Merry Christmas - Tuesday, December 25

It's a beautiful sunny morning today.  After eating breakfast we head down to the dock at 7:30.  We get everything in order with the dive masters and set up our dive equipment down on the dive deck.  The ride out to the Great Barrier Reef takes about 90 minutes.  Along the way we watch some sea birds diving for their breakfast in the waves.  I spot a few dolphins off in the distance.  Soon the water gets more and more shallow and we've arrived!  I'm so excited to get in the water.  Downstairs on the dive deck it's complete pandemonium!  There's divers and snorkelers everywhere trying to get ready.  There's no room for trying to wiggle into your wetsuit or even put on your BCD.  It's crazy.  Finally we get into the ocean and begin our dive.  Right away we notice that the colors of the coral are very vivid - they almost seem to glow.  David spots a turtle right away and we follow it for a good 10 minutes.  We watch it eating and swimming.  It's so beautiful.  There are so many fish on the reef that it looks like an aquarium!  Many of the fish are enormous - up to three feet long.  We don't recognize a lot of the fish, but we'll learn their names soon I hope.  I don't see any clown fish (Nemo) on this dive.  After lunch we dive again.  David spots a shark (he has good eyes today) about 10 minutes into the dive.  It's resting on the sandy bottom.  The shark begins to swim lazily toward us, but then changes direction when other divers come near.  I was really hoping to see it up close.  There are many different types of sea cucumbers on the sand.  Some are so fat and prickly looking.  I wonder what they feel like.  Not many big fish on this dive, but lots of small reef fish everywhere.  The parrot fish with their big front teeth look so goofy.  They make me smile.  It was a lovely day of diving, especially since we got to see a turtle and a shark on Christmas!  Merry Christmas everyone!