the reef

On our first day in Cairns, we went out on the Great Barrier Reef. An early start to the day, a long boat ride out to our first spot, and then straight in the water. What else is there to say, really? All the adjectives in my vocabulary aren't enough to express how strange and wonderful this environment is. We got to swim around in two different spots that day, and the second was by far my favorite. About an hour and a half ride offshore, we dove into the massive blue . The reef was easy to spot from the boat, lighter, shallower areas distinguishing themselves, but the swim in was a little unsettling. With snorkel gear on, facedown and paddling across an open expanse that seemed bottomless and full of anything and maybe nothing, and then suddenly a wall of coral rises up, and there it all was. A solid block of life, covered in gorgeous coral all piled one on top of the other and fighting for space, and teeming with fish large and small. At times there were so many little fish around that it was almost like being tickled with feathers as they all hurried past, shimmering and swaying and swimming on. And then sometimes it was just you and maybe one or two creatures, always with the incredible backdrop of coral of all shapes and sizes. The water was so shallow in some places that you could barely kick without fear of doing horrible damage to the surroundings, and then suddenly it would drop off and the walls of the reef would wander down to invisible depths. It was truly incredible. After looking around for a while, I swam back to the boat and turned in my gear so I could have a simple swim. It's so rare to be so far from land, nothing but blue on the horizon, and all I wanted to do was swim and dive and tread water with the knowledge that there was nothing under me but vast darkness, and a living, breathing, massive reef a handful of yards away. All in all that day I think I spent about 30 minutes snorkeling, and over an hour happily swimming, every once and a while looking over my shoulder to make sure the boat was still there. Couldn't have asked for anything better. 

These blue fish were rather huge, and seemingly completely undisturbed by our presence. They carried on with their business, mouths wide open and looking like they were always just about to come take a chunk out of you. Pretty entertaining.