Since I am living literally right next to the Great Barrier Reef, I figured it was high time I got another full-on reef experience. The tourist season is starting to wind down. I have noticed this because Rattle is emptier than normal, and also because it is dreadully hot and humid with occasional flashes of bucketing rain. I couldn't think of a good term to describe it, but bucketing at least sounds a little more comforting than 'flash-flooding'. There is also rain of the drizzly kind but that's not really interesting (especially for Vancouverites). I may be a sook (aka softy) since I'm not used to the weather but I still think it's starting to get a bit hot. I could keep going on and on but I wouldn't want to make anyone feel bad because they are stuck in the SNOW and COLD. I know, it's a tough life I lead. Anyway, as I was saying, the tourist season is winding down and the wet season is winding up which means tour prices are lower and also that the deadly jellyfish will soon be here.

Motivated mostly by fear (of said jellyfish) and also a sense of adventure I booked a tour yesterday with ReefQuest which included an introductory scuba dive! And it was on special! Double goodness.

We left at 9am this morning and it took about 1.5 hours to get to to the outer reef. I saw a big pod of dolphins on the way out, and the snorkelling was amazing - big fish, little fish, and other fish swimming all over the place. The coral was spectacular as well. Actually I might like the coral more because it doesn't move. It is very hard to get a picture of a fish underwater, believe me.

The intro scuba dive was really cool and I didn't have to do anything at all because Rocky, my tiny Japanese instructor, did all the setting up. Those scuba tanks are deceptively heavy. So Rocky took me and this other German bloke down to the reef floor and showed us around. There was a huge wrasse like the size of 3/4 of me but more round and much prettier which swam up and let me touch him. It was the first time I've ever touched a fish so I was expecting soft and squishy but he was just slimy. Apparently his name is Wally and he hangs around whenever the ReefQuest people come out to Norman Reef.

We went to another reef in the arvo (afternoon) which had lots of deep crevices and I saw a reef shark! I love sharks, I really do honestly, but this one scared the crap out of me. I was snorkelling off by myself minding my own business and swimming through a really deep area and this shark just unexpectadly pops into my line of sight and swims right below me. I should have taken a picture but I was too busy trying to breathe properly.

And that about sums up the day. All around excellent.

Photo Note: So of the all the pictures I took of the reef and fish today, I've posted the (very few) gems I could find. They are mostly of the large parrotfish that kept following me. At first I thought there were just lots of parrotfish out and about (they are quite large although you can't tell that by the picture) until I finally realised that there was only one and it was following me around. The problem with snorkel masks is that you lose peripheral vision. I tried to get a picture of it many, many times but it was being difficult. When parrotfish scrape away at the coral - because they eat it - you can hear it underwater and it's actually really loud.