FantaSea turns FantaSick

We joined a group heading out to the Great Barrier Reef run by a tour company called FantaSea. They provided the boat ride to and from the reef, lunch, and snorkeling equipment and all the fixings. We left at 8:30 and returned at 4:30 on Friday. We were all excited to have a fantastic experience viewing the sea life. It turned out to be windy and overcast when we reached the reef around 11:00. We transferred from the boat to the pontoon you see here. All of us suited up in snorkeling gear and swam along a rope some distance from the reef. Nathan soon found that he is not as good of a swimmer as he thought, and despite the life preserver and noodle as flotation devices, his arms and legs wore out quickly. Isaac couldn't find a way to get his mask to keep the water out without it squeezing his head. We soon swam back to the pontoon to get out of the water. Once we were on board, we had a difficult time from keeping our teeth from chattering as the wind continuously blew.

After enjoying lunch the boys wanted no more of the sea and found a movie to watch. Despite the fact that my lips were changing from blue to purple and I couldn't feel my extremities, I still wanted to try snorkeling once more. I knew I would feel that the whole experience was a waste if I didn't get to see the reef up close and personal. Steve and I put on our cold wetsuits and explored for perhaps another thirty minutes or more. We did see a number of different fish. The reef was a bit colorless, which was not what we had expected. We're thinking that to see the really vibrant coral we had better learn to scuba dive and go a little deeper. All in all I was satisfied with our second attempt and have no regrets.

That is, until we headed back to land. By the mid afternoon, the weather had deteriorated a bit, lending to very choppy waters. We had barely started towards shore when I realized I would not be able to enjoy the ride back. I think FantaSea has some sort of no return policy on their adventures, but I returned my lunch in full. As I sat at the back of the ship watching the crew rush about distributing sick bags and hand wipes I committed myself to not testing my sea legs ever again. FantaSea had turned to Fantasick.