Heron Island

This is a white tip reef shark. About 1.5 - 2 meters

This is Ben, but I did the same thing just before there was a camera

Doing a lot of work

The second half of my Australian spring break was spent on one of the most southernly parts of The Great Barrier Reef - Heron Island.  It's a 10 hour bus ride north of Brisbane then a 3 hour boat ride east. Everyday had at least one planned snorkel with the class, but most of the time I was in the water snorkeling 2 or 3 times a day. We did one night snorkel which was a lot of fun but didn't see as much as during the day. Everyone was equipped with a glow stick and a torch (flashlight). Independently from the class, we also did one sunrise snorkel which we found out is the best time to go. The most stunning sight was by far the sharks which I saw up close and personal. The island waters were populated with numerous white tipped reef sharks, black tipped reef sharks, sting rays that were longer than myself, loggerhead turtles which the shell easily had a diameter of my wingspan and fish that ranged from cute and pretty to big massive ugly things. By the end of my second snorkel, having 3 sharks swim only a few meters under you became a common occurrence. Same goes for seeing sleeping rays at the ocean floor or massive turtles gracefully swim by.