I found Nemo!

Last Friday, after a rainout of a day in Cairns, myself and 7 other Walkabout-ers headed to the Great Barrier Reef. It was awesome!

Our boat took us 2 hours off the coast of Cairns to the reef. From above the water, all you can see is a lighter green color where the reef is. If you didn’t know to go underwater, you would have no idea what lies below the surface. We got all suited up (above) and ready to go. I learned that I was only allowed to go snorkeling because apparently asthmatics aren’t allowed to scuba without a doctor’s note. They offer introductory dives for people with no experience or certification, which all of my friends took advantage of (above). I was a little bummed, but I saw all of the same stuff they did, just farther away.

We arrived at the first reef location and slid into the water from a platform on the side of the boat (above). Almost immediately, the boat’s professional photographer found squishy reef animals for us to hold and take our picture with (above). (all underwater pictures of people are from him, all of the scenery pictures are my own). Then I actually got to the reef, which just blew my mind.

At first I was terrified (some of the deadliest things in the world live in the reef), but after a while a settled into snorkeling and fully enjoyed the scenery. The water was about 20-30 feet to the bottom, which I could see easily since the water was so clear. Then these huge coral mounds would rise from the bottom all the way up to the surface, leaving a space of about 3-4 feet from the surface to the reef.

I saw some pretty amazing stuff. There were so many fish, of all shapes and sizes and colors. Look in my pictures for what I call the zebra fish (black and white striped), the 1980s fish (garish pink and green), the turquoise fish, the Ithaca fish (blue and yellow), and the parrot fish (actual name, the big turquoise one). I saw the Moorish Idol fish, a yellow and black fish better known as Gill, Nemo’s friend in the tank in Sydney (above).

Speaking of Nemo, I did see several clown fish (above). They were hanging out towards the bottom so they were pretty far away, but my friends who dove got to see them up close (Mary, above). Another amazing thing I saw were giant clams (above). To give you an idea of the scale, here’s my friend Dan holding one (above).

But the absolute highlight of the day was seeing sea turtles at the second reef location. They were hands down my favorite part of Finding Nemo (duuuuuuude….) and it was incredible to see them in real life. They are so beautiful, and they look like they fly through the water when they swim with their fins flapping up and down. I even got to pet him (above). :-D

While the moving things were cool, the coral itself was pretty sweet too. So many kinds and colors, it was mind boggling. I won’t even make an attempt to tell you what kinds of coral you’re looking at, so just enjoy the rest of my pictures. “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming…”