Reef Adventure!
Trip Start
Jun 07, 2008
1
13
Trip End
Jun 28, 2008
Where I stayed
Cairns,
Australia
Sunday, June 22, 2008
The ride out to the reef was really fast and choppy and soon I was sick. Amy got sick as well, but soon after that, it was time to stop at our first point for snorkeling. We headed out there, the water was surprisingly warm, the air was really windy and it was pretty choppy. But below the surface, it was beautiful. The reef was so close, we swam right over it, only a few feet away. The colors weren't as bright as I'd thought they'd be, but I think the wind was making it cloudy underwater. After snorkeling for about an hour, we headed back to the boat and laid out in the sun
.
. It took about 45 minuutes to an hour to get to the next spot, where Amy and I tried scuba diving. Amy had a great time, took to it naturally, and will probably do it again. I felt like I was going to die the whole time. I wasn't comfortable when we went down and water kept getting in my mask. I had to remind myself to breathe a few times. I saw angelfish and lionfish and beautiful, lovely things I would never have seen otherwise, but I was also terrified of what would might go wrong if something happened at the bottom. I don't foresee myself doing this again, but I'm glad I did.
After scuba, they served lunch and we all laid back for our 2 hour ride back. The ride was back was at warp speed and incredibly choppy, luckily we weren't sick anymore. But we did get wet. The spray kept coming at us from an unprotected area between our backrests and the front of the boat. It felt nice, until the sun went away and it got really cold. I was sitting in between Amy and Rissa and was pretty well hidden, so I just sat back and listened to Jack Johnson while everyone around me screamed and yelled whenever they got wet. Mom got hit especially bad. No matter where she sat, she got hit, until we made her move back and sit against the backrest with us.
When we got off the boat, we went to the bathroom and realized that we were charred
.
. Tricia and I were bright red, Amy was super tan, Mom was pink, and Riss was only burnt on her legs. When we got back to the hotel, we showered and changed and Riss, Tricia, Amy and I went out for a farewell dinner at L'Unico's. Afterwards, Riss and Tricia went back to the hotel and Amy and I walked down to the end of the beach, then walked back up and ended up laying on the sand underneath the palm trees and the biggest moon you've ever seen and talked for what I think was an hour or so.
When we started to get sleepy, we headed back and prepared for our 2:45 am wake up.
