Trip #5: Heron Island (Great Barrier Reef)

Sooo… to keep it short and sweet, this trip was nothing short of ::insert ALL synonyms of “amazing!” here:: Courtesy of WU, this trip was for my marine environment class. After an 8 hr bus trip, followed by 2 hrs on a catamaran, we arrived at the Heron Island Research Station last Friday afternoon.

Two hours later, after some orientations and paperwork, we were in the ocean…SNORKELING! Now, I’d never been snorkeling before, and I’m not the greatest swimmer, but after a bit of practice w/ some other students and the professor, I was a snorkeling machine for the next few days. Saturday, the class went out on two boats and snorkeled in the middle of the ocean. It was like 1000x better than Finding Nemo lol…so many beautiful fish, gorges and coral, a sea turtle, and about 3-4 small sharks lol (they were pretty far below me so the instant fear of seeing a shark went away pretty fast).

I stayed in a research bunks/dorms w/ nine beds and a bathroom. We had 5 meals a day…brekky/lunch/dinner plus morning and afternoon tea. My group (Team 1B: Carmen, “Paul,” Corey, Christine, and I…whooo!!!!) completed our project over Sunday and Monday. Our group decided to work with clams…we found about 50 of them, measured their length and tried to connect the lengths found with their recruitment patterns on the Island…blah blah blah…

I snorkeled 4 days in a row, laid out on the beach, got to know my classmates a bit better, and got a new identity (you know, in case I ever need one...Delores, from the Caribbean)...this is the life!