Heron Island With the Parents

July 28-30, 2013

I was so excited that my parents had decided they wanted to include a stay at Heron Island as part of their visit!  This was the second visit for David and I (you can read about our first visit here), but we were just as excited as the first time.  I could go there a million times and not get sick of it- it really is paradise.  Heron Island is a coral island (coral cay) in the Great Barrier Reef.  Conveniently, it's very close to where we live- just a two hour ferry ride. 

This is the first view you get when you step off the boat.  UN. REAL.

 

 

 

We also saw this when we first arrived. 

Shadow?  A darker area of rocks or sand?  Nope.  This is a school of fish.  Crazy, right?  See that line down the middle?  That's the school of fish being parted by this:

I'll get back to this school of fish/shark experience a little later...

We woke up at sunrise on our first morning there to go on a guided reef walk.  A reef walk is a little like tide-pooling.  Basically you are walking around during very low tide with a marine biologist who points out all kids of coral and reef creatures.  It's pretty neat!  This was also around the time that David realized he forgot his bathing suit (OOPS!), so he was off scampering around trying to find a bathing suit in the one gift shop on the island.  I was about 80% sure he would end up with a speedo... luckily they did have some swim trunks, but he missed out on the reef walk :-(

Sunrise over the reef.  One of the few times I haven't been mad about being up early enough to see the sun rise.

 

 

Clam | Sea Star | Sea Cucumber

 

It's crazy how far out you can walk and not even have the water touch your knees

 
 

Sea Hare

We spent most of the rest of the day snorkeling right off of the island and exploring the reef.  So unbelievable to be swimming around in one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.  Last time David and I visited Heron Island, we borrowed a friend's underwater camera, so we were able to get much better photos on that trip (you can check them out here), but we did still get some good ones this time.  The highlight of course, was swimming with a sea tortoise- so cool!

 

 

A bit hard to see here, but this is a sting ray

 

 

 

 

Below, you will see what it looks like to swim through a school of fish.  No big deal, right?

And this is what it looks like to swim through a school of fish with a couple of SHARKS!

 

A pretty freaky experience.  These were reef sharks and lemon sharks, which supposedly are completely harmless and uninterested in humans, but STILL.  Come on, it's a shark!  Not sure I trust them completely... at least they had plenty of food...

I know this post is already pretty darn photo heavy, but there are just too many photos of this beautiful place.  So, if you're still with me, here are the last handful that I just couldn't bare to leave out. 

 

Hard to tell its size from this photo, but this is a giant Grouper that lives under the jetty.  The staff said it probably weighs close to 300 pounds!

 
 

 

 

Low tide again.  Pretty crazy to see people out SO FAR in the ocean just walking around.