Margaret after snorkeling on the reef.

On the day of our trip to one of the seven wonders of the natural world, we were up at 6:00 and eating breakfast at the Homestead by 7:00. At 7:45, we boarded a bus for Quicksilver connections. We left at 8:00, arriving a little after 9:00 in Port Douglas. The road reminded us of the winding Hana Drive in Hawaii. We boarded the Quicksilver about 9:30, left port about 10:00 for Agincourt Reef. It was a beautiful day, bright and sunny, with calm water. There is a lot to do including snorkeling, scuba diving, glass-bottomed boats, semi-submersibles. Other Quicksilver tours can include aircraft and helicopter tours and whale watching.

Snorkeling was on the agenda after we arrived and settled in. Then we had lunch (which, when we went in 1995, was nothing to write home about but not that bad, either). It was included in the price. After lunch we took a ride in the submersible which was really fun. The commentary is educational and interesting. And we also went down to the observatory. All in all, a great day!

The Submersible - fun and educational!

Around 3:00, we left to go back to shore and we shopped a bit until around 5:00 when we boarded the bus to go back to the hotel.

Here are some fun facts about the Great Barrier Reef:

• one of the seven wonders of the natural world

• larger than the Great Wall of China

• only living thing on earth visible from outer space

• over 1,800 miles or 3,000km, almost parallel to Queensland coast

• over 3,000 individual reef systems

• hundreds of tropical islands

• 400 types of coral

• 1600 species of fish, including 1400 coral reef species

• 215 species of birds

• 30 species of whales and dolphins

• 133 species of sharks and rays

• habitat of the sea cow and the large green turtle which are endangered species

Tags: flashbackfriday, australia, great barrier reef, cairns