A Trip Down Under-Part 4

Day 11- Today we headed to the Great Barrier Reef! Can you believe it! ME...snorkeling on one of the only 2 visible things on earth from outer space!!! I was totally excited for this day! I prepared for the day with yet another peanut butter and banana sandwich. We headed to the pier to meet our boat with the other 100 who would also be going with us and off we went to Green Island. The ride took 90 minutes. The whole way I looked so closely for a whale to leap from the beautiful blue water. No whale but the color of the water was mesmerizing. As we neared the island and the view just got more and more gorgeous my excitement grew. The reef became more visible and in some areas, as we neared the shore of the island there were parts of the reef above the water. We pulled in and unloaded the boat with our snorkel gear. There was only enough time to find a locker to put our stuff and then we headed back up the pier to load the semi-submersed boat which would give us a divers perspective of the reef. The first thing I saw out the window when I took my seat was a shark on the bottom of the ocean floor. NICE! Except a little scary to think that I'd be out snorkeling with the sharks a little later. We headed out to the reef and saw several types of fish from very small to pretty big, a HUGE giant clam (I'm talking several feet in diameter!), several turtles and amazing reef. It's so amazing to think that there is a whole other world in the depths of the blue ocean. After our boat trip the snorkeling began. We donned our snorkel gear and began the trek into the water. It took a little while to get out to where the water was deep enough to swim in but finally I got there into the water I went. Immediately I was looking at the most colorful parrot fish, tiny electric blue fish and then I nearly ran into one of those super huge clams! As I went on it just got more and more amazing. Such a variety of fish, lots of starfish...one was so big! It had long, thin arms and was such a beautiful color blue. I just wanted to keep exploring but without a wetsuit I began to get cold and finally had to end my exploration of the colorful, living reef without seeing a turtle or shark. I sat on the sand to dry off and eat my lunch while trying to shew away the most pesky bird who was bold enough to get into my bag to get to the apple core wrapped in a plastic bag! geesh! At the end of the day we boarded the boat and the staff threw pellets into the water to feed the fish. Quickly several sharks came to the surface to try and beat the numerous other fish to the free meal. It was a great day. My only regret was not having worn a wet suit so I could have stayed in the water a little longer. Happily, I remembered to lather on the sunscreen and where a shirt so I came out of the experience with very little burn. Good thing Australia isn't too far of a flight from Thailand so a return trip is totally possible!