Great Barrier Reef!

Saturday was the highlight of my trip. I went diving on the Great Barrier Reef! This is something I have wanted to do since I was little. I spent ages researching which company etc to go with and was glad I did. Some take you out to a platform to dive from and I didn't really like that idea. I went with Quicksilver, who take you out on SilverSonic, a 45m catamaran. And it was quite a small group.

There were only about 50 on the boat (some have a few hundred which I didn't want). There is another reason but I'll get to that in a bit. The trip took about 1.5 hrs and they take you out to the Agincourt reefs which are on the outer reef. They are the only company allowed to dive here so there weren't hundreds of other boats in the area either. I booked to do one dive and 2 snorkels but after the first dive they said there was room if someone wanted to do a second and I jumped at the chance. The first stop (and my first dive) was at the Three Sisters reef, on Agincourt 2. (There are 3 Agincourt sections of the reef.) After the intro session, we got ready and then waited.

A long time. I was desperate to get in and started. But there are only 4 people to each instructor and
they have to take people down in pairs and make sure they were ok with the tests, such as changing regulator, clearly your masks, and equalizing. And some in the group before me had a lot of trouble. (He ended up getting out and getting a refund.) Then it was my turn. You waddle to the back of the boat. (there really is no elegant way of walking in flippers - you either pick you feet up and look like a frog or shuffle and look like a penguin. I went the penguin route.) And then just jump of the back of the boat. Because they weren't sure how good everyone would be, they didn't allow me to take my underwater camera on the first dive.

But the dive was awesome. I swam with 2 reef sharks! And it was so beautiful.

After the dive we went to Phil's reef (named after a guy called Phil!), also in Agincourt 2, and they served lunch. I had been given some great advice the day before by a couple in the rainforest. Get a plate of food, put it somewhere safe, and go snorkeling. Eat when the boat is moving. And because no one else did this, I had the reef to myself.

Pretty colored coral

More coral                                    

Snorkling selfie

Parrot fish and friend

Big fish

Coral valley

Lots of big fish

 It was quite a shallow reef which was great for snorkeling. And there were so many fish. It was even better than I though it would be.

Shallow seas

I decided to keep my stinger suit on while snorkling. Partly just in case (I did not enjoy the sea lice

stings) and it also kept me warmer.

One of the other reasons I chose this company was they have a license that allows them to stop

and swim with Minky whales if they spot them. It is very early in the season so I didn't expect to see any. But as I got back form snorkeling, I heard there was one out the front of the boat. So as soon as I was given the ok (there can only be 16 people in the water at one time) I jump out the back and raced around to the front. You have to hold onto a rope to make sure everyone stays in one place and does't disturb the whale.

I saw a blur in the distance. And then it swam under us and I saw another blur. And then it saw beside us. And it was no blur this time.

He just slowly swam passed. About 8m long, he was a good deal bigger than the estimate of 5-6m I heard on the boat. He was beautiful! And then he was gone. I had pointed the camera and pressed the  button a few times but there was no way I was going to take my eyes off him long enough to check. But thankfully I did get some photos.

After the whale I went back on board to eat even though I could have stayed in the water for another

15mins. I needed some time to relax. :-)

The second dive at our final stop was at Turtle bay, which is Agincourt 3, section D.

Unfortunately I didn't see any turtles. (But I figure with the whale I really can't complain!) As we were getting ready, some mentioned there was a tiger shark but he left before we go in the water. :-(

As we had all been through the intro before (plus 2 were certified), we just want start down. And our instructor, Justin who was awesome, said we would just stay down as long as the air lasted out! And he showed us all sort of beautiful things. And brought some fish food to attract more fish!

Giant fish!

Nemos!!!

Giant clam

Coral and hiding fis 

More fish 

Lion fish

Proof I was there!

Eating the rope

grumpy

Coral from below

I was so conscious of not touching or bumpy into any coral. However our instructor showed us a piece of soft coral we could touch. It was really soft and squishy!

I ended up hiring a waterproof camera for the day and I was very glad I did. We ended up going down about 10-12m which is deeper than I think my little waterproof will cope with. Plus this one had a bigger screen so I could even do some artsy shots.

surface

into the deep

bubbles.

Not so artsy. Scuba selfie

Solo diver

Group ascending

We stayed down about 40 mins. And I didn't want to leave. As we got back to shore, the weather started to cloud over again. We were so lucky with the weather. Apparently it was the best day for a long time and likely for a while as the weather is supposed to deteriorate for the following week.
I also knew diving the barrier reef would be cool but I honestly never expected it to be that amazing. It was better than my wildest dreams!

Happy diver!