Tuesday was our day trip to the Great Barrier Reef!! There are so many stats about this: largest living creature on the planet, natural wonder of the world, world heritage site, able to see it from space. It's also really beautiful. We took a boat called Passions of Paradose and stopped at two different sections in the reef: Michaelmas Cay and Paradise Cove. Fun fact: they now make prescription snorkel masks which Alexa was very happy to have because she forgot her contacts! I am still happy to have my lasered eyes but could have used those back in the day!!
At each stop we were able to snorkel for about an hour in the reef and the first stop we could dive if we wanted. Sadly Alexa couldn't dive because she was still pretty stuffed up and if you can't pop your ears as you dive down it gets really painful and you could burst your eardrum so that didn't seem worth it! Sidenote from Alexa: I was able to dive close to the surface just couldn't go deep because my ears felt like they were gonna explode! It was crazy, on land all the snorkel gear weighed about 30lbs but under the water it was so light. My limited scuba was fun, I'd like to try it again but I really didn't like breathing through a tube. I was also afraid my lungs would explode if i rose to the top too fast! Things that could possibly go wrong: eardrums can puncture, lungs can pop, O2 tank can run out, gas can build up in your blood, or you can get eaten by a shark. No thank you!!
Ok back to karina!! I was able to go tho for the first time and it was amazing!! It is really weird at first to accept that you are breathing out of a tube and can't go above the water anymore. So that took a few minutes to adjust. I should have known better but I was in a group with an English girl and she kind of freaked out a bit in the beginning (they don't do well in ocean water) but eventually we were off and going and it was great! For beginners it was a half hour swim following a guide thru the reef. There were so many kinds of coral and so many colors! A lot of cool fishies too!! There was one huuuge griper fish, half the size of us! Unfortunately we didnt get to see any manta rays or turtles or reef sharks. It was kinda weird being underwater and knowing I couldn't go up fast or risk bursting my ear drums but it was really cool and the oxygen tank was so light! Until you get out of the water...
It was a fun and long day. We made a few friends including one girl who hitchhiked her way through new Zealand and couch surfed. So we decided that's our new plan, ok parents? Who knew you could still hitch hike?!
By now Alexa is no longer sick and I'm the stuffy one (surprising?) but I have a good feeling about this one, it won't last long! Also Alexa has a lot of bug bites. She is clearly VERY allergic to Mosquitos (mozzy bites!!!) and they make all these red welts. Some guy even asked if he could take a picture of them, a little strange... But yeah it's crazy and apparently I am not allergic to mozzies so that's great! (side note from Alexa...its absolutely ridiculous! Im so itchy!!! I look like i have huge chicken pocks. So attractive!! The tour guide lady told me its bc the bugs pee on you and if you're allergic to the pre and scratch it it spreads. But that's gross and I'm not sure i believe it! This makes me nervous about being allergic to bees...I've never been stung, if I'm this allergic to a little mosquito what is a bee gonna do to me!!) In each new climate we enter we seem to find something to cause problems. Luckily these problems are very minor and we are still having a great time!!
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