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Diving on the Great Barrier Reef

© Sharael Feist

To celebrate our one-year wedding anniversary, my husband Jeff and I booked a trip to Heron Island, Australia--a coral cay on the Great Barrier Reef. This spot was optimal because the island resort is right on the reef. Most people that go to the Great Barrier Reef fly into Cairnes and have to take a two-hour boat ride out to the reef, go snorkeling or diving and then take the two-hour boat ride back to the mainland. But we were lucky because we took the two-hour boat ride out, but then got to stay on the island for a few days before returning by helicopter...what a view!

Our trip to the Great Barrier Reef started with a 1 1/2 hour flight north to from Sydney to Brisbane, Queensland. There we switched to a smaller plane and flew another hour to Gladstone. At Gladstone, we took a two-hour motorized catamaran to the island. Heron Island is 72km offshore. It is part of the Capricorn Group of Islands. Upon checking in for the boat ride out to Heron, the clerk handed us free motion sickness pills. This had me worried, for good reason...it was very bumpy. The swells in the open ocean can be rough. The captain said that it's not uncommon to have 2 metre seas and 20 knot winds. A few people got seasick. Jeff slept the entire way. A video showing the creatures of the Great Barrier Reef captured my attention and distracted me from the tossing and turning of the boat. From the video I learned that at a certain time of year, the coral releases millions of eggs at the same time creating an effect that looks like driving in a snowstorm on a dark night. The ocean is littered with the tiny white eggs.

Before arriving at Heron, glasses of champagne were served as we passed Wistari Reef. The colors of the ocean surrounding the reef looked like something out of National Geographic magazine. The deep ocean surrounding it was a dark blue, which turned to a brilliant turquoise over the shallow reef. Bits and pieces of the coral could be seen in through the shallow water. Simply amazing.

The Heron Island Resort had been closed for remodeling and we arrived on the day it reopened. Lucky for us the remodeling was finished just in time for us to go there for our anniversary. Upon arrival to the island, we were greeted by staff members and given a tour of the facilities, then shown to our rooms. The host informed us that a lunch buffet would be served on the patio of the Pandanus Bar. He also told us that the rooms did not have locks, therefore we wouldn't need a room key and that in addition to all of our meals being included in the price, anything else could be charged to the room so there was no need to carry cash. Concerned about theft, I asked if anything had ever been stolen and I was reassured that it was extremely safe.

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