Snorkelling the Great Barrier reef at Lady Musgrave Island

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After a rough nights sleep due to our inconsiderate room mates that seemed intent on keeping us up for as long as possible and the fact that we were excited at doing something for the first time in what seemed like ages we arose to a bright clear sunny morning, just like the day before and just what we had been waiting all this time for, so we were expecting a great day.
Our pick up arrived at 7:30 to take us 10 minutes down the road to the sleepy seaside village of 1770 where our boat was waiting to take us to the reef.
As we went to pay our money we were still unsure as to whether we were going to do our intro. scuba dive as we were a little nervous about the experience so we told the lady that we were maybe's and needed a little more time to think.

From here we boarded the boat, got our snorkelling gear and got our seats on the top deck for our departure time of 8:00. As soon we were leaving the small marina of 1770, Gordon the Scuba diving instructor started doing his rounds to see who was doing a dive that day (it was only his second day working for the cruise company), when he finally got round to us we were still umming and arring but eventually after deep consideration and a little arm pulling we finally decided to give it a shot.

So we were away off into the Pacific Ocean with the towns of 1770 and Agnes Water dissapearing into the distance.

Oh while I can remember! Why do they call it 1770 I hear you ask. Well its because captain Cook landed here in Queensland for the first time in, go on have a guess. 1770. Hence the name. It has stuck ever since.

Where were we? Heading to Lady Musgrave Island and getting there at a nice speed. The waves were good, the sun was shining, there were birds flying with the boat and I, Andy spotted my second ever flying fish.

After over 1 and a half hours pleasant boat trip we could see the island on the horizon. This island is made up of broken corals and is home to numerous different trees and birds. People can also camp there.

As we got nearer to the island and the surrounding lagoon a we saw a dolphin and a couple of turtles, we also started to notice the changing colours of the sea. As we arrived at the entrance to the lagoon we started our photo shoot for the day and it became clear how amazing this place is. The colours of the sea were unbelievable and we started to see our first glimpses of coral as the water was so clear. We then entered the lagoon, dropped anchor and had our morning tea and biscuits.
Our scuba guide, Gordon told us that our dive was for the afternoon, after we had our lunch. So after our nice morning tea we boarded the glass bottom boat to be the first to step on the island that day. As we were heading towards the island we could see all sorts of different fish, coral and even Green turtles.

We had a guided walk around the island telling us about the different trees and plants. There were so many birds it was like walking through an aivary! We had to watch our heads!

After our 30 minute stroll around the island we got kitted up (Andy already had his life vest on around the island!) and went into the water.
It was funny trying to walk into the sea with our flippers on, this was a task in itself. But walking backwards seemed to do the trick.
Once in the water it was time for our fish fest.
The water was nice and warm. There were different patches of multi coloured coral, pink, blue and purple.
We saw lots of turtles, sea cucumbers, blue star fish, manta ray, thousands of different species of fish. There were blue ones, black and white ones, yellow the list could go on.
The turtles were not bothered at all by us swimming around them and the seemed quite content to sit on the sea bed whilst we had a good look at them. It was great being in the same environment as all these species of marine life, like another world.

We were told not to touch the coral as you can damage it. Sometimes, as the tide was going out it was hard not to catch it with your flippers. Andy even caught his knee on a bit whch can be quite bad as the coral contains bacteria which can cause infection, but he was ok! Nothing amputated yet.
There were 2 buoys we had to stay in between and a guy on a small boat and a lookout on the main boat making sure we were all safe and not doing anything we shouldn't be.
We were snorkelling for what seemed like only 10 minutes or so, but in actual fact we were in the water for 1 1/4 hours.

As we were both doing our intro. dive we both had to be on the main boat first, so it was back to the beach and the glass bottom boat for our short journey back for our nice buffet lunch. While we were having lunch the crew were feeding some Long Toms and another type of silver fish, fish food. They were bubbling in the water as they were fighting for the food. Andy had to have a feed as usual.
After our lunch there were five of us that had to gather for our briefing, there was a lot of info. to take in. Gordon was taking the other 3 out first as 2 of the girls had done a dive before
and we were the 'special' 2. So after our briefing we had a wait of 45 minutes so we were able to get our snorkel gear back on for a little bit of deep water fish spotting off the boat.

This turned out to be the highlight of the day for Andy (Melissa thought it was just as good) the reason why I thought it was better is that I saw thousands more fish all different colours. And I came across a turtle whilst out on my own that decided to get off the sea bed and come to the top for a play and a swim with me. I was able to stroke his back and everything as he, or her was so close. It was unbelievable!

As Melissa had already returned to the main boat to prepare for her dive I reluctantly had to return as well.
We then got our scuba diving equipment on, this is when we were getting nervous even more. I, Andy tried not to show it.
Then all geared up, off we went out into the reef, after a few photo's.
We swam on our backs to a buoy where we hung on and began our descent down the rope.
This sounds easier than it actually was. We knew that we could breathe but yet our brains were telling us otherwise. We knew that we had to remember breathe (sounds simple) but the automatic reaction was to hold your breath, which in this case is a bad thing as you don't want to create big air spaces in your lungs. We learnt that you have air spaces in your lungs, ears, sinuses and mask. So as you go down you have to hold your nose and keep popping your ears, which isn't so easy with your mouth open.
After a panicy start we were back on our way down to do our skills. These involved taking your regulator out of your mouth, breathing out, putting it back in and blowing all the water out. The second was to fill our mask partialy with water then lift up the top and blow out your nose to clear the mask. We both did very well and got a round of applause. I (melissa) was particularly worried about doing these, yet there were easier than just remembering to breathe!
We were off in the marine environment. We managed, inbetween remembering to breathe and pop our ears, to see some fish and coral. I (Mel) never took my eyes off the instructor! I (andy) managed to have a bit of a swim round and check out some fish and coral. After about 30 minutes we started our ascent back to the surface.

Back on the boat we got our kit off and was nice to be on solid ground. We were so pleased with ourselves having achieved our first diving experience. We were on a bit of a high. After a well earnt hot drink and some biscuits we started to head back to 1770. Andy didn't want to leave.
On the way back Andy and I got a chance to drive the catermeran! This was good.
As 1770 started to appear on the horizon lady Musgrave disappeared and our day had come to an end. We had a great day and enjoyed all of it. The food, crew, snorkelling and the dive was all really great!

Back at the hostel at about 5pm to be greeted by the ever loud Greg. He was equally as pleased that we had had a good day and promised to buy us a beer, which he later kept.

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Photos

All geared up and ready to take the plunge.
We look flipping great eh?

Taking the plunge
Sooooo scared!!!!!

Look at us !! Look at us!!
We are soooo proud of ourselves.

Green turtle
This is when Andy swam with the turtle.

Hope you can see some of the fish
The colours were in patches, not like we expected.

Comments

[Josie]

you are now doing my dream
have fun xx