Sharks, Sea Turtles, and Star Fish...Best Class Trip Ever

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After I returned from the Outback, I had exactly 36 hours to wash all my clothes that had turned red during the week, repack my bags for a more water-friendly environment , and, of course, write a paper I'd done zero research for. But it was all worth it. My Marine Environment class was going on a Field Research Trip to Lady Elliot Island, a coral cay on the Great Barrier Reef. Originally, we were supposed to take an 8 hour bus ride up to Heron Island where there was an actual research center at our disposal, to make the trip more scientific. Unfortunately for them, and luckily for me, it burned down the week before we were supposed to go. So, my professor pulled some strings and got us into the more resort-style but eco-friendly Lady Elliot Island, which, thank goodness, is only accessible by small (I'm talking 7-9 seater) planes! Instead of doing research with samples from the research center, we spent our days snorkeling, spotting sharks and massive manta rays, creating artificial sunrises for baby sea turtles that got lost or confused during their hatching, and going on reef walks. I think this ranks as one of my top trips in Australia and I believe you will agree once you see my pictures. Snorkeling has been ruined for me forever, because now nowhere will be as good...

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Photos

Massive sea clams
Spotted this during a reef walk, it had the most amazing colors

Star Fish!
You could pick these blue beauties up all over the reef

The Reef at Low Tide
LEI was amazing because during high tide you just waddle off the beach in your fins and you are swimming right over the reef making all the marine life that lives there very accessible

View from the Outdoor Bar
This is where we spent our free time, just overlooking the Pacific, sipping on coffee or G&Ts (depending on when each individual's Happy Hour began) and talking about all the cool stuff we saw that day.

Found a Straggler!
While we were watching the sunrise we noticed something moving and got to watch this baby sea turtle make the critical journey to the water. Poor guy took forever. Hopefully he made it out to open water before the fish noticed him on the reef!

Manta Ray
This ray was massive - probably 8-10ft across. We spotted it a couple times while snorkeling. Very impressive.

Black Tip Reef Shark
Had quite the encounter with this one. Luckily I had just gone to a shark lecture the night before and knew that he isn't really interested in anything but fish. Phew!

Ray Family
Unfortunately I didn't see this, but had to share the picture. So cool!

Chasing Turtles
We tried to see who could get the closest. He was getting pretty angry though.

Artificial Sunrise
The workers at LEI found 5 baby sea turtles around the resort that got confused by the light when they tried to make it to sea early in the morning so we got to create an artificial sunrise for them. It took about a half hour for all 5 to make it in. Some kept getting washed ashore and others were just really slow or couldn't crawl straight.

Loggerhead Turtle
This guy was massive! I was swimming and looked down and saw he was right beneath me. He was probably about the size of a 6 year old with a giant shell.

Shark!
My heart always stopped when I saw this, but they didn't really bother us. Except that one time...