One of the main objectives for heading ‘up north’ (which is very different to driving up the M1 to Leeds by the way), was to go to the Great Barrier Reef. We booked a trip with ‘Sea Star’ and powered out to sea at 7.30am on a very speedy boat; blueberry muffin and coffee cup in hand.I’ve never been a huge fan of boats but it’s funny how I only remember this fact once I’m on board and in the middle of the choppy ocean, turning green.
Needless to say I was pleased to arrive at Michaelmas cay, our first stop.
Although the temperature was a good 24 degrees, I’ve never been a very warm blooded person so was happy to be handed a wet suit to shoe horn myself into.
Wetsuit and flippers on, I jumped into the sea and instantly felt the ice cold water soak through my wet suit-it was freezing! Turns out wetsuits don’t work too well if they are too big for you. Thankfully the sight of colourful corals and baby nemos was a good distraction and I managed to stay in the water for about 20 minutes until my lips turned blue.
We clambered onboard, warmed up and journeyed on to Hastings Reef. We then had to climb back into wet, wet suits (a truly horrible feeling) and jump back into the cold sea. I didn’t really warm to this idea, but told myself to ‘man up’ and I’m so glad I did. There were so many tropical fish everywhere, it was amazing! We also saw a turtle, some people saw a sting ray and Martin thinks he saw a small shark.
The day ended with a glass of cold white wine in the evening sunshine on dry land. One glass turned into several which led to a 2 hour conversation with a fisherman called Darren, who owned a pit bull terrier called Roxy, who wore a diamonte collar.
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