The alarm went off at 6:00 am this morning, but I didn’t mind as today was the day that we’d be heading to Lady Elliot Island and going to the Great Barrier Reef! At around 7 am we left my apartment and drove 2 hours up to the Hervey Bay airport. We checked into our flight and around 11 am we boarded onto our puddle jumper plane.

Let me say this, I am not a fan of small planes like that and how turbulent they are… especially going through clouds. But after about a 35 minute flight we circled around the stunning Lady Elliot Island (LEI) before landing on the airstrip through the middle of the island (not fond of the landing either haha).

We were greeted by employees waving hello at us, and then taking us on a small tour and safety briefing about LEI. We went to our cabin to unload a few things, and immediately changed into our swimsuits. Unfortunately, it was quite a cloud day but we didn’t let that stop us. We got our reef walking shoes, snorkeling gear, and then headed to the West part of the island for our first snorkel.

I’m not sure what I expected the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) to be. I knew it was going to be amazing… but I had no clue what I was in for. It was indescribable, beautiful, and many more descriptive words. Sticking my head underwater and looking at all the beautiful coral blew my expectations for the GBR out of the water! I absolutely love it. Sharon & I were both all smiles when we snorkeled (although it quickly turned into thumbs up since if you smile with the mask on it leaks water).

I loved duck diving down and swimming right next to the coral. So much so that sometimes I forgot that I actually wasn’t one of the fishes and needed to come up for air! We snorkeled for about an hour before heading back in, but we both enjoyed every minute of it!

We came back to the Reef Education Center for a turtle update @ 3:15 pm and learned a bit more about the turtles. Right afterwards @ 3:45 pm we went with a group and guide on a Reef Walking Tour. We saw blue sea stars (my favorite), many different sea cucumbers (fun fact: they don’t have a heart, brain or blood) and a few other various creatures.

Following that we went on a beach walk around most of the island and came back just in time for dinner. Sharon & I both ordered Mermaid’s Coral Juice drinks with dinner. It was a delicious beef, kangaroo, steamed veggies, and dessert dinner! After dinner we tried to see if any of the baby turtles were making their way down to the ocean, but unfortunately no luck there. At 7:45 pm the Reef Education Center put on a 45 minute presentation about the Great 8 animals of the ocean in this area – it was very interesting & we learned quite a lot! After this we got ready for bed, but unfortunately neither of us slept well. It was quite a stormy night and the high winds and rain rattled the cabin all night. And for a light sleeper like me, it didn’t make for a good night’s sleep.

We were both wide awake around 6 am so we decided to just start our day. We had to wait until 7 am for the Dive Shop to open in order to know the snorkeling conditions & if it was safe to go out – which it was. So we started our morning off snorkeling from Coral Gardens Zone to Lighthouse Bommies Zone, which ended up being more of a distance than we thought. But it was all worth it because we saw out FIRST sea turtle!! We swam around with the little guy for a while, and I was just so excited the whole time. It was like something you saw only in movies, and here we were swimming with the turtle! We continued to let the current push us along the reef and saw so much coral life. Then, I saw my first shark! Don’t worry, it was a friendly Black Tip Shark, probably about the size of my knee down to my feet.

I’ve always been a bit afraid of sharks, but in that moment I wasn’t scared at all… I actually was excited (probably because I knew it couldn’t hurt me haha). I also worked on controlling my heart beat because we learned from the presentation last night that sharks can sense when your heart rate speeds up, which causes them to turn around and look at you. I even duck dove down close to the Black Tip Shark. He was definitely more afraid of me than I was of him. When we finally reached the Lighthouse Bommie buoy we had quite the struggle trying to change back into our reef shoes from our flippers while big waves crashed into us – we eventually made it out and laugh about it now!

After our morning snorkel we had a quick breakfast and packed up our bags. At 9:45 am we had a Glass Bottom Boat Tour (it’s exactly as it sounds). We were driven around and were able to look at the ocean floor through panels of glass at the bottom of the boat – seeing things like fish, turtles, and a squid (unfortunately no Manta Ray). Then we were allotted 20 minuets of snorkeling time. It was great to be a bit further out than where we had previously snorkeled. It was funny because I had Sharon take a video of me duck diving and I looked up and another Black Tip Shark (about double the size of the last one) swam right passed me! Again it was more of the “whoa!” factor than being afraid. Along with this, I saw 2 more sea turtles! It was so peaceful to sit right next to one and float along the current with it. After they signaled for us to head back to the boat, we knew we weren’t quite done with snorkeling.

We got back to the Island and headed over to the East side to snorkel at the shallow lagoon. We saw a ton more unique fish and clams, but they didn’t compare to the more turtles we saw! There was a smaller turtle (probably about the size of my torso) and then we spotted a huge one relaxing under some coral. I spent about 2 minutes just hanging out with them! I was so close to them, we were almost touching (but not touching because it’s actually against the law to touch sea turtles). Guys. It was amazing. I think that was by far was my favorite thing about this trip. We continued to swim in the lagoon,  seeing plenty of my favorite blue sea stars, and yet again another small Black Tip Shark!

After such a water-packed morning, we felt quite water logged. So we changed into dry clothes, had lunch, and relaxed out on the deck. At 3:45pm we loaded up into the planes for our flight home, and much to my delight the ride was much less turbulent. It was such an amazing experience to witness the Great Barrier Reef in person. It is a must see when you are visiting Australia. It was absolutely stunning.

Until next time!