Peeps and Ice Cream: Australia, Day 2: The Great Barrier Reef

Friday, November 16, 2012

Australia, Day 2: The Great Barrier Reef

This was an interesting day. Choosing which reef tour to go with was definitely the hardest choice of the whole trip. There were so many pieces I wanted to do, quickly learning you can't have it all. So I chose based on the helicopter ride and I am so glad I did.
We took a boat out, about an hour and 1/2 ride. It actually was a really fun ride, met some fun people and got pretty wet from the spray of the waves. Once arriving I was to go out on my "adventure snorkel!" Reality... I looked like a dork. I had on my life jacket and stayed on top of the water the whole time while the others were diving down looking at stuff. Me... puttering along! The water was real choppy and I got tired quick. Thankfully our guide let me hold onto the life ring.
At one point the guide said, "shark!". I look up expecting everyone to be swimming toward the boat and no one was moving or panicking like I was! I said, "could you please repeat that?" She said, "shark!" I then said, "then why aren't we going to the boat?" She said, "no, look down, it's a reef shark!"
I'm pretty sure you should never yell shark while you are out in the middle of the ocean with a rookie snorkeler like me!!
I also rode on the glass bottom boat and then took a helicopter out over the reef and back into land. It was really amazing!!! There are a ton of pics... I couldn't narrow down any smaller!!