Day 10- Great Barrier Reef!

We are in Cairns now. Today we went to the Great Barrier Reef!  I was so amazing.  We took a boat ride out to a little station.  The ride was about and hour and a half.  The little station was anchored down to the bottom and it had a space down some stairs where we could watch the fish through the windows.  There were also other boats that went out for other tours.  I did a lot of snorkeling today.  When we got there we went right in.  I didn't see many fish when we first got in.  I wanted to go farther away from the boat but the water was really low.  I don't like to be over the coral when it is really close to me because I am afraid I will hurt the coral and myself.  After a little while we went and got lunch.  They had a whole buffet laid out and they had some really good food.  We sat out in the sun to eat.  It was really nice to be in the sun instead of the rain. 

After lunch we went out again, but we didn't go out by the shallow coral because we had trouble with it the first time.  Plus the tide had gone down so much that the coral was sticking out of the water.  So most of us stayed by the boat where the water was deep. There were A LOT of fish by us this time.  They were feeding them so they where everywhere.  At one point someone threw food right by us and the fish went crazy.  We weren't expecting the fish and they were right in my face and hitting me.  I freaked out a little bit.  It was cool to see so many fish up close though.  I swam around there for a long time because it was such a cool experience. 

Watching the fish being fed was really cool because there were so many of them.  The coral was really cool too.  You could see where some of it had been effected by coral bleaching.  It was sad to see.  The water was really nice, but it could be a little cold at sometimes. The water was so beautiful.  The water was the perfect shade of blue and the sun was shinning.  It was the best day to go to the Great Barrier Reef.  Later I swam a little just to swim and it was really nice.  I hope I can go back to the GBR some day.