Great Barrier Reef July 14-15 2018

Yes we did.  We took a weekend trip from Sydney to the Great Barrier Reef.  Cairnes (prounced "cans") as in tin cans as a taxi driver told me.

Its always been my dream to go to the Great Barrier Reef, now even more so with global warming.  Its one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

all ok sign!

Hotel:  Hilton Cairnes.  Stayed right on the Esplanade which is near all the tour boats and restaurants.  This really saved time as the walk to the boat was less than 10 minutes away.  Thanks Teung & May for this advice.  Another friend suggested going on a small ship. Glad we did with more personalized attention, quick snorkel lesson, help with getting wet-suit on/off.

Day 1:  Seastar Cruise to Michaelmas Cay and Hastings Reef.  A cay is a small mass of land made up of sand.  Coral are living creatures with a shell on the outside and living algae on the inside.  The algae is where they get their color.

Arriving at 1st stop, Michaelmas Cay

David entering the water at Michaelmas Cay

That's David in the middle

This boat had less than 50 people. since David doesn't swim, they pulled him and others on a float so they could go on the snorkel tour as well.

After lunch we went to Hastings Reef where it was a bit choppier but just as many fish/coral to see.  We even saw a turtle here.
One of the best parts of the day was a ride on the glass bottom boat.  Not only because you could see the coral up close (they grow up towards the sun), but because the guide, Sven gave such a good lesson on the GBR.  Bleaching has been going on forever, more or less an annual event as the coral regenerates.  However a few years ago there were two unusually warm/long summers which caused 20% of the coral to die.  Tour boats now actively monitor the coral for bleaching, destruction.  Hopefully the trend will reverse.
Poor David got seasick on the way back (as did many people).  One of the downsides of a small boat. I don't have an underwater camera so pulled these fish images off the web.  At both Michaelmas Cay & Hastings Reef I remember seeing these parrot fish.  See below, the aqua green one.  I told myself to remember this vivid color forever, and to smile and know how lucky I am to be one with the fish in the sea.  Each time I marveled at a beautiful fish, I said it couldn't get any better...........but it did, and another amazing fish just came along.  Hello.

Hastings Reef.  That's me in the middle with purple fins.  Low tide so you can see the reef right up in front.

There are so many different fish, just swimming peacefully it made me think of different human races.  If the fish in the ocean can get along, why can't people?  I imaged one school of fish being from America, and another from Spain, and another from China, and so on & so forth.  These peaceful creatures just floating around, picking at the corral, eating away, so happy.  What a life.  Hey humans, take a lesson from the fish.

Glass bottom boat.

Yes that's me.

Low tide & we could see the coral peeking above water

I kept trying to dive deeper for a good pix, but couldn't

We saw this turtle

I have no idea who this little boy is but it is the only pix I have of the ship

Day comes to an end.  We made good friends--even a family from PA!

I have no idea who this boy is but I admired how he was able to dive deep down to the reef.  I tried it...but you saw how deep I got.  

I highly recommend Seastar cruises .........It was perfect.

https://www.seastarcruises.com.au/where-we-go