Heading out for a snorkel directly from the island.
Robert and I soaked up the sun as long as we could on the last day. The boat behind us was waiting to take us back to the mainland.
When we stepped off the terrace from our room, we were on the beach. At high tide, it only took a dozen or so steps to get my feet in the water. We went to bed at night to the sound of the Coral Sea tide crashing its way back onto the beach.
By day, we snorkeled and swam in the warm, turquoise-colored waters. We walked through forests of pandanus and pisonia. In the evening, we walked the white sandy beach looking for green turtle hatchlings.
For five and a half days, we stayed on Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef, 72 kilometers from the mainland. As the island is a coral cay, we could snorkel over gloriously colored coral and fish directly off the beach to see the mutton birds and noddy terns. It was paradise and we both loved it. The whole time, I kept humming Pharell Williams’ Happy: “Clap Along if you know what happiness is to you. Because I’m happy…”
Oh yeah I’m happy that I got to go back to one of my favorite places on earth.
(Stay tuned. I have lots more adventures and photos to share of snorkeling with sharks, checking out sea cucumbers and coral, brown boobys, sunsets and more.)
Seeing the “Welcome to Heron Island” sign still makes me happy, even though it was my third time to visit.
Kayaks on the beach.
The first views of Heron when we arrived on the boat.
A little champagne on the beach outside our room.
{ 2 comments }
Is that Gilligan and Marianne? I knew Gilligan would eventually get the girl!
Why Dave, I think you are right. It is definitely Gilligan at least…thanks for the laugh.
Comments on this entry are closed.