Day 7 - Sunday, March 22 - Barrier Reef

Hello friends & family:
Today's blog should be very short, as our experience today on the Great Barrier
Reef defies words... I should end here, but I won't!

This morning we had breakfast at the Thala Beach Lodge where the birds
fly all around you. See my photo of the birdies on the tree right next
to our breakfast table. By 8am we were on the shuttle bus heading off to
our "Calypso Tours" boat excursion to the Great Barrier Reef. When I agreed to this Australia trip with Willie, he was stipulating several RULES that I was supposed to adhere to if I wanted to travel with him on this journey...one of which was that we would not be leaving the city of Sydney... I had to totally badger him into agreeing to travel up to Queensland as I thought "I'm not coming all the way over here, and not seeing the Great Barrier Reef". Willie grumbled then...but after today he was NOT grumbling!!

Today was sunny and very breezy - the boat rocked like a swing for the 1 1/2 hour ride out to sea. I took some medication offered onboard for seasickness, and it made me a bit sleepy but I never felt queezy. During the day we snorkled (3) different reefs. The water was comfortably warm and we were given flippers, masks, and a full-body lightweight nylon wetsuit. It was like swimming in your pajamas!! Between the reefs we were given lectures of what we had seen, and also a delicious lunch.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Put on the top of your "things I want to do before I get too old, lose all my money, or enter the phase of life where my kids don't want anything to do with me" TAKE THE FAMILY TO THE GREAT BARRIER REEF. It was everything they say it is, and MORE! Willie's exclaimed "It's awesome!!!!" Truly, the coral and fish are beyond beautiful, words have not been invented to describe what we saw today. I hope you will one day get to experience it for yourselves. I feel incredibly lucky & blessed.

Captain Cook first encountered what is now known as the Great Barrier Reef in 1770. The reef as we are experiencing it today originated over 6,000 years ago - the beginning of the reef is said to have started over 500 million years ago!!! It is 2400 km (1500 miles) in length, and it's area mass is larger than the state of Texas. There are over 1500 species of fish in the Great Barrier Reef, and up to 860 can be found on a single reef alone!!! Willie and I saw a turtle and another person saw a white-tip reef shark! Over 2 million people from all over the world visit the Great Barrier Reef each year. The reef was declared a Marine Park in 1975, and listed as a World Heritage Site in 1981. (We are visiting ANOTHER World Heritage Site tomorrow, but I'm not telling you where!)

Unbelievable but true: One of the passengers today (a newlywed!) lost her diamond engagement ring in the Great Barrier Reef, and the tour guide FOUND it stuck in one of the millions of coral colonies! No one could believe it! Not quite as dramatic, but I lost my green scrunchy, and the guide found that too! St Anthony is alive & well in the Great Barrier Reef. Here's an interesting tidbit - the Great Barrier Reef has it's own mailbox. You can ferry out there and send a postcard, stamped with only the Great Barrier Reef stamp!

Due to the fact that Willie does not like the fancy food at Thala Beach Lodge, it was not too hard for him to convince me to have pizza for dinner tonight in the little town of Port Douglas. Unfortunately the shops & galleries were closed - we'll try again tomorrow as we can always use more postcards!

Early to bed again tonight, as our shuttle picks us up tomorrow morning at 8am...to where???? Wait and see!

ps: Tomorrow during the day the nice folks at Thala will transport our luggage over to the Sheraton hotel in Port Douglas where we will be staying for the next 2 evenings. You didn't hear it from me, but it is said Kylie Minogue (spelled wrong I am sure - ask your teenager!) is staying there also...