Day Nine!

Day nine:

Time for the Great Barrier Reef! We headed out right after breakfast and we got on a boat headed toward the reef. The ride was a little rocky but feeling a little seasick would be worth it. When we finally arrived at the reef I couldn’t wait to get into the water. We got our gear on and got in. The water was really cold but I knew that it would be worth it. As we started snorkeling I was in awe at all the different fish and coral there was to see. My favorite things were the giant clams. They were so cool! Lunch was a buffet. It was pretty good but it was sorta cold. I got to go on the glass bottom boat which was awesome because I got to see a sea turtle! I also got  to hold a sea slug, it was really slimy. The sea star that I got to hold was really tiny and it suction cupped to my hand. My favorite part of the ocean is the animals because theyre all so different. I liked feeding the fish because they went wild for it. It was fun to see so many. At the end of our time out there I was feeling tired and satisfied, I had such a good day. When we got back we were allowed to go out on our own again and it was still a blast.

Daily Journal

Prompt: Great Barrier Reef!

Response: We went to the Great Barrier Reef today. Exciting right? Shouldn’t I be excited? I was extremely excited on the way there. I mean who doesn’t want to go snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef? I had this idea in my head that it was going to have a ton of pretty fish and cool creatures to look at, and lots of colors (I also thought it would be warm….). The Great Barrier Reef just looked the same as a reef I swam in off of Florida. I thought it was supposed to be the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen but it was sort of a let down. Don’t get me wrong it was amazing and really cool, but I actually have seen better… Maybe it was just because humans are around there really often and not many fish were around. I still thought it was awesome but I didn’t feel as excited as I thought I would. Part of me is mad at myself for not being as excited, but I really just couldn’t feel excited like I wanted to. My favorite thing to look at in the reef was the giant clams. I thought it was cool that when you got a certain distance from them, you could see them close up. I thought that was really cool to see the bright blue coral was so pretty and so were all the colorful fish. Unfortunately I got so cold that I was shaking and had to get out. I couldn’t get back in because I was pretty much convulsing and felt like I was going to pass out, but I still had a very good time the rest of the day. I got to go in the underwater observatory which was awesome because you could see fish swimming that were undisturbed by people swimming. It also had two television screens that were on divers so you could see what they could see under the water. I thought it was really fun to look at. On the pontoon above the underwater observatory there was a small pool that had animals and large shells in it. All of them were picked up off the ocean floor by a diver, there were numerous sea cucumbers and one small starfish. I was able to hold both. The sea cucumber was really slimy and very soft. When you brought it out of the water it would shoot excess water out of its body because it didn’t want to feel its own weight. The starfish fit in the palm of my hand it was so tiny. When I held it the little suction cups on its bottom side stuck to my hand. I had to be careful taking it off. Overall my day at the Great Barrier Reef was incredible and I will cherish that experience forever.