The Great Barrier Reef

We must be mad.  After three straight days at sea what do we do?  We disembark our ship only to board a smaller one and sail out to the Great Barrier Reef for the day!  It poured rain in buckets on the way out, but at least the air was warm, so it really didn't matter.  Once we got to the pontoon we docked at, the sun came out, and wow!  What colours in the waters surrounding the reef!  It didn't look real -- the blues were so intense. 

As I don't have a prescription snorkel mask, there's no point in my getting wet only to be a possible meal for a tiger shark, so we took a semi-submersible boat ride to see the corals and fish under water, which was very interesting but also very difficult to photograph through the thick glass, which reflected the inside lighting.  It was also fun to watch the other people getting suited up for snorkeling and scuba diving.  The ride back to the ship was gloriously sunny and very windy.  My hair definitely has a dreadlock look to it now ... fingers crossed I can get all the knots and tangles out in the shower!

Extra is a nice shot of our ship, Regent Seven Seas Mariner taken as we returned from our adventure.