Red Elephants at the Reef

On recommendations from friends we paid the extra and went all the way to the outer reef.  This takes a little longer, your in a boat for 1.5 hours.  The good news is NO Red Elephant suffered from sea sickness, we are a hardy bunch.

James

Pete doing a selfie underwater

Mum ,Grace and James

Fish Fingers no Fish Feeding

There was lots of upgrades offered on the way out, dive experiences, guided snorkeling, helicopters, dive helmets and even a massage.  Sadly no fries or steak knives!  All our snorkeling equipment was supplied.  We all snorkeled up, Pete has snorkeled before, Grace has done a little bit with  her Uncle and James and I where newbies.  It was such a strange experience putting my face in the water with goggles and breathing through the snorkel  but once I relaxed and forgot about my breathing I was OK.  I had Grace holding onto one arm and James the other.  The water was lovely and warm, even for me.  No wind, no clouds and lots of sun.   The water was a lovely blue colour but clear, think blue loo.  We saw lots of coral, its still not as vibrantly coloured as I imagined.  Swimming with the fish was just amazing and the colours of the fish, well that was great.   James did quiet well, but even with his wetsuit on he still got the shimmy shakes and had to get out and warm up.  Grace who is half mermaid  could have stayed in all day.

Mermaid Grace

We snorkeled on 3 different occasions only to be interrupted by a cold little boy and lunch and going out in the semi submersible boat.

The semi submersible boat is sort of like a submarine.  I must say I am rather proud of Mr Red Elephant who normally does not cope well with small confined spaces such as a submarine!!  But he went in and he did look like he was going to do a runner before it took off.  With the excitement of seeing all the fish and coral under water and a few sharks and Barracuda's he embraced the submarine.

Blue Submarine

We watched the fish feeding and had Wally or is it Barry the big Murray Wrasse swimming around our feet.  What and experience.  James loved going down in the viewing tunnel with glass windows where you could watch the divers and the fish.

Wally/Barry and Zebra Fish coral in the background

As we departed the boat all the crew members where lined up to say good bye most passengers just walked past them, NOT, the Red Elephants we ran down the line giving them all high fives and wooping it up as only Red Elephants can do.  What a great way to end a terrific day on the reef.