Andrea Hearts Traveling

No tour of Australia is complete without going to the Great Barrier Reef!

I landed from Bali at 7am in Cairns and it was raining!!!! It rained all day and I just hoped for the best for the next day since I had signed up for the Great Barrier Reef Dive and snorkeling!

The next day started super early but fortunately it wasn't raining!
I made sure to take my sea sickness pill before I left the hostel so I wouldn't get sick since I was told that people on the boat tours get really sick.

Before we started, one of the guides asked if anybody was afraid of getting sick and that they had pills for $3 for those who needed it and highly encouraged everybody to take it and he even emphasized that once you start feeling sick the pill wouldn't work... I think not that many took his advice because so many people got sick!
One girl got so sick that she slept the whole 8 hours on the boat and the boyfriend had to take care of her! There goes $470 totally wasted!

For those who were diving we had a short meeting where one of the guides explained the basics of the dive in 20 minutes! It was so concise and quick, not like Vivian who took an hour and a half to pretty much say the same thing!

I was in the first group with one more girl, both of us had dived for the 1st time in Gili so we knew what we were doing. This time I felt confident, I got in the water and I knew what I was doing! The water was very choppy but I just stayed underwater and reminded myself that I had done this before and that I could do it again!

The dive was beyond amazing! Ten times better than at Gili, I really felt like I was the inside one of the big fish tanks at the Academy of Sciences! So many colors and all the fish so beautiful! So much coral and prettiness! haha

These pictures do not do it justice AT ALL! (you need a real professional one to capture this beauty!)
Being down there the colors are more vivid and the eye can catch all the little colorful fish that swim around you. You are able to see fish that camouflage themselves, you see the tentacles of the coral moving side to side, you witness how a giant clam opens and closes like it's breathing... It is just magnificent and it is really hard to describe it! You can spot tiny clown fish swimming inside the anemone, you see how a whole school of light fish swim in front of your eyes, or spot a beautiful rainbow fish swim full speed in front of you! I loved every second of it!

a little clam

A giant clam <3

After the dive it was time for snorkeling!... I looked ridiculous, but so did everybody else!

The snorkeling wasn't as magnificent as the dive but still pretty good; we managed to spot a small white stingray (I think!)

When we were done snorkeling the guide said we could go to the little island that had started to form in the middle of the ocean! I asked another girl if she wanted to go so we went together... I would not want to be on my own if something happened!

The swim there was longer and harder than expected and the ocean was going crazy! It felt like I didn't move much despite all the effort because we were swimming against the waves.
When the water started to get shallower it was hard to swim but even harder to walk! I waited until I could sit to take off the fins but the waves were so strong it kept going from side to side.

It was so cool to be in the middle of the great barrier reef standing on a little island!

Some people decided not to snorkel but convinced the guides to bring them in the little speed boat!

The way out of the island was even harder than the way in! I felt like I couldn't get off it, the waves kept hitting me hard and it was very frustrating so I decided to go on my back, relax, and kick!

The second part of my visit to Cairns was to go to Cape Tribulation... the only place in the world where 2 world heritage sites meet: the Daintree National Park (Australian Rainforest and the oldest rainforest in the world) and the Great Barrier Reef!

Here I am with in a beautiful viewpoint with the great barrier reef behind me!

Interesting fact.. you NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER swim in the Ocean in Cairns!!! From the moment you start descending into Cairns you notice that a lot of rivers end at the ocean and Crocodiles live in rivers and therefore they end up at the beach. If you go in the water, you get eaten by the crocs! Oh! And there's jelly fish too!

The first stop in our tour to Cape Trib was at a aboriginal center that had a river and a supposedly beautiful swimming area. This River is safe to swim because is up in the mountains and the crocs can't get to it.
We all changed when we arrived at the site and then headed to the swimming river. I took a look at it and I was like "There is NO WAY I'm getting into that disgusting water!" it was all brown and yucky looking. The guide had said that it was pristine blue water and you could see turtles sun bathing in the rocks and like 800 different types of fish swimming around you! but not today, it rained all day and night the day before so it was not ok to swim! At least I enjoyed the walk around the jungle!

Then we had a crocodile river cruise ... exciting!!! but also scary! The guy who took us on the river said that it was strictly prohibited to put our hands or arms out since the crocs could just jump and try to eat it! Oh my!

First we spotted some little crocs:

And then the big crocs

In the afternoon we arrived to our beautiful accommodation, the Beach House, located in the middle of the rainforest.

There is no power, or cell reception in the forest. Those who chose to have power have to run it with solar or with generators but we heard from our guide that many people who live here like to live "as is" meaning no power, no tv, no media, no nothing but pure nature!

That afternoon I went to do some jungle surfing aka zip lining!

The only human hamster wheel in the world! In order to go up to the starting platform for zip lining people have to walk in the hamster wheel and get the rope moving up with a person attached! super cool!

Here we are in the platform in the middle of the Australian Rainforest! How awesome!

Zip lining selfie!

Look... I'm upside down!

This one is actually a really cool picture... I am standing in a world heritage site, the Daintree Forest, and behind me another world heritage site, the Great Barrier Reef!

At night I went on a night walk to look for yucky animals in the rainforest!
I 100% hate frogs, to the point that if I see one I will freeze, scream, or jump like a maniac! Well, tonight's walk started with some really loud frogs! We followed the sound and found 6 of them just sitting on some plans. I actually was calm and was able to get up close to them... I think I'm scared of toads! or brown frogs! These were cute!

For the rest of the walk we only found spiders (a lot of them), crickets, snails, and my favorite... Glow in the dark roots. The guide asked us to turn off our flashlights and to close our eyes and focus on the sounds of the forest, then she asked us to open our eyes and share what we saw (fireflies) and then she showed us some glow in the dark blue roots! Super cool! She said those roots were some of the inspiration for Avatar.

The rest of my time I spent it walking around the beach and in the rainforest!

Look at those roots!

All around the beach you see beautiful sand dots from the crab holes... and there's a tiny crab!

The root/ vine around this tree grows around it because it follows the sun, so as the sun goes run so does the vine in order to get some needed light!

The roots in these trees are crazy. This is a mangrove tree and the roots go up so the tree can breathe, the roots have special breathing cells that draw in air! how cool!

This is the coolest tree I saw, it's called a strangler fig! It strangles a tree and the tree inside it dies, leaving this really cool hollow tree!

On the back the Great Barrier Reef... and a river that goes straight to the ocean (with Crocs in it!)

And of course, before leaving the rainforest we stopped by the ice cream shop... home made in the rainforest!

On my way to Sydney I had a window seat and I could admire the beauty of the Great Barrier Reef from the sky... so beautiful!

I dislike the water, I dislike it very much, it gives me anxiety, and makes me uncomfortable but I decided to totally get out of my comfort zone and try diving in Gili Air.

Of course I went to trip advisor to find the best place for it and on my first day there I booked a dive.

The next day I was there first thing in the morning. I met my instructor, Vivian from Colombia, who talked for more than an hour about all of he rules and all the things I have to know and remember to dive. The talk got to be a little bit too long and by the end I had forgotten half of what she had said!

After the extensive introduction it was time to put on the wetsuit and practice the skills. We walked to the beach and went in the shallow end. The water was a little rough and my stomach was getting sick, probably because I was so nervous.

Once in the water Vivian went down and I started to go down… and by down I mean ONE meter! haha It was not deep, I knew I would be safe but somehow my brain couldn’t handle it! I had trouble breathing, my nose wanted to do the breathing and not my mouth! Once I went a little down I completely stopped breathing and asked her to go up. I told her I couldn’t do it, I told her I needed time, she told me I was ok, she told me that I needed to try again.

Down we went again and she made me hold a rope and I held on to that rope for dear life. This time she looked me in the eyes and made some signs to calm down and breathe. She then proceeded to use hand gestures to breathe in and breathe out; I slowly was able to do this with her but since my nose was the one wanting to do all the breathing I decided to just squeeze my nose with my fingers and focus on breathing through my mouth.

After I kind of got the breathing down I had to practice taking the regulator (the device that allows me to breathe) out of my mouth for a couple of seconds and then blowing it to get the water out. Once she started doing it I just got super anxious and I tried to make signs that I couldn’t. At that point my brain had total control over me and it was bringing me down. I had to think positive and look at what I had accomplished so far and don’t give up. I made hand signals to Vivian that I just needed to keep on breathing and couldn’t try the regulator just yet.

After a couple more breaths she looked at me and signaled to just watch her and then I was ready. I tried taking the regulator out and did the exercise and I was ok! Nothing happened, I got it.

Then, it was time for the harder exercise… I saw Vivian take the regulator out and let it go, she had to recover it from behind her shoulder so first she leaned onto her right side, then she looped her right arm under the hose and brought her left hand to her right palm and moved her left hand up the right arm until she got the hose, then put the regulator back in her mouth. I wasn’t really sure if I could do it so I kept breathing and trying to re-center myself and focus; after a couple of breaths I was ready, I tried, and it wasn’t all that bad.

Now it was time for the real stuff!!!

I got on the boat no problem but a little worried about sea sickness since I didn't take anything for it. The water was very choppy but it was only a very short ride so I was ok. On our way Vivian helped me get all my gear on and said “the way we go in is a little unusual so I won't tell you until we are ready to go so you don't get nervous"... Ok... That did not work, I got anxious! She should try not to tell people until it's time, that's how you avoid getting people nervous!

The way in wasn't all that bad, you just have to kind of throw yourself out of the boat backwards while you hold your mask and the regulator! It was actually kind if fun!

Once in the water I was impressed by how comfortable I was. Vivian had decided to put a strap between the two of us to help me stay close to her and guide me. I think it was the best option because I didn't have to worry about anything other than looking at the pretty fish. I quickly was able to breathe normally and really relax and go with the flow. I did not freak out once, I was strong and I didn't let my negative thoughts take control!

The dive was pretty cool! From the beginning we saw some really cool fish! We found nemo in an anemone, saw puffer fish, eels, and even two turtles who swam around me!

We were underwater for 45 minutes and everything went well, I didn't die and I had a good time looking at all the pretty fish and coral!

The next day the people at my hotel (actually the one guy who had english I could understand) asked me if I wanted to go snorkeling and I said not really but then he said the price was Rp100,000 (less than $8) so I went!

The trip was good, I actually liked snorkeling around the hundreds of turtles and little fish we saw.

The one thing I very much disliked was how most of the people in my boat had no respect for the animals. Isn't it just plain common sense that you should NEVER EVER EVER touch the turtles? Or the fish? or the coral? In what kind of world do we live where people think it's fun to disturb a turtle by petting it and by holding it with both hands! I could hardly believe it!

After the tour was done I was at the hotel and the owner asked me how it was and I said good but that people were touching the turtles and she said that it was ok, that turtles are used to the tourists! OMG! I couldn't believe her! I had an urge to tell her that it wasn't right, that it was disrespectful to go into their environment and disturb the creatures but she wouldn't get it so I just quickly said that in the U.S there are rules about it and one can be fined if you come too close or touch a turtle... she just said "Not here, here Ok to touch turtles"... insert angry face emoji!

Back to Australia... The Great Barrier Reef!

Scuba Diving in Gili Air!

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