We had the privilege of not only spending two full days at the Great Barrier Reef, but we also got to sleep under the stars on a pontoon boat floating beside Hardy Reef.After we purchased our flights to Australia, Reefsleep was the second thing we booked (followed quickly by our helicopter tour to Whitehaven beach). It was something we found very early on and when we contacted our travel pals, they were all up for it! Chase called the reservation office and booked six swag sleepers for our October dates. Once we got the confirmation number, we jumped around and high-fived each other because we knew it was going to be a highlight of our 16 day trip! We were picked up at the Hamilton Island marina and from there, took off directly to Hardy Reef. We had first class treatment on the ferry. Our group was escorted onto the second level of the boat before the remaining passengers boarded and we met the other 3 people that would also be staying on the pontoon overnight. During the 90 minute ride, we had some mild paperwork to fill out for our food requests, made appointments to scuba dive, and met our overnight host, Amy. She told us that once we got to the pontoon, we should just chill, enjoy lunch, sunbathe, and skip snorkeling until after all the other guests had left because we'd have the evening to swim with just the 9 of us. We were so excited to arrive and finally see the boat! Chase and I did not abide by the "snorkel when there's less people in the water" recommendation! We snapped a few pictures of the boat and the reef and the we jumped in as soon as we checked our overnight bags. We had appointments to scuba so we thought we'd equalize our ears before doing the dive, anyway. See, we had a reason! This is a maori wrasse. Massive and super friendly, he let us pet him!! He hung around all day and we swam with him the next morning as well. Shortly after our snorkel fest, we got out and headed to the dive area. Before arriving in Australia, we did some research and found out that Reefsleep doesn't require visitors to be dive certified in order to participate. There was a 20 minute protocol briefing before we left the ferry and then after we got fitted for a tank, we went under the boat to test out our abilities of breathing under water. As long as we didn't freak out, we were ready! We had a certified diver with us the entire time and he was very good about checking to make sure we were equalizing and felt comfortable. There wasn't one moment in the 30 minute dive that Chase or I felt unsafe. We went about 30 feet down and spotted a lot of amazing coral, huge clams, and a ton of small, colorful fish. Chase and our guide spotted an adult white-tip shark about 15 feet from us. They shouted over to me to look and we all watched it swim along the bottom before drifting away from us! That was incredible! We also found Nemo!! After our dive, we met up with our friends for a late lunch. We spent the remaining hour exploring the pontoon and took a ride on the semi-submersible boat before the rest of the visitors headed back to Hamilton and Airlie beach. Once the ferry, and the few hundred people on it, left, all that remained was the 9 reefsleepers and a small crew from the Cruise Whitsundays company. Less than 20 people total. It was very peaceful and quite surreal to be in the middle of the ocean, essentially stranded. To give you some perspective, the boat in the middle of the next photo is Reefworld/Reefsleep. It's very secluded. That picture is from Cruise Whitsundays website! We were given Afternoon Tea and then told we could jump in and snorkel for a bit before the BBQ dinner. We chased angelfish and parrotfish, stared endlessly at the massive clams, and hunted for turtles. We stayed in the water until they told us to get out! We washed up and took our belongings to the upper deck to claim a swag. Shortly after, the sun began to set so we took the opportunity for a group photo and waited to see the green flash. We had dinner together and after dessert, we went to the underwater observatory to watch the bioluminescent plankton and ended to night with some euchre! The next morning, we woke up and watched the sun rise. It might have been the most spectacular sunrise of my life! The clouds made it so magical. Before breakfast, we all wandered around taking photos of the empty reef. Someone spotted a turtle so I ran around the boat trying to get a photo of him. Amy told us breakfast was ready. The classic: eggs, bacon, and toast with vegemite... I tried, really tried to eat it but just couldn't! It's, in my opinion, disgusting. After breakfast, we have about two hours to snorkel. The morning snorkel was so much better than the previous day. All the marine life was enjoying the calm water, which would change as soon as the ferry arrived. Chase and I went from one "end" to the other to see as many fish as we could. When we got out, we realized that the tide was really low so the reef was incredibly visible from the pontoon. We took advantage of having an empty boat and tried to take as many Reef photos as we could! Then, we snorkeled a bit longer. The crew dove in with us for about 10 minutes before we all had to get out so the ferry could dock safely. After the day passengers arrived, we grabbed a couple sun chairs and soaked up our last couple hours on the reef before heading back to Hamilton Island. This trip to Australia had a lot of high points for us, but I think Chase and I lose our words when we try to describe our experience on Reefsleep. It was an incredible opportunity to spend 48 hours on the Great Barrier Reef. To swim around coral that has been established for thousands of years, was truly awe-inspiring.
Until Next Time, C + D
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