We were up bright and early for our trip to the reef! We boarded at 10am and were provided with coffee and biscuits! The ride out to the island was about 50mins and we had some amazing views on the way. When we arrived we collected our snorkel gear and headed to the beach! Neither of us had snorkeled properly so it was trial and error to start with!! We managed it though, and before we were even in properly we had fish swimming around us! As we got more confident we headed further out and saw lots more fish!
We lost track of time and only just got out of the water in time to go for our glass bottom boat trip. This took us even further out and we saw turtles and lots of different kinds of fish, including nemo! The guy fed the fish and they went crazy for the food! We went over lots of corals of different colours and shapes! We had already heard that the reef here is quite damaged from the tourism and we could tell this when on the boat as much of it was cloudy and dull, compared with how bright and colourful it could be.
Once back on the island we collected our snorkel gear and headed to another beach. I kept having trouble with my mask though as it kept filling up with water, but I battled on! At first we hardly saw anything but the closer we got to the jetty the more amazing it got!! We saw hundreds of fish and they were happy to swim with and around us! While taking a break on the jetty steps, two snorkelers came in towards us flapping in a panic as a reef shark had just swam in front of them!! It had spooked them and us a little and we were unsure about getting back in as we were unsure if they were a danger to us!! We cautiously made our way back into the water, keeping close to the jetty! On one of my visits back in I caught a glimpse of him and summoned for Mark but he had already gone by the time we were back in! we carried on swimming amongst the fish before it was time to get out to head back to the boat. While waiting on the jetty Mark saw the reef shark swimming below us! We also saw a turtle popping up for air!
The boat home was quite quick and we headed back for a much needed shower! The irish bar in town had been tempting us for a few days so we went for dinner and a few drinks. We then chilled on the esplanade watching the crabs amongst the sand and mud!