The Great Barrier Reef

I can not even begin to explain the fun I had in the two hours we spent out on the Great Barrier Reef.
It was seriously cool. 

And I managed not to get sunburned.

So let me set this up.  The catamaran picked us up from our anchorage off Hamilton Island.  109 of us.  (It was a big catamaran)  It took over 90 minutes to cross the shipping channel and make it to Heart Pontoon (which is a good bigger than the pontoon boat that Ed and Edwin built several decades ago...but I digress)

It even has its own helipad....which doubles as a bird roost.

Some of the girls just opted to take in the scenery...which was just fine.

If you didn't want to snorkel, you could take the semisubmarine....

And still see plenty of the reef...

Aussie humour...

You can see the Heart Pontoon is quite a large facility....moored permanently on the reef.

I don't (yet- yes, Vikki, I will be coming to see you...) have a diving certification, but here is the diving prep area... totally jealous.

With the miniscule jellyfish that abound in the reef, we were advised to don stingersuits...

***PSA***PSA***PSA***
BEACHED BABY WHALE ALERT!  ADVERT EYES IF EASILY OFFENDED.

***PSA***PSA***PSA***

Ok, I'm just gonna let the pics speak for themselves.  Believe it or not all (except the ones taken  by the  underwater photographer) were taken by my GoPro Hero5  (thank you Laird for the birthday present!!!)

ENJOY a tiny tour of a very tiny portion of the Great Barrier Reef!

Three snorkels, two tea breaks (with bikkies--biscuits aka cookies), and two hours later, we headed back, past a gloriously unspoiled white sand beach.

(I wonder if this is what Destin looked like before Big Kahunas???)

And then a bit of a walkabout Hamilton Island before heading back in for a nap!!

Of course there were signs saying "Do Not Feed the Wildlife" but if someone is feeding fries  chips to the birds, who am I not to photograph them....

Just another day in Paradise!!!!!!!!