"Its all about the Great Barrier Reef! Its the best gift you can ever give me!", Vend chanted these words for the days leading up to our trip. We were all so excited and in high anticipation of our time on the reef. To make it extra special, we planned to live on a boat on the reef for 3 days. Move between 7 different reef sites, snorkel/dive up to 5 times a day to see if that might perhaps satiate our appetite for this most fantastic natural wonder of the world.
We arrived on the reef under cloudy and windy conditions. The water was choppy. That did not hold us back. We got right in, snorkel gear on, wet suits sticking to our warm bodies. The water was warm, the coral gardens awaited. The swims on the first day were spectacular! "We saw some brain coral, shield like coral, rainbow fish that are all different colors. So beautiful! I wanted to see some big sharks and saw them right from the boat. A whole school of them were swimming right under our feet. I spotted some clown fish while circling a coral garden.
I was most fascinated by the brain coral. They look like the brain, wavy and knotted up or sometimes they look like balls of different sizes. Some are humungous and others are tiny. The tiniest one I saw was grey and ball-like. Its fascinating how the same coral comes in so many different shapes, colors and sizes. And they are everywhere!
Rainbow fish are quite beautiful. The most common ones are blue, with some orange, red and yellow with some stripes."
The second day brought truly inclement weather. A cyclone was brewing north of us. We got caught in a rainstorm. That did not keep Vehd from snorkeling all five times he could that day, on three different sites. One of his swims was especially exciting as his water camera let go of its attached string and dropped right to the bottom of the ocean floor! I was about ten feet behind him and saw it make fast, straight dive for that rocky bottom. Two instructors retrieved it from under gnarly coral!
Still enthusiastic, we got Advait into the choppy waters, snorkel gear on, rain pouring on his head but the toddler knew better than to stick his head all the way into rough, salty waters. So he floated around with us, watching us try hard to make the most of rough weather conditions. I even chose to do an introductory dive. My only highlight was petting a puppy fish! It circled me for my entire dive. That was really special! The water was incredibly murky and made for very poor visibility.
By the third day, the weather had got the best of us. Tired and slightly dejected, we chose to skip our last snorkeling session. Vehd did still get out twice and swam long and hard during his last session soaking in every last sighting of the corals and many colorful fish.
Vehd closed his 3 day adventure with, "that was the best thing ever!" You got to love the spirit of an 8 year-old. It was all so worth it!
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