Whitsundays 2018:

In September 2018, I had one of the most amazing opportunities to go on the Young Endeavour and sail through the Whitsundays. One of the places that we anchored for an afternoon was an island in the Whitsundays that is known for its snorkelling.

The water was extremely blue and clear and the weather was just right. After swimming around the island for an hour, we saw several small fish that were diving in and out of the coral and sting rays that were close to the shore line. 

Thailand 2018:

Just before Christmas, I went on holiday to Thailand with my family. We stayed in Phuket, where we saw many long boats on the beach. After finally deciding which tour to go on, we picked one that was a short trip from the beach. After 30 minutes we arrived at the destination which had a very tiny rocky island. Once we were all geared up, we took the plunge and jumped into the water (where I ended up hitting my elbow on the boat pole – which if you know me, that is definitely something that I would manage!!). 

When I finally opened my eyes it was like an underwater wonderland, there were brightly coloured fish everywhere. Swimming around there were fish everywhere, going out further there was plenty of coral that was various colours. My younger siblings were in awe of what they saw as the fish were constantly swimming very close.

Byron Bay:

Whilst in Byron Bay after a holiday in the Gold Coast over Easter, I was walking the streetswhen I walked past a tour place. After enquiring about what I can do in Byron to fill in time, which I only has the next day’s morning avliable. It was a tough decision deciding between paragliding and snorkelling, I chose snorkelling. The next morning I met the shuttle bus in town and was then driven to the meeting location.

After getting dressed into the appropriate gear (it was very cold) we got onto the boat and travelled for about 20 minutes to the snorkelling location. Once there we buddied up and snorkelled around the area. What we got to see was not what any of us were expecting to see!

Jumping into the water it was pretty cold and as seen in the pictures it is very blue, firstly we saw the fish and there were lots of them in a large school.

Byron Bay:

Whilst in Byron Bay after a holiday in the Gold Coast over Easter, I was walking the streetswhen I walked past a tour place. After enquiring about what I can do in Byron to fill in time, which I only has the next day’s morning avliable. It was a tough decision deciding between paragliding and snorkelling, I chose snorkelling. The next morning I met the shuttle bus in town and was then driven to the meeting location.

After getting dressed into the appropriate gear (it was very cold) we got onto the boat and travelled for about 20 minutes to the snorkelling location. Once there we buddied up and snorkelled around the area. What we got to see was not what any of us were expecting to see!

Jumping into the water it was pretty cold and as seen in the pictures it is very blue, firstly we saw the fish and there were lots of them in a large school.

Continuing to swim further around we spotted a leopard shark which was swimming close to the bottom of the ocean (it can be seen in the video below) just above the coral. As we kept swimming we found more leopard sharks that were appearing. Counting them I spotted about 14 but some could have been doubled up, as they kept swimming closer and further away. It was majestic being able to watch them just swim around the bottom without being disturbed and just watching them in the wild. 

Thailand 2019:

In June and July 2019, I went to Thailand with two of my friends 10 days of holidaying and 14 days of volunteering in Bangkok at a local school teaching children to speak English. 

In the first 10 days we went to Phi Phi islands and snorkelled in several locations around there, the fish literally swam right up to us and they were all around us. They were very curious as to who was swimming with them. The tour was very inclusive that went for a whole day and included meals and snacks. The tour guide was AMAZING he made the all day journey worth it and had us all cracking up laughing at some point.

During the 14 day volunteer program we had a long weekend because there was a public holiday and we flew with a person we met on the program to Krabi. We were recommended this place by the program leader and I can see why. Phuket is full of tourists and everything is expensive because of that. Going to Krabi it is like a secret wonderland. 

The reason is when we went on the snorkelling trip to Phi Phi islands it was flooded with tourists and just like us they had got a tour boat and everything was very crowded. Whereas Krabi there were some boats but nowhere near the amount that Phi Phi had. Which meant when we were snorkelling it was much quieter and we had the areas to ourselves!

Whilst snorkelling it was absolutely beualtiful, the coral was so different to anywhere else I had seen and even there weren’t as many fish as other locations, it was still an incredible sight to witness.