The Great Barrier Reef

Tuesday, 16 June

Eitan and I went snorkeling today on the Great Barrier Reef.  This vast coral reef is visible from outer space along the northeastern coast of Australia.  Eitan is looking forward …

… to boarding the mighty diving boat docked in the Cairns harbor. 

The TUSA 6 captain is looking for good places for us to dive and snorkel today.  He finds the Norman reef and the Saxon reef as our two spots. 

Eitan prepares for our Norman-Saxon reef invasion by masked and finned human swimmers.  

The coral reefs are shallow enough for snorkelers to see, but deep enough for us to swim over.  You can see these reef shallows in the movie as watery green islands in the light blue sea.  Those are our destinations. 

We snorkel for about 3 hours at the two coral reef locations.  It's like living in an endless tropical fish bowl.  Thousands of colored fish swim past, as the sea anemone wave at us.  Eitan spots two giant clams resting on the sea bed.  We could (but do not) touch the tops of many variegated reefs, sculpted coral in bas-relief that teems with tropical life. 

Eitan joins the aquatic chorus, holding up his Cairns snorkeling license.   

After a full day of snorkeling and fun, we and the other fifty passengers enjoy the two hour boat ride back to dock.