pictures don't do it justice. I wish we were there on a sunny day, it was unbelievable on a cloudy day, I can only imagine what it would be like with sun showing through. A lot of people were getting sick on the trip which was surprising to me because this ride felt like nothing compared to last week's whale watching experience.
On the second dive spot I was having a lot of trouble because the waves were getting larger and hitting me and pulling me out where I felt uncomfortable. I was also without Danielle as she was getting sick on the boat. Then the wave took my noodle away where I had to swim over toward it and in that process I got a Charlie horse in my toe. That was when I decided I needed to head in before I became a hazard. Once inside they gave us fruit (to get the salt water taste out of our mouths), cheese, crackers, and wine and a nice show to go with it all to entertain us while sailing back home.
I decided not to spend $65 for 30 minutes of scuba diving.