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Student Blog Update: The Great Barrier Reef


by Haneen Al-Hassani

What should I say about the Great Barrier Reef…IT WAS AWESOME! We all ended up snorkeling…I was a bit chicken so I stayed back but everyone loved it and it was so fun watching the group float on that water. I remember the last group saying the weather wasn’t all that great but it was marvelous when we went up there. We took a small little plane up to Ellis Island and from there got our snorkeling gear. I’m not very much of a swimmer so I tried my best to practice at the pool but even then I was terrified of the water. We ended up getting on that boat and got a wonderful lecture about the Coral Reefs and after half an hour were told to jump off and start floating and swimming out there. We were able to take some great photos of the group up there and tried some yummy coconuts. The island was beautiful and the corals were spectacular – although I never knew they could hurt so much if you touch them, it’s easy to scrape yourself near them. It was wonderful and we ended the great day with sleeping on the beach and just relaxing.

PS: I’d like to thank Coimbra Jackson and Luis Gonzales for some of the following photos.

Ellis Island
Ellis Island
Engineers sleeping at the beach
Engineers sleeping at the beach
Heading out
Heading out
Floating at Barrier Reef
Floating at Barrier Reef
Corals
Corals
Under water
Under water

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