Great Barrier Reef

November 12th--Well, I'm pretty sure weather wise, we didn't pick the best day to go to the Barrier Reef. It was a rainy day today. However, I'm not sure what we would have done in the rain anyway. We signed up for a trip to the Great Barrier Reef through Quicksilver. The bus picked us up at 9:30 and took us to the Marina where we boarded the Quicksilver, a 3 story boat. We were immediately informed that there would definitely be some "motion in the ocean" today. So, Abby and I headed to the medicine area on the boat. Abby took a ginger tablet while I took a Travelcom. It seemed to help both of us. On our one hour and 30 minute boat ride, there were many people that got sick, but Abby and I did great. So, the medicine worked. The boat docked at a large activity platform on Agincourt ribbon reef, on the outer reef. We arrived at the platform about 11:30. We got off the boat and grabbed a table on the platform to put our things at. Then, we rode the semi-submersibles boat for about 15 minutes around the reef. We were able to see many different fish and a lot of the reef during this time. After getting off the boat, we decided to eat lunch. After lunch, it was time to go snorkeling. The kids were really excited to get this opportunity. We got all our gear on including a lycra suit. We thought the suit would provide two things: keep us warmer and keep us from being stung by jellyfish. There was a man that was working there that was very helpful to us with the kids. He even let Austin borrow his goggles because Austin didn't really care for the snorkeling mask. So, Mike and Austin entered the water first and off they went in the water. Abby and I followed shortly after. The kids both had on life jackets which helped us a lot. We still had to hold onto them because there was definitely a current today. Anyway, Abby did great at snorkeling. She put her face in the water and really enjoyed what she was seeing. While snorkeling, we got to see parts of the reef and many fish. Cloudy, rainy skies and all, the reef was still amazing. Anyway, after a while of being in the water, we all made our way back to the platform and quickly dried off. The kids had had their fill of snorkeling for the day. So, Mike and I took turns going back out in the water. It's definitely easier when you don't have to worry about a child. Before we knew it, they were blowing the horn indicating to get back on the boat. We were lucky to find a spot inside the boat and on the couch. We were sitting across from 2 nice older women from England that we visited with on the ride back to Port Douglas. On the boat ride back, the crew had a man overboard drill. That added a little excitement to the ride. We arrived back to the marina around 4:30 and boarded the bus back to the Sheraton. We got back to the hotel about 5:00 and all showered off. We then ate dinner here at the hotel before going to bed.