I was lucky enough to go snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef three times during my visit to Queensland. Once in the Whitsunday Islands, once off the coast of Mission Beach, and once off the coast of Port Douglas. In my opinion, the farther north I went the more diverse the reef got and the fewer tourists there were. So if you can make it up to Port Douglas to snorkel or scuba dive it’s worth it.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system stretching over 1400 miles with 900 islands. It was named a World Heritage Site in 1981. I can’t even describe how much I loved snorkeling here but I’ll try. Seeing the reef was like visiting a different planet. We’ve all visited aquariums, but being in the water with the fish and coral in their natural environment was on another level. I would literally keep my head in the water for an hour straight just observing the marine life. I think it’s fascinating. I’ll go as far as to say it’s one of my favorite things I’ve done in the 5 months I’ve been traveling! Yes, it was that amazing.

We booked our reef tour with the company Calypso in Port Douglas. They were great, I highly recommend them. They took us to three different reefs and let us explore each for an hour, they also fed us snacks and a full lunch. I was able to rent an underwater camera on the boat for $40 for the entire day. I got some really cool pictures of the coral and fish. The pictures don’t do it justice. The colors of the fish and coral were so vibrant. I didn’t edit these photos at all.