Great Barrier Reef July 10th

To all the families,

Today I woke up with the anticipation of swimming in the Great Barrier Reef. I have always heard about the GBR in the news and from school. It’s so massive that one can see the GBR from space. I learned that the GBR is actually not one singular reef but a collection of over 2900 smaller reefs; an interesting fact for sure. Anyway, the weather was not the greatest; cloudy skies with a forecast for a light shower and winds of 20 knots (about 22 mph). I remember our bus driver said that at 25 knots, snorkeling is an activity involving the ingested of copious amounts of salt water through a big straw. I knew it was a joke but it made me somewhat anxious about the trip. This bus driver, the one we had when we first arrived in Cairns, was nowhere to be seen when the bus arrived at the resort. I saw that we had a new bus and driver, whose name is Andrew. He’s definitely not as talkative as Daniel, our previous bus driver, but his bus is amazing; leather seats and blue night lights are a big plus. Upon arrival to the reef terminal, we waited as we received our boarding passes and I took a good look around. Our boat is a twin hull boat, designed to ride on top of the water in order to cruise at high speed across the open waters. Unfortunately, as I later learned when I and my peers boarded the ship, the high speed skimming of the ocean water also means the ride was very turbulent and bumpy. I don’t normally get seasick, but I did not feel 100% during that trip. However, some friends and I discovered some fresh air out on the top deck of the boat and passed our time having the wind blow our hair backwards on the top deck.

In the middle of the ocean, I saw a singular white platform amongst a sea of brown, green and blue. I soon realized that this was the platoon from which we were to snorkel from. It’s a rather large platoon and it was nice and comfortable, complete with a buffet line and bar. Of course, we were only allowed to have cokes or water. Since I was in the second snorkel tour group, I spent my first half hour eating from the buffet line. One of the things I saw was that the wetsuits they provided covered one’s body entirely, complete with a sort of helmet/head cap that made everyone look like black or blue ninjas. It was rather hilarious. But, I had to don one myself and I walked on over to the side of the platoon and got my flipper on in preparation for the snorkel tour. It was an amazing one indeed. I saw all sorts of corals and marine life. One of the most interesting types was a coral that had little tentacles that drew back inside when you touched it. Our snorkel tour guide put his hand on the coral and a small hand print was left on the coral. I even got to touch some of the soft coral and they felt like furry sponges. It was an interesting sensation. Once the tour was over, I couldn’t wait to get back in; however, there was a semi-submersible tour leaving about 10 minutes after my snorkel tour ended. The semi-submersible granted an impressive view of the GBR through thick glass panels at the bottom of the boat. In my opinion, being able to snorkel and get up close and personal with the marine life is a much better experience than viewing it through a window, albeit it is much more comfortable and certainly much less wet. When the semi-submersible came back to the platoon, I immediately embarked on my own snorkel tour with some friends and tried to look for some fish. We didn’t find a whole lot but it was nice to swim around the platoon. I had my picture taken though, which made the short second trip worthwhile. Our day ended with a dinner at a restaurant named after Red Ochre. Apparently, red ochre is a type of rock used by native Australians in a time long ago to make cave paintings and such. Back to dinner, I was treated to a delightful kangaroo sirloin dinner. It definitely didn’t taste like chicken, but rather more like a beef steak. It was nice and rare and was coated in a spicy BBQ sauce. I can now add kangaroo to the list of animals that I have eaten. After such a long day, I am glad to be back in the resort and type up this little endeavor for everyone.