From the day we decided to go to Australia over Thanksgiving, we knew our top choice of places to go was the Great Barrier Reef - its the whole reason we went to north Queensland to begin with! So when day 2 of our trip arrived we absolutely couldn't wait to head out to the reef - and let me say, the reef did NOT disappoint! From the moment we got into the water and looked down, we were amazed by the coral. We've never seen anything like it! The reef stretches more than 1,200 miles along the east coast of northern Australia. Its home to hundreds of species of fish and coral and its the only living thing on earth that is visible from the moon! As you can imagine, its a site to be seen! Our reef tour operators, Wavelength, took us to 3 different snorkel sites along the reef. We got a good 4 hours in of exploring the reef and its many fish and different types of coral. The pictures definitely wont do justice to what we saw, but they will give you a good idea of the awesome-ness that lays just below the surface of the water. Throughout the entire day, Matt and I kept saying to each other "I can't believe we're snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef!" and now that I'm sitting here in our apartment, I'm still so thankful that we got to share such a fabulous experience together. Day #2 of our trip is filled with such sweet memories - ones that we'll surely never forget!
Leaving Port Douglas...the ride out to the reef took 1.5 hours. Talk about being far away from the coast!
M & K, ready to board the boat and see the reef!
We were blessed with a beautifully sunny day and fairly calm seas :)
We made it to the reef! We can hardly wait to see what's under the water! The turquoise area is actually just the sandy bottom of the ocean, but the dark-brownish bits are all coral reef. It stretched on for miles and miles!
First things first...we were there during stinger season so before we could enter the water, we had to put on full body lycra suits to protect ourselves from "stingers" - box jellyfish and tiny little Irakandji jellyfish. They can sting you and cause shock to your heart. Yikes! I'll take the suit over a sting and shock to the heart any day. We looked sooooo good in our suits ;)
Look at that coral below us! We are ready to see what else is down here!
Amazing! Our very first goal was to find Nemo...
Looks like we found him - and his family!
Well hello there Mr. Fish! This guy was HUGE!
So cool!
Neat, huh?
Look at the beautiful, blue clam. That's the biggest species of clams there is!
We can't believe we're at the Great Barrier Reef! Hey, what's that over there...?
...oh you know, just a SHARK!
Thankfully, we only ran into the harmless kind...white tip reef sharks.
Bye friends!
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