The Great Barrier Reef

Where does one even begin to write about visiting the Great Barrier Reef?  Perhaps by saying that this is something that should be on everyone's "bucket list."  If you're afraid of the 25 hours of travel to get to Australia, let me assure you - a day of the reef makes it all worthwhile. 

The reef stretches 1,800 miles along the north-east coast of Australia, and is the only living thing visible from outer space.  Although the system is considered one entity, the Great Barrier Reef is actually made up of over 3,000 individual reefs, and hundreds of coral islands.  

On this visit, we went to the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef, which is off the coast about 6 hours north of Brisbane.  Lady Musgrave Island sits in a coral quay - a protected lagoon surrounded by coral reef.  Because the lagoon is protected, it is the perfect home for a variety of sea life; but before we could enjoy the beauty, we had to travel over 50 miles from the Town of 1770 out to the reef.  

Lady Musgrave Island 

We had been warned that the trek was over open water, and may be rough.  The crew was even kind enough to demonstrate how to use the "just-in-case" bags that they had provided everyone.  Well, those bags were for more than "just-in-case" - about three-quaters of the passengers on the boat were sea-sick, and one woman even fainted.  Luckily, the Sullivan girls felt just fine, although Mark wasn't so lucky.

After about 90 minutes we finally reached the reef, much to the relief of everyone on the boat.  Right away we could see we were in for something special.  The water in the quay is an intense blue, with spots of turquoise showing you were the reef is.  As we were pulling in to the quay, through a small opening in the coral, two dolphins swam in front of our boat, and we could see hundreds of birds circling above us.

Once the boat was settled, the first thing we were invited to do was take a glass-bottom boat ride over to the island.  In the boat, our guide took us over a "turtle wash" - a coral where sea turtles stop to rest and be cleaned by one of the fish on the reef.  Low and behold, there were two sea turtles resting up as we drove over.

Lady Musgrave Island is surrounded by an ocean wonderland - but the island itself can't be overlooked.  When we visited, the tiny island was home to 100,000 nesting migratory birds.  Everywhere you looked there were birds' nests - in the trees, in logs, even buried into the ground!  Somehow, we managed to walk through the island without being pooed on, which was a minor miracle in itself - but that wasn't the biggest danger lurking!  When we made it out to the other side of the island we saw a school of reef sharks fishing in the shallows. 

When we returned from the island, it was time to get in the water and snorkle.  Although we had seen turtles from the boat, I didn't think we would be able to actually swim with them.  Boy was I wrong!  Mom was the first one to spot a turtle, sitting on the bottom the the reef and having a rest.  After we knew where to look for them, we saw them everywhere, even coming up for a breath right behind Mark!  Turtles weren't the only wildlife - there were sea stars, sea cucumbers, sting rays, and heaps of fish.  We even found Nemo!  Can you?

I'm a writer, and I like to think that I have a good handle on words.  But I struggle to explain how it feels to be out in the ocean, inches away from plants and animals you've only seen in a book or on television.  It really was an awesome experience, which Mom summed up perfectly, when she said, "I'm glad we did this on the last day, because there is no way we'd be able to wake up and top that!"

Tropical Paradise

Snorkling