Dive the Great Barrier Reef? Oh Yes We Did!

We spent the day at the Great Barrier Reef. A bus picked us up at our hotel at 8am and drove us about an hour to Port Douglas. Upon arrival, we loaded a huge boat to take us for an hour and a half ride out to Agincourt Reef to the Quicksilver pontoon (which is more like a floating platform.) The Agincourt Reef is on the very outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef and is part of a group of special reefs known as ribbon reefs.
While on the boat, Chris decided we should scuba dive. They have guides to go out with non-certified divers. We signed up to dive and I was very nervous. If you know me well, I'm not one who goes into the ocean easily. Not knowing what's under me is something that freaks me out. We were in the first group to dive. There is training and throughout the training I wasn't sure I could do it. I was very nervous and it felt like someone was pressing on my chest (and we hadn't started diving yet!)
Our guide was fantastic and reassured me he would be right by me and hold my hand the entire time which made me feel better. I survived the training (without crying, although I did tear up two times thinking I couldn't do this) and down we went. There were four in our group.
Underwater was the coolest thing! Once down for about five minutes, I calmed down (still holding the guide's hand the entire way.) We touched an anemone full of clown fish (Nemo fish!)
We also touched a giant clam! There were some things called Christmas tree worms that when you tried to touch it, it would pop into a hole. It was very cool. We saw schools of fish and lots of different types of coral.
I'm so glad we did this- worth every cent to see lots of God's creation that we don't get to see very often.
After diving, we ate lunch. Then we rode a boat that had the part you sat in submerged under water. That was another cool way to experience the ocean!
After the boat ride, Chris decided to dive again-this time going farther out.
He saw a other giant clam, starfish, a Queensland grouper that was as big as he is, and more fish! I was able to take pictures and some video of him from and underwater observation deck.
We are purchasing a video of our dive adventure...can't wait to see it!
Overall, a perfect day and a great way to spend our last day in Australia. We fly home tomorrow. Our first flight is at 6am Thursday morning Australia time and we land around 6pm Thursday night Memphis time.

Fish we saw right when we got in the water

Chris on the second dive (so I was able to take pics)

On the boat that submerged underwater

Ready for dive #2

Loving the wetsuit!