Airlie Beach ~ Great Barrier Reef Prt 2

Will got out of the water and I got in. I was a bit nervous since it had been about 7 years since my last dive. There were 2 other people with me plus the guide. The guide was my partner. We started our descent and I was not going under... Even with the weight belt, I cold not sink. My BCD was not deflating either. I had a temperamental one. The nozzle needed to be at a complete 90 degrees to let air out. 

Once I got all settled, I continued. I will admit.... SCUBA diving in Cuba was much more clear. Knuckle Reef was beautiful but the visibility was much less than Caribbean waters. Much more fish here though. I was so shocked by he GoPro! It took great pictures!!

Parrotfish in the middle along with some Yellowtail Fusilier

Indo-Pacific Sergeant - close relative to Sergeant Major

One type of Sea Cucumber

Our guide Winston picked this Sea Cucumber up and we took turns holding it and touching it. I as suprised at how soft it was.

Different varieties of Coral Reef

Mushroom Coral

If you look closely there are brownish legs coming out - This is a Bristle Sea Star

Sea Star

This is a clam of some of some sort. When it was open it was a beautiful bright blue. As soon as I got close with the GoPro it closed up on me. Bummer!

I promised Mike and Ash that I would "find" Nemo for them and I did not disappoint. I FOUND THE CLOWNFISH! So freaking cool!!!! The bright little one is the male and the one above it (click on the photo to enlarge) is the female. She is much bigger and far less bright. She was very aggressive and kept charging my mask and camera. Maybe she has some babies in there. But It was so cool to see. I was swimming along and looked down at this and it looked like the anemone that clown fish lived in so I had to get closer.  

Cloudy visibility and more Yellowtail Fusilier

Ash in the underwater observatory under the pontoon!

This was a great dive we really enjoyed ourselves. 

On the way home we had another rough boat ride and this time our little lady tossed her cookies. Yep... she got so sea sick. The crew brought her cold towels and ice chips. Poor kid.... as soon as we were in  water again she was fine. Combination of sun all day plus lots of ocean motion got the best of her. We got back to the boat and the kids had dinner then went to Adventure Ocean so Will and I could have a dinner by ourselves. All in all a great day. 

I took close to 200 pictures with the GoPro. Obviously  can't uload them all so if anyone whats to see the whole reef album let me know!

Next stop.... Brisbane and Sunshine Coast!