Day 5 - The Great Barrier Reef

Helicopter Ride over the Reef
Shark I saw at the Great Barrier Reef!

I'm going to need to consult the thesaurus after a few more posts, in order to find more adjectives to describe how spectacular this trip was! With the low point of the trip behind me (see Day 4), I was ready to get out and see the Great Barrier Reef. The day started early, with a bus ride up to Port Douglas, to get on a boat for an hour or so, which brought us out to the reef. Along the way, they fed us snacks and offered all kinds of activities to sign up for and we elected for: semi-submersible boat ride, helmet diving, snorkling and then a helicopter ride over the reef! It is certainly a day I won't forget for a long, long time. If I had another day to go back again, I would have definitely gone out for another full day on the reef. I recommend anyone going out there to try to go more than one day if you can. There is just too much to see and do in one day! :) I would have snorkled for a longer time, if I could do it over again, and I would have opted out of the helmet dive. Helmet diving seemed like a good compromise between snorkeling and scuba diving for those of us that don't scuba. However, you stay very close to the boat, the helmets are heavy and loud and you end up having to move super slowly with all the gear on. I had fun anyway, and we got to take underwater pictures, but I think that not doing that would have afforded more time to snorkle.

As soon as we stepped into the water, there were fish to be seen, even before looking underwater! The coral and the fish were so neat! I had snorkled one other time in the Bahamas and had the feeling of looking into a gigantic fish tank. It was still like that for me, only seemed an endless fish tank. :) I am a passable swimmer, and wouldn't normally elect to stay in water for hours, but I sure wished I had more time in the water at the Reef. The water was super warm and I didn't feel cold at all coming out of the water with the balmy air temps; the saltiness of the water always surprises me with the ocean. I think of how much salt it would take to put in one glass to taste that salty and comparing that to the ocean boggles my mind as to how much salt is in that water!!

In contrast to the helmet dive, the semi-submersible boat gave us a great view of the Reef and of lots of fish and marine life. The boat just had a bottom level that we climbed down to and then watched out the windows while we went around the Reef. The commentary was nice as well; I'd recommend doing that right away, as your first activity there so you can spend the rest of your time snorkling!

Finally, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to take a helicopter ride (although, I unbelievably ended up taking TWO helicopter rides on this trip, after never been on one in my life) to take bird's eye pictures of the area. I really enjoyed the ride, the huge shark we got to see below and the views from above. It wasn't what I expected- almost looked like a beach in places, where the waves crashed upon the parts of the Reef that were exposed above the water. It was a great way to end the day out on the Reef before heading back on our boat, to our bus, to our hotel. Sydney was fabulous; the Reef was spectacular (and really, the trip got better and better... how am I going to describe it?? :). Next stop: The Sunshine Coast to visit my niece Colleen and her Aussie hubby, Alex!

More pictures of this incredible day on my photo website! Click here for the next post in this journey :)