Great Barrier Reef

When I realized that the southernmost part of the Great Barrier Reef was closer than traveling all the way to Cairns I was excited. Lady Elliot island is a really cool island that is the only one in the reef chain that has it’s own runway.

The great barrier reef is the chain of islands that run along the coast of Australia.

It is not a cheap trip. It was 829AUD or about $567 USD. It includes hotel pickup, transport by air, drinks, food, and snorkeling. For those wanting to do this it is cheaper from the Gold Coast than from Brisbane. I was intending to do the trip in Brisbane so extended my stay here at the Gold Coast instead. I was excited!

We arrived at the airport in Coolangatta. It was a small plane and as I was by myself I sat in the copilot seat which was awesome.

Some great sights at first and we flew for about 2 hours. Where we were heading was a tiny dot on the panel.

The end of the pink line is the island. You can’t even see the island as the line is the same thickness!

And then I saw the island… Yes it is small. Good thing the plane is small too.

The runway runs from bottom right to top left of the picture.

This island is in a protected green zone. They have solar panels for all of their electricity needs and also use it to distill Sea water for their own drinking water. It is a reef education center, protected sea turtle area, and an eco resort.

You can see the solar panels at the end of the sidewalk running along to the right.
This island is gorgeous. It would be great to stay here for a few days in the resort.

After storing our things and a little look around, we were given snorkeling gear and met for the glass bottom boat tour and snorkeling.

In the glass bottom boat we saw a Manta Ray. It was enormous and they do not sing like sting rays do. The pictures are a little fuzzy as they are taken through glass and water.

Below are other pictures of coral from the glass bottom boat.

Then it was time to snorkel. It was amazing. I’m glad I remembered my go pro (especially since Australia was not planned on this trip. The closing of school due to the coronavirus allowed me this time.)

This coral was purple.
Female green Sea turtle
A sea cucumber.

I took some great video following green Sea turtles and schools of fish.

Sea turtle nesting sites. They are marked with the dates the eggs are laid so when they hatch they are monitored and they can be assisted making it to the Sea.
A purple starfish.
A sea cucumber just off shore.

They offered a really yummy lunch and we were free to explore or snorkel again. I met some great people while visiting the island.

Of course I snorkeled again. Half of our 12 hour day was spent in traveling to and from the island. It was totally worth it. Seeing the Great Barrier Reef was amazing.

White capped black noddy