The Great Barrier Reef

Today was wet. Really wet, both in and out of the ocean! I think tours to the Great Barrier Reef are usually pretty glamorous, hot sun, bathing suits, pristine clear waters, but that was not our experience. It wasn’t bad, but it was cold!
We boarded Ocean Freedom in the pouring rain. We were soaked, seats were wet, and the floor of the boat was water logged. No shoes allowed, too slipperyfor sandals. 

Happy we brought rain jackets. 

We took about an hour boat trip out to the reef. They dropped us off near a shallow spot with a sandbar. 
Syd on the glass bottom boat. Headed to the sandbar. 

Here I am on the mini sand island in the middle of nowhere. I was happy to have a wetsuit. 

Some pretty coral. The green fish flocked out when I swam over. 

More colorful coral. 

Feeding the fish by the boat. 

The water itself was pretty warm. The wind, rain, and chop of the sea made it a little less pleasant.  

Tons of fish!


From the top of the boat between showers. 

The snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef is definitely the best I have ever done. It is much livelier than Hawaii. The tours take you to small sites that are protected, but I image there are some places that are not visisted often that are really cool. I am glad we checked that off our bucket list!

We were soooo happy to get back to dry land after the red trip. 7:30-4:30 is a long day at sea. I felt water logged and was really excited to put tennis shoes on.

After a shower and dry clothes, we looked for a dinner spot. We ended up at Prawn Stars, another boat, that specializes in freshly caught shrimp. 
We had a huge array of food. Tiger prawns, some kind of mini lobster thing called bugs (below) and Syd had a dozen oysters. 

It was a fun experience, but messy!! I think I still smell like shrimp. 

All in all a great day! It isn’t supposed to rain tomorrow in Cairnes so that sounds awesome.