May 31 : Day 9

May 31, 2012: Day 9: Cairns

View from the boat 

Today was the day we have been waiting for. We were going to the Great Barrier Reef. When we woke up this morning it still was raining unfortunately. We were not going to let the rain stop us though. So we all walked to the dock to board on a boat to travel about fifty minutes to Green Island . At Green Island we can learn how to snorkel, and take lessons on scuba diving if we choose to do either when we get to the Great Barrier Reef. I decided to take lessons on scuba diving , because that was one of my goals of getting to do on this trip. Soon after taking lessons we boarded another boat that took us about fifty minutes to the Great Barrier Reef. Once we arrived to our destination our scuba diving group was assigned a time that we would be diving which was 2:30 p.m. This meant that our group had time to eat and snorkel to practice our breathing since when we would be scuba diving we would be under water for at least 30 minutes or more. I had never snorkeled before which is very interesting. Plus I got to swim over corals see the beautiful creatures that were in the sea. I saw some big fish, jellyfish, and much more. Acutally breathing through my mouth wasnt that hard either once I got the hang of it. Next up was scuba diving this meant we got to go down far into the Great Barrrier Reef and see up close to the many creatures that were below what I already had seen snorkeling. We got to touch coral, some fish, and we saw many other creatures of the sea that I had never seen before. Words cant describe how awesome scuba diving was! I had a great experience that I will never forget.

Kaycie Shearer and I getting ready to head far down in the Great Barrier Reef

Soon after scuba diving it was time to load up on the boat again and travel back to our hotel at Cairns. Once we got back we all packed and got ready for dinner. This was our last dinner in Australia. After supper we got to finish shopping if we wanted and also do whatever else we wanted we just had to be up by 3:00 in the morning to leave by 3:30 to board our plane for tomorrow.

-Kara