pauligoesaustralia: Heron Island - The Great Barrier Reef

What an amazing week!
On sunday night I went with other marine studies students and some internationals to Heron Island in the Great Barrier Reef. First we went with the bus to Gladstone and then with a boat to Heron Island. The 2 hours on the boat felt like a never ending time, because the wind was very strong and the boat swung the whole time up and down. In the beginning it was funny but after 30 minutes I got seasick and went to the outside of the boat, which was much better!
After 2 hours we finally arrived at Heron Island, and the first impressions were the best I ever had!
White sand, turquoise water and a blue sky! This is paradise!
We brought our things into the rooms and after that we had our first reef walk. At this walk we chose a organism we want to explore for the week. Cecilia and I took a blue clam.
After lunch we had our first dive. We should find our organism again at high tide. When Cecilia and I went nearer to the place where the clam must be three black-tip-sharks crossed our way. I was really surprised but I found it also very interesting but Cecilia was so scared of them that we went back. On our way back to the others we saw a shark which was as big as me!
On the next day they we were surprised by the water, because there was no water anymore. The guests of the resort left the island, but the teachers decided to stay. In the afternoon we had another dive in the reef. And on this dive we saw a ray, a turtle and some really big fish.
On wednesday the water came back but we had to be very carefully with it. On midday we went with the boat in the middle of the ocean and had a really amazing dive. We saw a cornet fish and many different corals.
In the evening we had a harbour dive during the sunset. This was so beautiful, because we saw the sun at the horizon while we were in the water. In the night we went to the jetty to watch the spangled sky, the sky was so clear that we saw every little star and also 5 shooting stars!
On our last day we stood up at half past five to watch the sunrise. We sat on the beach and watched the sun go up. This view was really amazing, because the sun dyed everything into red.
At half past twelve we went again on the boat, but the trip was very good, because there was nearly no wind. After the long bus trip from Gladstone to Caloundra I was really tired and just felt asleep when I was back in my australian home!