Day 28 Land Tour Day 4 Great Barrier Reef

Misty had Violet early this morning. Everyone doing well, Violet is off to NICU for a bit. 5 pounds, 10 oz, and 18 inches long. Today we're going to the Great Barrier Reef and of course, I forgot my rash guard and water shoes in the bag that was in storage. Paul has a cold. The catamaran we're taking to the reef is the Reef Magic III, and holds 300 passengers, but today, has only 127. It's nice to finally have an activity not at full capacity.

This is the reef we are going to. This is the view out the window.

The rain and sea spray is sheeting off them.

Little Violet isn't happy.

Here is our pontoon in the rain.

This is the glass bottom boat. I don't want to do it. I think I'm about to puke. It's certainly rocking in the wind.

We got dressed up in a jellyfish guard outfit called a sting suit. Not quite a wetsuit, no buoyancy at all. I think Paul would have preferred a wetsuit. But oh, well!

This is the snorkel area near the ship. Have to stay within the white balls, which are all linked by rope. The white squares floating out there are safe zones you can grab hold of, just in case. There's about 5 or 6 of them in this area. Paul grabbed onto one and found it was anchored to the seafloor and will not sink when you grab it. Cool!

We signed up for a guided snorkel tour, but after trying to go snorkeling in their roped off area, it's too rough for me. Paul is doing well, though.

Rough water. We had a naturalist talk, and they fed some fish. The boat had a semi-submersible sub, a glass bottom boat, and scuba diving for people that were certified.

Look for Paul out there with the snorkelers. He is somewhere amongst that speck of people just to the right of the yellow buoy.

I'll bring it closer. The snorkel trip even called it early because it was too rough. But had already been brought into the boat, because he got a small cramp in his hamstring and started to run out of steam, trailing behind the group. He waved the spotter on the boat, and they got him in. Just in time, too. There was a fierce rain squall headed our way, so even the rest of the group came in about 10 minutes later. The ride back to the pontoon was in pelting rain that hurt when it hit your skin.

I tried to scope out a seat outside for the ride back that was facing forward.