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It was a rushed start to the day as Will's alarm didn't work, so we woke up at 7.20 and had to be on board the boat by 7.40!
After a very quick brushing of the teeth and grabbing our swimmers we made a dash for the boat. Luckily we made it although we were one of the last to board. Once on board we helped ourselves to tea and Milo (hot chocolate) and cookies to help us wake up a bit. The Skipper then introduced the rest of the crew who would be helping us throughout the day and we went through the usual safety talks. It was then time to get our wet suits, snorkels and booties for our fins fitted before heading up to the top deck to enjoy the ride out to Hastings Reef which is in the outer great barrier reef.
There were a few people who were obviously not enjoying the hour and a half bumpy ride out to the reef. Luckily Jo had chosen to take some sea sickness tablets before we left the dock and although Will wasn't feeling at his greatest on the ride out by the time we reached
the reef we were both ready to jump in the water.
The divers on the boat jumped in the sea first whilst a couple of the crew talked us through where we should swim to and what kinds of things we should be looking out for.
A couple of the crew were giving 'tours' to those who weren't feeling confident swimming by themselves or those who just wanted to take it easy. But we decided to go it alone and try to cover the full area of the 'fishbowl' which is the area of the reef we stopped at.
We jumped in and straight away were greeted with coral as far as the eye could see and hundreds of fish swimming all around. We swam out to the furthest part of the reef which meant swimming against the current but we were rewarded when one of the crew pointed out a huge turtle happily munching at the coral and swimming along the ocean floor.
We swam around in a big circle to cover the full area of the reef and saw clown fish, trigger fish, anemones, giant clams and so many more fish that we couldn't
name. We also saw one fish which was about the size of Will's torso who was chomping away at the coral. On closer inspection we saw the row of teeth inside his mouth and decided we wouldn't disturb him too much.
After an hour or so Jo's lips were turning blue as her wetsuit was a little big so she was getting cold so we decided to climb aboard the boat and have some more Milo to warm up.
Once everyone was back aboard the boat lunch was served and we were both happy that the lunch didn't involve sandwiches for once! Although neither of us had much of an appetite so couldn't make the most of the buffet. As we ate lunch we sailed over to a new spot on Hastings Reef which is called The Canyon.
After digesting our lunch we suited back up in our wet suits - this time Jo wore 2 and although she looked like the abominable snowman she did stay warm this time. This reef has lots of crevasses through it where there were lots of creatures hiding. Once again we decided to go solo rather than following a tour.
We made a plan of a route so that we would cover the full area and then had fun chasing the fish around. We also saw some orange and blue starfish this time, as well as Elvis - I'm sure Elvis has a more technical name but he has a big hump on his head which looks like Elvis' quiff. We also swam right to the edge of the reef this time and could see where what looked like a couple of metres down to the coral suddenly became an ocean so deep you couldn't see the ocean floor!
Time flew by at this reef and we were soon being called back to board the boat. Once back aboard we took off our wet suits and got dry before soaking up some sunshine on the back of the boat. On the ride back to the harbour we enjoyed some cheese and crackers whilst taking a look through some of the photos that the onboard photographer had taken. There were some great photos of the turtle but we decided that at $20 per photo we would just stick with our memories.
Back at the harbour we took a few
photos of the boat and the crew before heading back to the hostel for a couple of Skype calls and a shower before claiming our free dinner in the hostel.
Once we were all packed and ready for check out in the morning we went for a walk along the Esplanade playing on the outdoor gym, skate park and kids park along the way. Once we were tired out we headed back to the hostel for an early night.
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