Disappointment at the Great Barrier Reef

So I was really excited for today.  We got up at 7:45am and got the free shuttle bus down to the marina for 9am to get a boat as we were doing scuba diving and snorkeling at the great barrier reef.

We zoomed out to the dive site, having a safety briefing about how to dive and the signals on the way, and we were split into several groups of 4. We were in group 3. There was 2 instructors who took a group and then came back for the next group. Group 1 and 2 went first (obviously). We waited on the boat as the guy told us that we wouldn't have time to snorkel first, whilst everyone else went snorkeling. After a while we got kitted up, tanks, buoyancy aids, masks, fins etc. We didn't have to go in backwards thankfully! We sat on some steps that led into the water and just slid off.

First we put out mouth pieces in and put our faces in the water to see if we could breath. It felt really weird and I was pretty terrified the whole time. After this we went lower into the water and practiced taking the mouth pieces out and putting them back in again. I found it really hard to stay under the water. I kept floating to the top and the instructor kept having to grab me and pull me down again.

When we were ready to let go off the bars we had been holding on to for all this time and go lower in the water, we started going down and my ears started really hurting. The pressure was too much. I thought my eardrums were going to burst. It was one of the worst pains I've ever experienced and efforts to equalise it (basically blowing out of your nose while pinching it) were not working. I had to return to the surface. I just couldn't continue. I was so upset and disappointed with myself. I got out of the water and my ears continued to hurt for a good couple of hours. They still don't feel quite right now. By this point the snorkelers were coming out of the water for lunch so I didn't get to snorkel at that site. 

Lunch was potato salads, bread, meat etc. After lunch we headed to the next place which was a sand island called Sudbury Cay. We had to swim from the boat to the island and could snorkel on the way. I tried this but my mask was leaking and every couple of metres I had to stop and empty my mask and with the waves this was becoming difficult and I didn't feel confident. So instead I just swam on my back to the island, occasionally attempting to snorkel when Lauren pointed something out.  We spent the majority of the time just splashing about in the shallow water of the islands banks. We did see a turtle in the distance but the snorkeling was no where near as good as in the whitsundays and the great barrier reef is supposed to be amazing. On the way back we lay on the deck at the front in the sun to dry off. 

Lauren completed her dive and was super happy and said it was really good. She had a really good day so at least that's one good thing.

When we got back to the hostel we showered and then got the bus back into the city at 8pm. We had dinner at the night market and wandered around it. Neither of us bought anything although it was very close. There was some nice anklets and magnets. 

When we were done we wandered back to the hostel, periodically sheltering under cover as the rain started and stopped. We got back to the hostel around 11:30pm and went to bed.