Oh. My. God! Had THE best day today!

So, an early start and I was down at the marina for 7.30am!! Check in (they have a boat terminal that is just like the airport check in desks!!) and boarded the boat! It was quite big with a lower deck, upper and then a little rooftop! Had some pastries and coffee to wake up then we headed out to the reef!! Took us about an hour to get to the first reef but they crew were talking us through safety info (the usual, don't laugh and point and reach for a camera if some one goes overboard, don't feed kids to the fish etc! ) and then spent time just chatting tot he other divers! Some people were doing scuba diving but most just did the snorkelliong! I think I was one of the youngest there and the ages went up to about 60 odd! Had quite a few Americans, some germans and one girl from the netherlands and I was the only person from England although they all spoke fluent english! Everyone was really friendly though and we were all soon having a laugh!! One of the crew was kind enough to point out the sun to me as he knew I was English ;)

So we reached our first stop and had another briefing from the crew, this time about how to use the snorkels (basically just breathe but you know!!)! Had the option of wearing stinger suits and I didn't to start with but got one pretty quickly as I felt loads of little stings (nothing major)! A few other people said they had the same and we still got the even with the suits! Think they were basically tiny jellyfish stings! Didn't leave any marks and the stings went away as soon as you were out of the water! So on the first go we just went out by ourselves to get used to snorkelling and the reef! The water was so clear and the reef was literally a metre away at places! The fish were pretty un-nerved by us unless someone made a sudden movement! The fish were all full of colour and there were so many!! At times you would be looking at the bottom of the reef and suddenly look up to find yourself swimming among a whole group of other fish!! About half way through we saw a turtle as well, it was about 60cm long and was quite happy swimming alongside us!! Then when I was heading back to the boat I spotted a sting ray swimming along the sea bed!! It wasn't too close to the reef so was pretty camoflsuged but the movement caught my eye :)

After about an hour we went back to the boat and the scuba divers went out while we caught up with some photos and of course sunbathing!! Used up half a bottle of sun tan lotion today due to applying it after each water trip and still managed to get a lobster face!! Nothing too bad though so hopefully will go down tonight ( also, cheers Zoe for the nivea!!) Once the divers came back in, we head out in a couple of groups this time with a crew member who took us the other side of the boat and showed us some good coral and fish! He picked up a sea cucumber from the sea bed for us all to feel, it was really slippery and slimy (a bit like a frog is the best way I can describe it!!). Then the best moment, well one of them, was as we were heading back to the boat a couple of us spotted a shark!! It was quite small, just over a metre long, and was swimming pretty close to the sea bed away from the boat!!

Then we had lunch on the boat which was an amazing selection of seafood and cold meat with plenty of salad!! So nice!! We then headed to a place called Upolu Cay! Its basically a place in the reef where in a low tide, there is almost a beach island!! So in groups we headed out on the speedboat and got dropped on the cay!! Basically you jump out and the water comes all the way up to your shins!! Very surreal to be stood no more than knee deep in the middle of the ocean!! We then did another swim back to the boat with a crew member who found a starfish, spotted another sting ray and plenty of beautiful fish!! Finally saw nemo as well !! Although slightly gutted I didn't see Dory and one of the girls said she had :(

We then headed back out on the speedboat to the cay for some photos!! Will get them up soon :) Then we headed out on the glass bottom boat which had come out to meet us!! The guide told us all about the coral as we didn't see many fish due to the noise of the boat!! There were some beautiful blue and purple coral and when snorkelling we also saw some huge clams which the crew guy went down to touch to make them close up!!

We finally headed back to the marina and I spent most of the time at the front of the boat!! It was really nice to see Cairns from the sea, especially as it had a huge rain cloud over it which had disappeared by the time we got back!! Also got given some more fruit, cakes and cheese and biscuits from the crew :)

So basically had a pretty awesome day but very tired now!! I forgot how tiring snorkelling is although it probably didn't help that I kept holding my breath!!

On a separate note, finally got some roommates!! 2 came last night, both English and they are staying til Friday and then 3 more, again English, arrived just before I came back from today and they are here til next Tuesday!! They all seem really nice which is good and they are all doing the east coast although the 3 that arrived today have already done Sydney!

Anyway, better go as I'm starving now!!

Lots of aussie love and sunshine being sent your way :)

xxxx