Sharks, turtles and rain storms: snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef

March 13, 2012

in Australia,Travels

great barrier reef

After the snorkel, on much calmer waters.

We’ve been having more adventures involving water. This time, we were n a snorkel trip on the Great Barrier Reef. We were on a pontoon-like boat with about 10 others and the hour-long ride to the reef was rough. We were smacked by the waves relentlessly. And then the rain started. Not too hard. But the waves were white capping.

We finally pulled up to a buoy in the middle of the ocean and that was where we were supposed to get out. It was rainy and the water was choppy and I have to admit that I was not feeling brave. In fact, I did not want to leave the boat. It was chilly and I did not have a life vest. But after being given a noodle, I reluctantly slipped on my fins, jumped in and put on my snorkel. I had just bought a new snorkel mask after reading these full face snorkel mask reviews. The water was warm and lovely. Looking down into the reef, I quickly forgot about the rain and waves and instead swam with Robert to check out fish in all shapes, colors, patterns and sizes – zebra striped, neon yellow and blue, long and thin, fat and round. Corals were pink and green and there were cobalt blue starfish and purple sea cucumbers. The clams were giant – three foot across. We swam along behind a giant turtle for several minutes. And then we saw a reef shark below us. Luckily, he did not seem interested in us.

It was all so magical. When we got back on the boat, everyone swapped stories about what we had seen on the snorkel. I thought I would be smart and put on dry clothes so that I would not get cold on the ride back in. And then about five minutes into the ride, it started raining. Almost immediately, it was pouring. We had a roof over our heads, but no side covers on our boat and the rain hit us from every angle. It rained so hard that it felt like needles hitting my face. It felt like it was hailing. I put a towel over me to block some of it, but it was all rather miserable. I had to force myself not to shiver. Waves were breaking over the boat and landing on us. It was a long ride. But we made it back safely to land. We were dripping, but happy for the adventure.

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