If you thought you could come to Australia and rent a condo near the Great Barrier Reef and take it all in, WRONG! The Great Barrier Reef is 1,240 miles long!! Is it great becasue of it's size or because it is the world's busiest and varied marine habitat in the world? Both, and maybe because it is one of the greatest natural wonders of the world!
Our day was spent on what you can now imagine was a tiny speck of the reef. We took a 90 minute caramaran ride out from Cairns to a reef station and "parked". Much like they do at NASA when they "park" spaceshuttles in space stations! We "parked" at a large anchored platform that had a covered floating dock with many tables and changing rooms. It also had a glass bottom boat and a glass submarine. The day was spent snorkeling and spectating the marvels that exist there. We did not see any sharks, sea snakes, sea crocs, or the like! Thank goodness. We were able to enjoy all that was there, no bites, stings or even sunburn (we kept re-applying)!!!
Spending the entire day in the water lead to very tired travelers. A wonderful day. A wonderful lesson in marine biology. Everything on the reef was alive! All the coral, the grass, the sponges, the clams(those were something else), the FISH....all really amazing. They protect the reef as if it is a newborn baby. Everyone is warned about keeping the reef alive, no touching it, no stepping on it...one guy must have lost his mind at one point and stood on a part of the reef and the naturalists with us blew high pitch whistles that sounded exactly like the ones that are in The Sound of Music when the family is found hiding in the cemetary...remember that noise?? It was awful! My first thought was SHARK but no, it was a reef violation!!!!
We all made it back in one piece and loved every minute of it all. A suggestion to anyone headed this way. Take a sea sick pill before you get on the catamaran ride. It was one of the roughest rides we have ever taken. MANY people got sick. We did not thank goodness.
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