Snorkeling The Great Barrier Reef

Well I finally found my best day! Every day has been magical and special - but this just might be number one. We arrived at the harbor and took the Ocean Spirit Cruise ship for a two trip to MichaelmasCay on the Great Barrier Reef. They supplied us with flippers, a snorkel and mask, and a wet suit! Well that was a real laugh watching me put that on! The water was about 74* so it was suggested we put on a wet suit. They moored the boat off shore and brought us in to shore on a smaller boat. There were hundreds of birds eating the wildlife and shellfish on the sandbar-island.
It was beautiful, and deafening! I snorkeled around for about an hour, directly over the hundreds of different corals, fish and wildlife. The further out I ventured, I found more exotic fish and marine wildlife. Just around one huge 5 foot long clam shell I saw about 75 different fish. I just got my pictures back from the Kodak shop and my pictures came out great from my disposable underwater camera. The farther out I got - it became more difficult to take pictures in one spot - because the tide swept me out further. It was incredible. We then went on a glass bottomed type boat and were driven directly throughout the reef. We saw very exotic fish and some 6 foot sea green turtles, scarfing up their dinner. We had another great buffet for lunch with a great selection of seafood. It was cloudy all day with a few slight showers, but I still got some sun. The picture of the beached whale I saw (me) is attached.
That evening we walked a few blocks to the ocean esplanade and had Gelato for dessert.
Before I forget - Check out the other two blogs that my colleagues are doing. They have terrific pictures on them - and I am in some of them. Margo's is ozspotting.blogspot.com and Mark's is markheiden.blogspot.com. (I had given you Mark's Japan blog address by mistake in my previous blog.)Check them out - they are great. They brought laptop computers with them. G'Day!