Great Barrier Reef – Mar. 29th – 31st

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometers/1,529 miles over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometers/132,973 square miles.  It is one of the seven wonders of the natural world, is larger than the Great Wall of China, and the only living thing on earth visible from space.

I went to the reef on a three day live aboard scuba diving ship.  I had booked it about two months prior and I was so looking forward to it.  It was going to be the last stop for Australia and it was going to be really amazing.  The schedule allows for 11 dives, two of which would be night dives.  Unfortunately, the day before the trip, I got a cold.  I was in denial so I still went, but I couldn’t dive.  When you scuba dive you have to equalize your ears as you descend.  It’s similar to what you do when you ascend in an airplane.  If you any sort of head congestion, you can’t equalize and that’s what happened to me.  I tried five different times on the three days, but each time I couldn’t get deeper than about ten feet with pain in my head.  My ears wouldn’t equalize at all.  I was so disappointed.  It wasn’t just the $550 that I spent for the cruise, but all the fact that I was missing out on this trip of a lifetime.  And then to add insult to injury, I had to listen to how great all the other passengers’ dives were.  It was horrible.  I tried to make the best of it and I went snorkling during each dive, but it just wasn’t the same.