Great Barrier Reef, Michaelmas Cay and Hastings Reef

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Well the big day arrived and I was very excited, off to the Great Barrier Reef. The weather had been hot and sunny for three or four days with no rain and the day I went out was pretty much perfect. The sea was calm the sun was hot and not too much wind. The first stop was to be Michaelmas Cay which has been formed from coral and sand, it is part of the middle reef. We had to wear stinger suits as its still stinger season these consist of head to toe suit which includes a hood. By the time you have this on, your mask snorkel and fins there is not much of your body showing. The water was warm and the fish were plentiful I decided to enjoy the experience rather than trying to take under water photographs at which I am not experienced. I can't remember all the names of the fish but on the cay they were mostly small and abundant and very colourful. Also the coral itself was different colours mainly blues, purples, yellow and cream. The structures were also very different, some looked like spaghetti, some looked almost like boulders and some called plate coral as it had a round flat head. All pretty spectacular. After a drink and lunch we set off for Hastings Reef which is part of the outer reef. Here there were different species of fish. Also the coral fell away in places into deep underwater crevasses. Someone saw a ray here but unfortunately I didn't see it. On the boat was a chart showing all the different species and I tried to remember all the different fish I had seen but it was quite difficult? There some very small pretty blue fish that I had seen when I was snorkelling in Thailand the others I found on the chart. These are the ones I am pretty sure I saw, blue wrasse,regal angelfish, bi colour bienny,sweet lips, clown fish ( Nemo), jelly fish, sea cucumber and flowery cod. It was an amazing experience one I will never forget. The day was rounded off with tea and cake on the way back. Lovely!! Forgot to mention the photos on the blog were mostly taken by the crew of Seastar on the day we were snorkelling.

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