The Great Barrier Reef

What a day.

We left at 7 30 to get to the ferry terminal, using the shuttle bus from the hostel.

When we got there we had to check in, similar to that of an airport. We then took some travel sickness tablets as we were told that the boat is very fast and bumpy so that it can get out to the reef, 70km away in about an hour. Plus, Liz didn’t want a repeat of her time in Kaikoura when we were whale watching!

We boarded our vessel, the “Silver Swift”, a posh catamaran style boat and we headed out into the ocean. We then had to fill out some medical forms.

Early on, barely five minutes after leaving we and the other snorkellers were taken to the back of the boat where they had all the equipment.

Here, we were handed our flippers, snorkel and our Stinger/Lucrative suits. We needed these on as it was near the end of the stinger season, so there may be deadly jellyfish where we were, but it was unlikely. Predominantly, it meant we wouldn’t get sun burnt!

The journey out was absolutely fine, and we felt silly for wasting the money on the tablets in the end as it was nothing compared to the boat in Kaikoura, but better safe than sorry!

Once we got to the reef, we had a quick safety talk and snorkel demonstration for those that hadn’t done it before or needed to know better techniques, and we were also told about what we were likely to see at this particular reef spot.

The first spot was on Flynn reef, called Coral Garden, as it had a vast array of Corals in this section.

We then headed to the wet area at the back, to Don our snorkelling gear:

We both wore the stinger suits, and I was told I should wear a floaty vest thing as I declared I had asthma, so we both wore them- mainly so we could happily float and take pictures in the water without having to worry about paddling around to stay afloat.

It was then time. We jumped into the open ocean, 70km in the middle of the sea!

You wouldn’t have thought it! The water was warm, like being in a bath, it was quite calm as well. I think the captain said it had dropped to around 5 knots so we had good conditions.

Then we ducked our heads under the water and entered another world.

Coral, fish, sand, amazing things inches from our face- it was like looking into an aquarium tank, only we were in the tank as well!!

We swam around using our flippers mostly, and I took plenty and plenty photos of everything and anything I could.

We spent about an hour at the first reef stop, it was so unreal. We popped up now and then to the surface to talk, which was made easy by the float jackets we had on. We also checked how far away from the boat we had gone.

The coral was barely a foot from our face, and we made sure to swim around rather than over, in case we accidentally stepped on it or kicked it.

We then heard the blazing horn of the boat and that meant time was up and we had to swim back.

We then headed around 10 minutes further out to the next Reef. It was then lunch time here, so we had our lunch after our reef talk, a smorgasbord of food to choose from before heading out to the second reef site, which was also on Flynn reef.

This reef brought us the best stories and experiences.

After we suited up again, i got in the water first and waited for Liz to get sorted:

Here, we swam around looking at the amazing coloured fish and we also saw a closely related version of Nemo:

Maybe they’re cousins.

Liz also had to dodge a jellyfish that she saw! I was further ahead to didn’t see it but she swears by It, but sadly we didn’t get to picture it.

After further swimming and seeing a lot of giant clams…

…we swam around an area we had before and I took a video of being underwater and the coral, when Liz started shouting at me from the surface, so I rose to her saying “Did you get a photo of the shark!?”. 

A reef shark had swam towards us, unknown to me as I was focusing on the coral to the side, swam under us both, barely a metre below. Liz watched this unfold but I missed it, so I swam after it to try and take a picture (Call me Steve Irwin):

I couldn’t swim any faster to get any closer, sadly for some reason sharks are better swimmers. Liz reckons he was about the length of us, and she was so happy she got to see her shark.

Liz also saw an Eel swim from one part of a reef to another that I missed while I was focused on Nemos cousin!

There were also a lot of Parrot fish, who have distinctly similar “beaks”:

Then, all still in the same reef, the photographer for the boat swam along to us with his wild, but pet like, Maori Wrasse. A huge fish that will follow you around like a dog, and he got him to stop in front of us for a photo (which we didn’t buy it as it was expensive, and we had our own!):

We watched this BFF (Big Friendly Fish) swim off with the diver to the Next set of people and were amazed.

We swam around more, taking photos and pointing at all the amazing things like this starfish and funny floaty coral:

We then heard the horn again and headed from where we were to get back on the boat. 

There was one more surprise for us though, as I was taking a picture of Liz swimming back, she pointed down at the same time and below us, not far from the boat and further down on the ocean floor, was a sea turtle!!

Needless to say we were late back to the boat after watching him navigate around!!

This reef had brought us nearly everything we wanted to see, only a clownfish and a stingray were left to complete the collection!

Back on the boat and during our reef talk for our final snorkel on this other world, they told us that this is where we could see clownfish.  I feel it’s very harsh on Marlon, given all the work he did to find Nemo that these fish are referred to as just “Nemos”!

This time, they had a snorkel guide for our final reef and he was going to take us to different points, if we wanted. We followed him for a bit but then swam ahead of the group, staying close for when he said where the anemone would be.

Eventually we saw them gather around near us and it was time to get a chance to see Nemo. And Marlon!! If anything it’s more likely to be Marlon as Nemo got kidnapped!

Anyway.

Once the group had seen them and left us by ourselves, we had a look to see them but they were far down.  I had to take off my floaty vest in order to dive down about 2 or 3m to see where they were as they were near the bottom of the Coral.

After many attempts, and making sure I didn’t hit the coral on my way back to the surface I managed to finally get a good photo, one I’m  immensely proud of!

That ones going in a frame when we’re back!!

If you can see, there were 3 clownfish in the anemone!

We then spent most of our time swimming around looking on the beds of the ocean to see if we could see any stingrays popping there eyes out from the floor.

Near the end of our reef time, just before the  horn went off we eventually saw the last on our list!!

It was quite small, and spotted with blue, but a stingray none the less!

We felt so lucky to have seen all We wanted to get to see, and more!

Back on the boat and dry, we headed back to land and the feeling of that day still hasn’t really left us.

We swam in the Great Barrier Reef. We saw clownfish, stingray, a shark, a turtle, in the wild, in the same water we were in!!

Not many people get to say that, not even people that go to the reef if they don’t see them!

This was certainly a day we will never forget and will definitely make it in our top 10 moments on our adventure.

Just, Wow.

Halong Bay

Our sleeper train was 14 hours long but didn’t feel that long. We stayed up till around 11 talking and playing Game of Life on an iPad. Liz won, I came 3rd!

It was the best sleeper we had been on so far, It felt like it anyway.

We then got on a coach to Halong Bay, it took around 3 hours and we arrived at 8 in the morning. We paid to get breakfast at the hotel to eat and kill some time, as check in wasn’t until 10 30.

After check in we showered and relaxed before meeting the tour at 12 to get a coach to the port where a Junk boat was to take us around the Mountains in the sea:

We ate on the boat as well… fine dining! Liz had the vegetarian option and I had fish, such as crab cakes in a crab shell, snapper fish, rice, noodles, shrimps (which I didn’t touch) and loads of other sides:

The views were spectacular, limestone rocks cascading out of the sea like icebergs:

We stopped so people could go kayaking through some of the caves in the rocks, we didn’t do this as it was pretty expensive for what it was, and money is getting tight for this part of our trip.

We then floated around some more and visited the caves within one of the limestone rocks:

We then went back to the port. The scenery was amazing, the mist around the mountains made it even more surreal and eery. 

That evening, we were so tired, we walked to get some snacks before heading back to the hotel to relax early, and both of us fell asleep by half 9!

Next stop, Hanoi. 

Sihanoukville

We left Phonm Penh around 8am to head to the beach town of Sihanoukville.

About an hour in we stopped at the military base so some people could have a go at shooting an Ak47 and a hand pistol. They were loud. It was expensive,  but even if it was cheap I doubt we would have done it anyway.

On our way, we had to pull over for a few minutes whilst the King of Cambodia was coming back through with a procession of about 20 Police Coaches:

Photo above was of him waving, the best I could get really!

On the journey, Bun was telling us about more about how things cost here compared to at home. To rent a house with 2beds and a private bathroom, $40 a month. Brand new Lexus 4×4 Cars around $20,000 and mopeds/bikes only $750. U.S. dollars this is.

We arrived at the hotel about 2pm, and changed and headed straight for the beach. We walked about 10 mins or so along it to get to a more secluded, less touristy location where we wouldn’t be disturbed by street sellers every 5 seconds:

We chilled out in the water and led in the sand. I even managed to get a quick workout out in in the forest, using the branches to do some sets of pull ups.

We headed back to the hotel whilst the sunset;

Then, we got a load of clothes to wash and took them across the street to get some washed for 3 hours time, some for tomorrow.

We ate on the beach for dinner , at a bbq restaurant. They had fireworks going off all along the beach whilst we sat in big wicker lounging chairs.

Today we are going to do an island tour. Its costing us $15 USD for breakfast, lunch, the boat around the 3 islands, time on the islands and snorkelling, equipment included, around them.

We set off on the boat about 9ish after Breakfast and headed past island 1 to the 2nd island, where we went snorkeling with loads of fish:

Afterward we headed to Ko Ta Kiev, the 3rd island.

Which was the closest thing to a paradise beach we have ever been to…White sand, See through water for ages, quiet, warm. Amazing!

We spent about 3 hours here, had a bbq lunch made for us as well. Their were a lot of wasps buzzing around us on the island, about twice the size of wasps you get at home.

There were also loads of fish swimming in the clear waters, none seemed fazed by us.

After lunch we led on the beach and in the sea some more before heading back over to island 1, for some more snorkelling.

There were less fish, but bigger fish and more coral on this island, and giant sea urchins! Luckily neither of us put our feet down, else we could have had a different afternoon altogether.

We got back to the hotel where we chilled and showered and aftersunned up before going put to get more water and snacks for our long coach journey tomorrow, and picking some more laundry up. Tiger balm here btw, which is around £6/7 at home, is £1.50. I’ll be stocking up on this before we come home!

In the eve we went for food, and then went straight home to the hotel, to pack again and prepare for tomorrow’s long journey to the Mekong delta, and the border crossing into Vietnam. Tomorrow we stay with a family in their house….