GREAT BARRIER REEF!

Thursday 15 July, 2010 REEF DAY!!!
Today was the day EVERYONE had been waiting for. Yeah the koalas and kangaroos were cute, but today we were going to the Great Barrier Reef! Our day started too early, but it was okay because we were going to the reef! Ten minute bus ride to the marina, and then boarded Passions of Paradise and rode the waves for a couple of hours. We all sat on the bow rails or in the nets in the front. The sea air mixed with the sunshine was heavenly! We were briefed on diving and snorkelling by the incredible crew. Dirk, my dive instructor, was hilarious (his son was cute, too)! I was in group one for scuba diving. We were all allowed a ten minute practise for free and then could continue on if we wanted. I panicked at first when I got water in my mouth and up my nose, but Dirk calmed me down and taught me a trick to prevent that from happening again. I was totally fine the second time, even though it was still weird for me to breathe through my mouth and not my nose! No worries mate! I couldn’t not go on the dive and so Dirk promised to hold onto my hand until I was ready to go on my own. We saw a lot of batfish near the surface, then when Dirk took me, Aimee, and Tayler down there were so many fish and coral! AHHH! J Before, during our brief, they were telling us that it was really rare to see a sea turtle, but we saw four! And we got to pet one and feed it! OH. MY. GOODNESS! It was the coolest thing EVER! I saw Nemo and Dory too! Dirk pointed out what we could touch and showed us cool fish and different corals. I absolutely love diving! Definitely want to get certified. When Dirk let go of me I was too light with my air tank and so I couldn’t dive down! It was really funny; I would dive and then not go anywhere! Dirk came back and put another weight on my belt and then I was all good. We dove for about a half hour and then had to go back. We could either snorkel or just hang out. I was freezing when we got back so I decided to hang out by the air compressor heater by the suggestion of Dirk’s son Jarrod. That plan worked well for me, because I was one of the first to get lunch! Ratatouille, yum!! I tried prawn for the first time, too. It was very shrimp-like. After lunch, we sailed out to the outer reef and en route we watched the fish feed! There are fish there that can swim 20 times their body length in one second! I gave snorkelling a go! The waves were really high and choppy but it was still really cool. I saw the coolest angelfish! Also butterfly fish, zebra fish, and tons of schools of fish just swimming around. There was a drop off similar to that of Finding Nemo and saw some dead and bleached coral nearby. L My heart sunk a little in my chest.
Sometimes when I was kicking around I would pop my head up (either because a wave plugged my snorkel or I heard a whistle), I would be so far out from the boat when I thought I was close by. Crazy currents! We had to cut our snorkelling short because the waves were getting so choppy. I was getting pushed under the boat, it was insane! I liked snorkelling but I think I prefer to dive! J
On the boat we had a marine chat with Kat and Craig. It was really interesting to learn about what we had seen down there! I bought a t-shirt to commemorate my first scuba dive! Dirk told me I was now part of the crew and had to go scrub toilets. He jumped when I said okay! Haha. We sailed back to the mainland at about 19 knots and just enjoyed the sun, the waves, and the salty air. It was simply beautiful. We had tea and coffee and bikkies when were almost back. Yum! We split a camera between five of us and got some pretty great pictures, they gave us the memory card after tea. I was sad to make port, but also tired and ready to go back. I think I would rather just live at sea though. J
It was a mad rush for showers when we got back! 60 people and ten or so showers! Pizza Hut was an hour late and forgot my salad so Ross gave me 20 bucks to go get food since the hostel bar didn’t have anything I could eat. Nerissa went with me and we split 2 sides and chicken. It was the best meal I’d had all week! I was secretly thanking Pizza Hut for messing up. Lol. I made my deposit for my surfing trip! I can’t wait for that weekend of just hanging on the beach and surfing lessons! After dinner we uploaded pictures and watched No Reservations and packed for the flight the next day. We were all excited to stop living out of bags soon!