by: barbrazupanPosted on:

Our Lady of the Reef

This past weekend, we celebrated Rob’s birthday by exploring the Great Barrier Reef at Lady Elliot Island. It’s taken us nearly two years to finally do a snorkeling trip and wow, did we pick well! What an amazing two days! 

Lady Elliot Island is located on the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef about 80km off shore and you can only get there by plane, a cool experience in itself. 

Happy birthday Rob!

This small island houses an eco-resort that only includes about 40 rooms so even though you’re on a resort, it’s quiet and peaceful. And even better, there are no TVs, internet or mobile access so it really is a perfect getaway.

The view from our room

When you arrive on the island, one of the staff greet you as you come off the plane, give you a tour and educate you on how to enjoy all the island has to offer while minimising your impact on the reef and wildlife. And then it’s time to snorkel, explore and enjoy.

These fish just huddled together and hardly moved even when we swam close to them.
We were really excited to see this turtle below us when snorkeling in the deep part of the reef
When the tide goes out in the lagoon, a huge portion of the reef is exposed. It actually makes noise. Rob and I decided it sounded like Rice Krispees.
Reef walking when the tide was out. So great to see the coral up close. They instruct you to use sticks so you can navigate through the reef and step only on the sand so you don’t damage the coral.

After a full day of snorkelling, we settled in at the beach to take in the sunset, something we just don’t get to fully enjoy living on the east coast. The colours were breathtaking!

Rob was pretty pleased this wave interrupted his perfect sunset shot.

Lucky for Rob, I’m an early riser and got him up in time to snorkel in the lagoon while the tide was high. All that exposed coral we’d walked through the day before was now covered in water and we were able to see the fish and coral up close.

These blue sea stars were so vibrant!
The clams were massive and super colourful.

We even swam alongside a turtle.

The water here was so shallow so this turtle was a lot easier to see than the one we saw the day before. The camera didn’t capture all of its gorgeous spots and colouring.

Winter in Queensland brings whales and Manta Rays up the coast. Unfortunately, we weren’t lucky enough to encounter either while snorkelling but we did get to swim with some bull rays (sting rays). The way they move through the water is incredible to watch. 

Our two days went way too fast, and yet when we arrived back at our car after our flight back to the mainland, we both commented that it seemed impossible that we’d only left it there the day before. It is impossible to describe how perfect this experience really was and pictures will never capture the vastness or colours of all the marine life we saw, but hopefully this little blog gives you some idea. Winter in Queensland is a pretty tough gig!

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