The trip to the Great Barrier Reef was unbelievable!!!!! It was one of the best experiences of my entire life! It started out with an hour and a half boat ride to the platoon area. The platoon was almost like alittle dock in the middle of the ocean. Before we got off the boat, there was a safety demonstration. They told us about the snorkel gear and what to do and what not to do at the reef. When we got off the boat, we picked out a table and went to get our gear which consisted off goggles, a snorkel, a life jacket (optional), and some flippers. The goggles/snorkel took forever for me to put on because my hair kept getting in the way. After about 7 minutes of pure frustration, I finally got me stuff on and we got in the water. It was alittle cold at first but after awhile, the air was colder than the water. The water seemed really warm. Once I got used to the water, I got off the ladder platform and started to swim out. There were alot of fish swimming around the area. A couple of times, I swam in a school of fish, it was amazing! There were big blocks (I don't know what of) that had coral growing all over it. I startd getting closer to the big reed and it was even more beautiful! There were many colors: red, green, blue, yellow, and black. I loved all the different shapes of each type of coral. I saw alot of fish hiding amongst the coral and sometimes when I sat really still, they would come out. Unfortuantly, the fish hid alot because there were some people standing on the coral and touching alot of it (but I won't name names). I also say alot of bleached coral with no fish. At one point when I was snorkeling, I was swimming directly over the reef. I must have been there for awhile because the tide lowered enough to where I was literally 2 feet away from the coral. I couldn't move my flippers or swim so I just kind of floated around. After about three minutes, this random guy came over and pulled me by my life jacket, out of the coral. I said thank you, he just laughed and swam away. After that, I went to a better spot to get a look at the coral. Out of no where, a scuba diver popped up and started taking pictures of me!! I was alittle scared at first but then I rememebered the life guards saying something about that so I just kept swimming. After that, I swam closer to the platoon because the lifeguard was throwing fish food in the water. It was really cool because I was snorkeling in the middle of all the fish. They kept flopping in to me and pecking at my goggles. I got out of the water for a bit and went over to the touch tank. The diver had brought back some sea cucumbers. I got to hold one, they felt like a big stress relief ball. They were squishy and slimy but very cool!! 
Unfortunatly, I took all the cool pictures on my under water camera but I do have some :)
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