The Great Barrier Reef

Saturday., Feb 26th - We finally made it to the Great Barrier Reef!!!  We woke up to mostly blue sky at 6 am and it stayed that way all day....BONUS!  We caught the bus to the marina and soon we were on our way to the Knuckle Reef past the Whitsunday Islands. It was about 90km from the mainland which was a three hour voyage each way with some rough waters in the shipping channel for about 1 hour.  If you are prone to sea sickness, take drugs ... $3 on the boat.  There were a few sickies but we had no worries.






Once we landed on the pontoon secured beside the reef, we put on our wet suits and were soon snorkeling on the reef.







Then Tracy put on her BC and tank and took her introductory scuba dive.  Eugene did not go because of a minor lung issue.

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The variety and sheer volume of marine life was incredible and the coral spectacular!   Tracy was calm and ready for this dive after snuba diving in the Virgin Islands.  She couldn't believe the giant clams probably 45cm across and the beautiful colours of all the different corals.






There were thousands of small fish and a few larger ones.  Just before she came out she spotted a large Maori Humphead Wrasse.  Awesome experience and now she wants to get her Scuba Certification but only if  Eugene will do it too.  After a quick bite for lunch, we went back in the water and did more snorkeling.  In some areas the coral was so close to the surface it was as if you were diving .... beautiful.     We spent a total of 3.5 hours on the pontoon which was not enough as there were a lot of other activities which we did not have time to enjoy.  There was a huge water slide, a glass bottom boat and a Subsea Adventure boat.   You could also take a scenic helicopter ride.  Tomorrow we start to head back south towards Sydney.

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