Green Turtle and Hillbilly Fish :)

- I'll sum up yesterday for you, chatted with Caleb, ate lunch, wandered, Casino, watched Inception, bar for a snakebite, back to hostel, got in pjs, had a beer with Caleb. The end.
Ok, so today was woooonderful!!! From the moment we woke up it was gray and rainy outside, but that didn't ruin our trip to the Great Barrier Reef at all! Our boat took of at 8 am and we were treated with coffee and chocolate muffins, plus friendly crew members :) About half way to the reef somebody spotted whales!!! They stopped the boat and we watched four humpback whales playing around the boat- I have pictures, but they really don't do the experience any justice. It was amazing to see and it made me so happy I didn't spend extra money going on a whale watching tour earlier on. Our first stop, Michaelmas Cay, was a small island, reserved mostly as a bird sanctuary, and I didn't know what to expect- but I donned my wetsuit, grabbed my flippers and mask, and took the glassbottom boat out to the cay. It only took a couple minutes to get used to breathing through the snorkel, huge relief, and as soon as I put my face in the water I started to see the most beautiful fish! I didn't know if the fish would be as colorful and as plentiful as the videos I've seen of the reef, but they deffinitely were! Look up fish that stay around the reef, particularly parrott and trigger fish, and you'll see these vibrant neon green and blue and yellow fish. It was unbelievable. Because it was cloudy, the reef wasn't super colorful, but there were still these huge clam-like creatures that were bright blue around their "mouths" and coral that looked like it had blue fiberoptics on the ends of it. I also spotted my favorite fish of the day, I believe it was a Titan Triggerfish. It was larger than the parrottfish and when it turned to look at me it had teeth like big, crooked, yellow, human, buckteeth- as soon as I saw its mouth I laughed underwater and had to come up because I filled my mask with water. I lost the fish and named it the Hillbilly fish- it was hilarious! Apparently, during this time, Kacey was following around an enormous Green Turtle, I wish I would have been at the same spot as her, it sounds like it was such a neat experience!
By the time I made it out near the boat, I was freezing and exhausted but I stayed out as long as we could because I didn't want to miss out. We got back on the boat and dried off and lunch was served! They had a buffet with all kinds of cold salads and then two choices of entree- I had tandori chicken, it was all delicious. Then they did a quick fish feeding which was another great thing to watch!!! After that, they took us to our second dive spot, Paradise something lol, which was just out in the middle of the ocean. It was sooo rough. From the moment I got in the water I was pounded with waves, and every few minutes a wave would either force water into my mask or down my snorkel- but it was still a wonder to see everything. Plus, I saw another Hillbilly Fish! I accidently lost Kacey's mask (I thought she was holding it and she thought I was holding it, hard to explain) and we went back on the boat- they called everybody in just few moments later and I was getting tired so it worked out well :) The whole way back we hung out with some of the crew and some other guests and we played riddles and watched card tricks- a really fun ride. And, after a little while, when we got close to being back, they served us all coffee, tea, and cookies. We landed, said goodbye to the crew, and walked back to the hostel completely covered in sand and saltwater, hair completely a mess, completely exhausted, and completely ecstatic about the day :) This was my favorite day since I've been here, for sure!!!!