Today we took the Wavelength boat, which is a small snorkeling boat (30 snorkelers max) out to the outer reefs. It was a bit overcast and the wind has picked up but the ride out to the first reef that we were going to snorkel at wasn't too bad. It was an hour and a half ride out and once we were ready to get in the water a squall came along and the water got really rough. I made it about 5 minutes away from the boat and I turned around. The waves were so high that they were going over my head, into my snorkel and I was like, I'm done. I wasn't the only person who decided that. The skipper didn't stay there more than 30 minutes because the wind was picking up even more and people were coming back in.
We went to a second site that was much calmer, so that made me happy. Again, the coral blew us away. The coral was bigger than the other reefs we previously had been. But some parts got really shallow and even though the crew warned people to not go over those sections, people got back on the boat with coral cuts on there legs--urgh. Love people who don't pay attention and kill the coral by being stupid. We snorkeled there for over an hour then jumped back on the boat for lunch.
The skipper, John, warned everyone that it was going to be a rough ride going home as he was checking the weather reports while we were out. Even though the sun was shining, he said we were in for some big swells on the way back and that people should take sea sickness medicine. I had already taken another dose and I was feeling just great!
We moved to a third and our final reef, where we had a bit over an hour to snorkel there. When I got back to the boat, more than half the snorkelers were already on boat as the water was getting rough again.
John was not kidding when he said it was going to be rough on the way home. I felt like I was on an episode of the Deadliest Catch. (Glenn said they would laugh at the swells and the fact that it was in the 80's, so nice and warm). I felt like we were on a roller coaster going back and before we knew it, people across the boat from us were getting sick. Guess they didn't listen to John and take anything! We were sitting on the "not sick" side luckily and I felt fine, other than freaking out that the boat was going to capsize, which Glenn assured me it wouldn't. I realized that when John slowed down or took a sharp turn left that I needed to white knuckle it and get ready for the hit!
We made it back safe and sound and I was excited that I felt fine! We got back around 5 and since then we've been doing laundry and packing--booo!
We drive back to Cairns tomorrow morning to catch our flight to Gladstone. The next day we catch our boat to Heron Island for about 8 days. Heron Island doesn't have phone, computer or TV access, so we'll be going quiet on the blog until we get back to Sydney in about 10-11 days.
Until then, enjoy some more reef pics from today.
