Great Barrier Reef

What a beautiful and busy day! We took a large catamaran to Agincourt reef, one of the outer reefs. This took almost 2 hours, a bit longer than expected as the sea was very choppy. We availed ourselves of the free anti-seasick tablets, and sat outside with eyes on the horizon, keeping away from all the people heaving into the sick bags. At last, in pouring rain, we tied up beside a large pontoon from where all the reef activities happened. Luckily the sun came out for the rest of the day. They had a little glass area from where you could look at the fish, a semi-submersible which took us at further among the reefs to see more pretty coral and fish, and all the snorkelling equipment. As it was choppy the shallow waters were a bit stirred up so none of the colours were as vivid as I expected. Also the professionals use a red filter! We decided on a short helicopter trip over the reef, from where we got amazing views of the beautiful colours and could see shoals of fish and a few turtles. The sea changed in colour from an almost midnight blue, to vivid turquoise. Totally beautiful. I'm not a strong swimmer and don't like snorkelling in choppy water, but it had to be done on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

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