Australia 2016, Day 13 - Pacific Snorkling

August 19, 2016

We grabbed an early breakfast on Friday then headed over to the Marine Center to rent wetsuits, snorkel gear and book a snorkel tour for our day of Great Barrier Reef submersion.   We went back to our room and wiggled into our wetsuits (which was an experience all its own).  It had been a few years since we last snorkeled so we decided to get our snorkel legs in the shallow waters of Shark Bay on the opposite side of the island.  When Mark hit the water it was as though he was part fish.  Jen took a little longer to come around. 




After a quick 20 minutes practicing in Shark Bay we packed up our belongings and headed to the Jetty to board our snorkel boat.  Our snorkel tour was an intimate group made up of 5 snorkelers (including us) 1 guide and 1 scuba diver.  We had a short 5 minute boat ride that took us a couple hundred yards off shore to the edge of the reef where the water was about 12-20 feet deep (why specifically 12-20 feet deep? To ensure that when we were vertical in the water our flippers would not damage the coral reef). There was a very strong current and we floated along the edge of the reef seeing fish, coral and even several more sea turtles.  









After we disembarked from our snorkel tour we waddled (in our wet wetsuits) back to the hotel room to clean up. Taking hot showers felt magical but we crashed for the afternoon.  Its amazing how much energy was taken out of us - it was either due to an hour of snorkeling or the arduous process of getting out of a wet wetsuit, we're not quite sure.   




Once we woke up we ventured down to Baillie's Bar to work on the blog and catch up on the Olympic games.  We perused the Heron Island Gift Shop and stopped by Reception to confirm our transportation off the island.  Before dinner we listened to live music while enjoying a cocktail at Baillie's.  After dinner we did a night walk around the island and enjoyed the amazing weather and the full moon.