"Reliving the Reef" Ruminations

Attempting to recreate a memorable experience can sometimes lead to unexpected outcomes, as we discovered when trying to relive a previous snorkeling adventure at the Great Barrier Reef. Despite being informed that the Platform Reef Snorkel excursion was canceled for our fellow travelers due to inclement weather, our own snorkeling excursion proceeded as planned, offering a different experience without the platform constraints our tender boat was free to move about to find a desirable spot. So, we embarked on our tender boat with hopes of recreating the memorable March 2017 snorkeling expedition. However, the two reef adventures turned out to be vastly contrasting experiences, in fact, they were as different as night and day. To put all in perspective, here is a scrapbook page I created from our first Great Barrier Reef Experience:

As you can see it was a sunny, beautiful day and we sailed out to the reef in the Sailaway. We marveled at the underwater world of the Blue Planet! It couldn't have been more perfect.

Contrast that with our attempt to visit the reef once again today during our world tour:

Due to challenging sea conditions, the captain of the tender boat made safety a priority by avoiding the reef and instead guiding us to explore various coves for our snorkeling adventure around the islands. Here's the reef in our "rearview mirror" as we turned away:
https://youtu.be/jfO6EYcIv-I
As we left the reef behind, the weather was turbulent and uninviting, leading to many passengers feeling seasick and unable to enter the water. Despite the adverse conditions caused by winds and waves in the Whitsunday Islands off Australia's coast, we managed to venture into the warm waters in two beautiful coves. However, it was extremely challenging to observe anything underwater. Here are but a few of the poor photos capturing the moments overboard, including one of me [because Carii, our daughter, tells me "there's always a picture of dad and none of you."]

The underwater visibility was so poor I'm amazed we saw anything! Just goes to show you - sometimes you can't have the same experience a second time around!

Jeff actually spent more time in the water looking at the scenery around us. As a result he spotted the White-bellied Sea Eagle in flight. Here's a photo of this magnificent bird I found on an Australian museum website. I learned it has a wingspan of up to 7 feet. Impressive in flight!

He also found a "rock snail" or "rock dinosaur" - you decide: