This boat will take us out to the ship where we will spend the night parked on the Great Barrier Reef.
We are up before dawn today.
We see these big birds flying in and over the hotel and realize that they are bats as big as pigeons.
Once on the way to the pier to catch our boat we see these guys chirping up a storm.
Once on board we are assigned our equipment.
Time out for a hug.
Time for all the paper work.
Then the muster briefing.
Then we get a unexpected treat. We spot 3 humpback whales off our port side.
We are told the more noise we make the closer they will come,
and sure enough they come right over close to the boat.
This one rolled over and waved at us.
The biggest one looked to be at least 40 feet long.
This one breached right next to the boat.
We never saw them interacting with people like this before.
This is the boat that we will transfer to so we can spend the night on the reef.
No these people are not praying, it's a glass bottom boat.
Our rooms aren't bad and the beds are comfortable.
Once on board we suit up for our first dive.
The water is about 72 degrees so we wear wet suits.
Down we go to about 30 - 40 feet.
It's a little cloudy so the light is not at its best.
The reef is beautiful, but lacks a lot of sea life.
I was very disappointed in the lack of fish around this reef.
I think because this is dove so often, they have run off a lot of the big sea life in this area.
If your going to do this hire a small boat and dive a spot that is not so used.
On low tide the reef comes out of the water.
We end the day with a nice dinner.
See you all tomorrow.......