Australia – Day 07

Woke up early to enjoy the Great Barrier Reef. 

We had early breakfast at the hotel and went straight to our vessel since we were able to check-in the day before and get our boarding passes. 

After boarding the SilverSwift we navigated the rough seas for about two hours to arrive at our first snorkeling location.  On the way there the snorkelers and divers were briefed on their activities.

If the seas are rough, you can avoid getting seasick with medicine (offered by the crew for a cost of $3) or you can work on looking out the window and look at the horizon. 

On the first site, we had about an hour of snorkeling. We were able to see the abundance of different kinds of fish. You could admire huge and different types of coral as well as a lot of destroyed parts of the reef. There is so much beauty that we need to protect not only on the reef but wherever home is. 

We navigated to the second site which was about five minutes. On location, we opted to have lunch before going snorkeling. We ate as fast as we could to get back in the water. Once in the water, we saw similar things but the sun will peek from time to time we were able to see more of the beautiful colors the reef has to offer. Between lunch and water time we spent about an hour and a half at sight two. 

The third site was not too far as well. The little one was tired from all the previous swims and decided to take a break while I snorkeled with the wife. On this site, we had a guided tour with one of the staff members and he pointed out different corals and giant clams along the bottom. We were able to see a turtle but missed the rays that are known to live in the area. We snorkeled for a total of one hour and near the end of our time, I got to spot a white tip reef shark. 

On the way back we had carrot cake, brownies, and rough seas. The boat was speeding and we made it back to the port by 4:30 PM. The crew was fantastic and made the day a great experience. 

Back inland, we rushed to get our bags and go pick up our rental car for the next two days. After the Uber dropped us off at the East Coast facility we got our car and the adventure of driving on the left side of the road begins. 

Besides the obvious of having the steering wheel on the other side, it took me a while to get used to having the turn signal lever on the right side of the steering wheel. I continued to turn on the windshield wipers on every turn or lane change I was trying to make. I was constantly very focused on the intersections remembering to stay on the left lane after a turn. 

After making it safely to our hotel on Palm Cove we went out for a walk around town and find something to eat. We settled on Japanese food at Kushi where they have Takoyaki (octopus balls) and a variety of recommended kebabs. The balls were very good but the kebabs were not what we expected for the prize. 

On the way back we got ice cream to feel better about dinner.