Two days and four dives on the Great Barrier Reef and I feel justified in having done our PADI. Gos has again been unking with the weather but that is the only thing we can complain about.
The first day was to a part of the reef open to the tourists for less than a year with only our boat permitted to go there. Fitzroy Reef is consequently relatively unspoiled and the diving differedgreatly from our previous experiences. the weather prohibited the coral from being too colourful but the fish were decorated in irridescent colours I had believed to be unnatural. While there were no large fish we did see a scarily thick and long (over two metres) sea snake. We were warned that the diving around Lady Musgrave Island, our second day's destination, wouldn't be as impressive but after the puke fest on the boat on the way out (the crew must have changed over 100 sick bags for 30 or so puking passengers) we were soon entranced again.
The fish were larger, there were countless starfish and clams, we saw our first couple of wrays but the highlight was undoubtedly the half dozen immensely graceful and surprisingly big turtles. It was another speechless moment (even if we had been able to speak we wouldn't have) and I forgot most of everything I had learned about diving in terms of staying together and not holding your breath as I felt compelled to follow them for as long as possible. Turtles can swim very quickly when they want to and I was soon just left with the memories.
Although an expensive couple of days it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and the word 'disappointment' never came into consideration. We're already picking out our next diving destinations but it's unlikely we'll match the splendour of the southern section of the Great Barrier Reef.
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