Great Barrier Reef!!!!!!!!

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Cane toad racing

We were up early this morning and no surprise here....rain again. But according to the weather reports today and tomorrow are the best days to go out as the knots were only 10-15 today out on the water. Quite a few people from our hotel were also going out on the same boat. A big bus came and picked us up and took us down to the harbour. We were on quite a big boat called the Quicksilver. A photographer took our picture before boarding the boat. We got settled and I grabbed an anti-seasickness tablet just incase. We got free tea, coffee and biscuits before the boat took off.

We got to our first snorkeling stop after about an hour. We chose this company because they go to the outer edge of the great barrier reef so pretty much just where it starts. We were all given stinger suits which is like a wet suit with a hood and mittens to protect us against stingers (jellyfish) as it's stinger season. The boat has a staircase off the back so its really easy to get in and out of the water. Got our flippers and masks on and hopped in. The water was amazing. It's not cold at all but quite warm and it's very clear. I was a bit nervous at first but none of the fish tried to come touch me so I was ok haha.

To see some pics of the fish underwater click on the link. We bought a cd of pics from the boat. We saw most of those fish on our trip 😊
Pictures

We snorkeled around for almost an hour looking at all the amazing coral and fish. It's all so colourful and amazing. You can get tired quite quickly as you don't realize how far you've swam following the fish. Back on he boat we had a snack and while we were waiting for some of the divers to come back a hammerhead shark was spotted in the distance. The crew tried to rally him over to the boat so we could get a closer look. I did see him come out of the water a couple of times but that was it. Glad I was already out of the water!

Onto our next stop and while the divers went in first us snorkelers had lunch. After lunch we hopped into the water again. This spot was probably our favorite. Once I was in the water and had my mask on I looked straight down and right below me was a reef shark. I had a mini panic attack but it had no interest in me and was quite a bit deeper. It swam away not long after. That was pretty cool and I'm surprised at my own reaction. We saw tons of really cool fish including a yellow trumpet fish, trigger fish and all kinds of little fish and big fish and big, huge clams!

We made our way to our 3rd spot and hopped back into the water. This time some of the crew came and gave us a bit of a guided tour. They would free dive down and bring up some things we could touch. That was pretty cool, sea cucumbers and things like that. We were lucky enough to see a sea turtle swimming around the coral. That was AMAZING to see. Probably my most favorite thing ever.

All in all one of the best days I've had on this trip. Even though i'm afraid of fish it was still great! After our last snorkel we all got changed and got to have some more tea, coffee and cake on our way back to the harbour. And although it rained most of the time it really didn't matter as you're in the water anyways getting wet and the rain doesn't change what we saw underwater.

We decided to go out for dinner in Port Douglas after we went home and got changed. A pub in town called The Iron bar puts on Cane toad racing in the evening. So we wanted to check that out. After dinner we bought our $5 ticket to enter to see the toads. It's quite an event haha. The first race the guy picks volunteers to race the toads. Each person comes up and has to kiss their toad first. Then he lifts up the bucket and using noise makers they have to try to get their toad off the table and into their hands so they can run it to another bucket at the finish line. Hilarious. The toads sometimes wont move at all and others hop all over the place including at the spectators.

The second race he auctions off the toads so you can buy a toad to race. It was a pretty hilarious night of entertainment. We didn't buy a toad as some of them were going for like $50!! At the end he lets people pick up the toads and take pics with them. Well dad had no problem picking his up I however freaked out. I really wanted to do it but it just freaked me out. Took me a good 10 minutes before I finally managed to hold one and the look on my face says it all haha. Wont be doing that again!!!

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