The Great Barrier Reef. Wow! What an amazing trip! Now I will bombard all of you with our pictures. I hope you enjoy them!
We arrived in Airlie Beach on April 21. We had originally planned on taking a scenic flight over the Whitsunday Islands and the reef, but our flight arrived a little too late to make it to the other airport from where the scenic flight departed. It gave us time to chill out on Thursday because the next 3 days were gonna be crazy.
April 22, 2016
Today is the day of our Reef Sleep. This is where instead of only going on a day trip out to the Reef, a select few can spend the night out under the stars on the permanently moored pontoon of the Cruise Whitsundays Line. A maximum of 9 "sleepers" are allowed. I am so happy we chose to spend the night. Our 40 mile trip out to the Reef was a little dicey. There were some rough seas for about 40 minutes of the 3 hour trip. There were many people (mostly children) turning green. I was really happy when that was over with. During our trip I was struck with a moment of temporary insanity and Torsten and I signed up for scuba. I've never done it before. They can legally take a non-certified diver down about 30 feet. Eek, I was nervous.
Unfortunately, I didn't do very well. I could not get both of my ears to "pop" and it freaked me out. So we hung around 9 ft deep and enjoyed the sights. Luckily, there was a photographer there to make it look like we knew what we were doing.
After that, we went snorkeling and took plenty of pictures. First, here are pictures of the vessel we traveled out on and the pontoon we stayed the night on.
Then......let the snorkeling begin!
It was so serene under the water. And above the water, after the throngs of 275 other tourists left the pontoon at 3:00 and we had the place to ourselves, along with the 5 other people who chose the Reef Sleep. One couple were newlyweds on their honeymoon and the other 3 were a couple with their daughter who was attending school in Australia. They all happened to be from Boston. We got along great!
Time to enjoy the sunset and dinner with our "reef mates."
And we had a full moon to sleep under!
The next day we woke up to more beautiful weather and a delicious breakfast cooked by our hostess. We got the royal treatment. Then more snorkeling till we were waterlogged. And finally our departure back to reality later in the afternoon.
April 24, 2016
Today we traveled on a giant purple catamaran to cruise the Whitsunday Islands and go to Whitehaven Beach. The day's weather started and ended beautifully, but we no sooner landed at Whitehaven Beach when the sky clouded over and it poured.
April 25, 2016
We were lucky enough to get our scenic flight in before we left. Spectacular views!
Here is the pontoon that we spent the night on.
And the highlight.....Heart Reef
That's all for now, mates! G'Day!
