June 22: The Great Barrier Reef

I arrived in Cairns and this city is already a lot more different than Sydney and Brisbane. The people I have met here were the friendliest so far and had a very laid back personality. 

I had to wake up extremely early today for scuba diving. The shuttle picked me up at my hostel and I arrived at the boat. As soon as I arrived I met two girls from Texas. One is living in Sydney now on a work Visa and the other girl was visiting her friend for the summer. We then all sat down at a table with two other girls from Germany and we all became friends during the trip.

            First, the tour gave us all breakfast and within an hour we were at the reef. During this time, they had a marine biologist on board with a presentation on the importance of the reef and the different species found there. I was able to talk with this biologist and he explained how Australia is working to protect the reef and how certain areas are off limits to tourists. He then went on to talk about the Reef 2050 Long- Term Sustainability Plan to protect and among the Great Barrier Reef. 

There are also important programs such as Reef Trust, Turtle Protection Plans, Reef Water Quality Protection Plan, and others. He also explained how great it is for the reef when people scuba dive there. Not only does it create an appreciation for it, but a certain fee of $6 gets donated to the reef for each person that scuba dives there.

          We finally arrived to the reef and since it was my first time scuba diving, we had to first get simple lessons before jumping in the water. After our lesson, we got our wetsuits and equipment on. An instructor took us down and we swam around the Great Barrier Reef! It was awesome to see the different species living together. After scuba diving, I was then able to also snorkel at the reef! This was also another awesome way to see the biodiversity. The tide was extremely low this day, which only happens only a couple times a year. So the coral was sticking out of the water in a lot of places. The low tide made it extremely important to not swim over an area that might not be deep enough so more precautions had to be taken.

            The tour then fed us lunch and then we were on our way for another dive. The boat drove to another section of the Great Barrier Reef for our second dive though. This time, we went down deeper and for a long period of time. Once again it was a great opportunity scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef and seeing the earth’s largest living process.