Great Barrier Reef

I absolutely loved the Great Barrier Reef; I can’t even begin to explain how beautiful the reef was. I have never been in that clear of water ever before. We went on the Passions of Paradise boat. The crew aboard it was very welcoming and friendly. They made our visit to the reef amazing. The weather was perfect the whole time on the boat. We got the chance to sit in the sun and sun bathe before we got to our first snorkeling spot. I was in group one which meant that I was going scuba diving first. The equipment was very heavy it was hard to stand up with it on our backs. We got in the water and I got nervous I was having a hard time regulating my breathing. I started breathing too quickly and I could not get used to using the regulator under water. Eventually I did get used to the regulator as we were lowered deeper into the water. Simon our Scuba instructor taught us how to clear out our regulator under water as well as our masks if water were to get into them. We started on our tour of the Great Barrier Reef. Two of us had to link arms with Simon while the other two had to hold his hand. We worked our way towards the reef, and my ears started to hurt really badly. Eventually they popped it was rather painful. We got down near the floor of the ocean and it was really cool. We stopped moving and sank to the bottom. It was hard to balance on the sand in the flippers that we had on. Simon was funny, he was pretending that he was sleeping on the ocean floor; I was scared that if I tried that then I wouldn’t be able to get back up right. We came across a sea cucumber, and Simon picked it up and let us hold it. The sea cucumber was big, black, and rather slimy, it seemed. We moved onto the other side of the reef and I got to see NEMO!! He was swimming around in his anemone. It was amazing being able to observe all of the different types of soft and hard coral. We got to see brain coral, and a type of soft coral which we actually got to touch, I got to run my hands through it. We also got to see two sting rays, they were along the ocean floor. They blended right into the sand, when they moved that is when I noticed them. As we kept moving a lot we got to unlink arms with Simon, it was rather scary at first but then I got the hang of everything. I was just scared I was going to hit the coral by accident. The coral seemed closer than it was so I would get scared and worked up for nothing. I am excited to get my pictures developed from the dive. We got back to the boat and I couldn’t believe that the dive was over, it flew by so quickly. I got the chance to warm up and dry off, we then got lunch. After lunch I went back in the water to go scuba diving, which was a little scary at first but then like scuba diving I got the hang of it. I got to see pretty much everything I saw when I was scuba diving. The only bad part about snorkeling was the water that kept coming into my snorkel; it made me choke, the next day my throat hurt really bad. It was an experience that I will never forget, there is nothing like getting the chance to swim in the Great Barrier Reef. I am sad that I did not get to see a sea turtle, I guess that just means that I will have to come back here!!