31st of July, The Great Barrier Reef.

We got up early and headed to the dock to be picked up for our tour of the reef. To get to the outter reef it takes 2 hours. For the first bit, it's calm going past the other islands in the Whitsundays. Then it gets rough, (they sell travel sickness tablets on board).

To go there you need your swimmers, sun screen, towels, camera and money for extras like scuba diving, hiring of an underwater camera, massage, helicopter rides and other food. Lunch, morning and afternoon tea is provided, plus all of the equipment needed for snorkeling.

Once you arrive at the reef, it's time to get suited up for the reef. There is plenty to do on the pontoon. Scuba diving, snorkeling, looking at the fish in a mini sub, eat a buffet lunch, have a massage or sunbake. We decided to go snorkeling...

The staff were very professional and very helpful. We had a to wear a ray suit, incase of sting rays. We didn't see any.

The mini sub goes in and out to the reef several times during the day.

Hubby and the boys went out first. My only complaint was there was no where to secure and store valuables like cameras and wallets. So I had to guard the valuables and then go in the water after hubby came back.

The life jacket was great to wear, as you really don't need to swim much, as you just bob around in the water.

Boys had a great time, although you can't see in these photos, there are fish everywhere.

It's all very safe, and there are people watching you, all of the time. There are rest areas if you get tired of swimming.

The boys and I did see a small reef shark, but once he saw all of the people, he swam away really fast.

Here are some of the scuba divers. At the front of the pontoon there is a glass section where you can see lots of fish and people.

A close up of the fish at the front of the pontoon.

These photos are from the mini sub, as you can see there wasn't many colours... it was the same snorkeling. I swam up and down the section of the reef... I felt like a mermaid, it was fabulous... (once you get use to the breathing... off you go), there wasn't a big variety of reef colours. The fish were very colourful. My only regret is not having a under water camera. I saw lots of different fish... once, right next to my head a school of fish were my friends.

It was high tide when we arrive and then the tide started to go out.

We all had a great day...

It was tiring too...

Great scenes of the way back too... an excellent day all round. Click HERE for a link to "Cruise Whitsundays".