Mr. & Mrs. Vandebilt + kids

I have been looking forward to the great barrier reef for this whole trip. Well to be honest long before that. And it was awesome.

We decided to tour the reef with cruise whitsundays. They have a pontoon anchored on a section of the outer reef at knuckle reef lagoon. It was a three hour ride to get there. We passed idyllic little islands en route and got some sunshine on the upper deck of our three storey boat. On the way we could see flying fish hopping in the waves we created.

As we finally pulled up to our destination it was one of the most incredible things I have and probably will ever see. Everyone on the boat went silent as we docked as there are really no words to describe it. The water is an unnaturally clear and bright blue with lighter and darker streaks running through it. Let’s just say it looks just like the postcard.

We left the boat for the huge pontoon they have set up. We decided to first go out on the glass bottom boat. We sailed around over the reef. There is coral as far as you can see and just as many fish hanging out. I even saw a stingray chilling out on the ocean floor. The boat was cool but it had nothing on the snorkeling.

We went out twice for about an hour each time. We didn’t see much the first time as we didn’t get close enough to the coral. Even though there wasn’t a lot to see there were still schools of funny looking fish with long noses, jellyfish, baby squid and some other randoms.

The second time though we hovered over some amazing coral. It’s not quite what I pictured it to look like. The colours aren’t as obvious as I thought. They aren’t screaming reds yellows and purples instead they are subtle and you don’t really notice until you stop and look. We saw upwards of fifty different kinds of fish. The giant clam was my favourite. Sadly though Nemo didn’t come out for a visit.

In case you haven’t gathered the reef was spectacular. I still can hardly believe I saw it.