The Great Barrier Reef!!!

The Great Barrier Reef is called Great for a reason. It's the largest geographical feature in the world, so big that it can be seen from space! It's a reef that grows on the Australian continental shelf and forms a huge and diverse ecosystem. It's where I've been waiting to dive since I got to Australia! We got up early to meet our boat that would take us out to the reef. It was called the Sliverswift (below). It was a cloudy morning and the clouds against the backdrop of the mountains was gorgeous, even though we were worried about the weather holding up (below). However, we were so excited that we didn't even mind! We boarded the boat, grabbed some tea and got a dive briefing as we made our way out to the reef. 

Our plan was to do 3 dives, the first was 22m, the second was 14m, and the third was 12m. Each us was supposed to be 40 minutes. All of them were amazing! I was using my air a lot more efficiently since the Julian Rocks dive (practice makes perfect!), and my buoyancy was better as well. This meant that I had about 100 barr left in my tank (1/2 a tank), each time we surfaced. And I ended up staying down 50 minutes instead too! Conditions for the dive were perfect! No current at any of the sites, good visibility, and the water was incredibly warm. So warm that we didn't have to were wetsuits, only stinger suits. It was 80 F at 22m which is incredible!! The reason for these conditions is because the Reef is in the tropics, also it blocks most of the larger waves and currents (see below) so diving is really calm. Unfortunately, big weather events like cyclones (there was a cyclone last weekend up here) DO impact the reef so there was a lot of coral damage from the cyclone. It was sad, but natural and there was still a ton of awesome and beautiful coral. 

We saw so much wildlife at all of the sites. Some of the highlights were White Tip Reef Sharks, Green Sea Turtles, Cuttlefish, lion fish, boxfish, barracuda, mantis shrimp, and GIANT clams! There was also a time on the second dive where we same out of a swim through and came out over a coral bed and the sunlight shone down and I felt like I was in Finding Nemo!! It was such a special experience, and the best part is that I get to do it again. In June I'm doing a live abroad dive in the Great Barrier Reef for 3 days. It's 11 dives in total and I'm so excited since these dives were so amazing. So glad that I will be able to return to my favorite Wonder of the World :)