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David's Pictures

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Amber's Pictures

Amber's Journal We put our boots on Australian soil, and I firmly lose all concept of time. Internal clock says night, bright sun says day! We checked into our new home away from home, the Sea Temple Resort and Spa for three days of diving on our own. David booked our trips with a company called Quicksilver and we took the same boat out all 3 days to various parts of the Barrier Reef. Me and boats don't get along so well, and the first day was our roughest-turns out you can dive after throwing up. (Once the boat stopped I was better, and once I'm in the water, I'm ok because the motion's gentler!) Each day we did 3 dives. Upon hitting the water, I decided the trip'd been worth it. The Great Barrier Reef is totally beyond amazing! It's hard to realize all the towering rocks around you are not rock-they're coral. They're all made up of teeny living creatures, and there are overwhelming varieties of fish to stare at. Some of my favorites we spotted this first day were Maori Humphead Wrasse, Blue Striped Snapper (took a LOT of work to identify!) some of Nemo's little cousins, a sea slug that looked like a mating between a corgi and a rug, and my fave of the day GIANT CLAMS! (Cue memories of the submarine ride!) Giant clams DON'T look real and they're amazing! I think they were my second favorite thing I saw on the reef because they just never seemed real to me... and here they were. Sick and well, big and small, there are LOTS of giant clams on the reef! All obviously dreaming of juicy tasty diver's legs just like in the movies. We had a Maori Humphead Wrasse check out the divers! This fish is bigger than a German Shepherd folks, but it swam over and let people PET him! He even swam between my legs-I wish I could have gotten a photo of that, but my brain was busy going "EEE giant fish up close... Eeeee!... Hey cool!"

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