12/22

Scott and Will heading out to sea!


Mary Jo and Kathy enjoy the reef.


Life is good after dramamine.

Today was our big adventure of snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. The trip out to the reef took a little over an hour and it was a bit choppy – well, actually really choppy. Everyone but Scott (Ironman) started feeling queasy. The boys had their first experience with sea sickness and learned some of the Australian slang for vomiting. (who says this isn’t a learning experience?) When Brett’s face turned even more white than normal, we ran for the sickness bags. About half the passengers on the boat got sick. Kathy and Mary Jo did not get sick, but sure felt like it. Then, in a moment of clarity, Kathy bought us all Dramamine and low and behold, the advertisements are correct – we were cured! Once we arrived at the reef it seemed to calm down and the snorkeling was great. We stopped at 3 different places along the outer reef. Thanks to the miracle of modern medicine we all spent a lot of time snorkeling and thoroughly enjoyed it. All those years of swim team have paid off because the boys had no problem swimming out in the ocean. At the second stop while we were out in the water, we look at Will’s mask and it is full of blood! Trying not to panic we get him back to the boat – just a bloody nose. But the funny thing is that Will and Mary Jo stayed on the boat and Scott went back out and just then he saw a shark – the smell of blood must have lured him. Everyone is wearing these lycra wet suits in case of jelly fish so it’s kind of hard to tell who’s who when you have your mask on. At one point, Kathy was swimming with a family of 4 and when they all came up out of the water for a break and started speaking French, she realized she was with the wrong family! Despite all the little side shows, it was truly a great day. We saw several sea turtles, a devil ray, a reef shark, and many colorful fish. The reef is as advertised, quite impressive.

When we got back to our apartment and Scott figured out how to get us an internet connection, we find out that Seattle has turned into the frozen tundra and our water pipes had frozen. Thanks once again to Kim and her Dad (did I mention we had already elevated him to Sainthood?) and Stacey Grund our water pipes and house are fine. Thank you guys!! I am really thinking we got out of Seattle at the right time…..