Stars on Thars

Let me start off by saying this has been a nightmare to post. Any time I'd work on it the whole computer would freeze. It wont save. It wont publish. I've been trying for weeks to post it. ARGH!!! Even typing this sentence has made my whole internet freeze up a few times. I think the problem has probably been other photos I've tried to copy and paste here from the internet. But frankly I had to load even my own photos about 4 times before they would actually load and save. It won't preview, the smallest change makes it freeze and go into lock down. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!! :( I'll delete the internet shots (of sharks and the shipwrecks -so cool by the way) and I'll see if it will publish - good riddance if it does!

Okay, enough venting - back to the real post...
I also considered titling this post "To this one...it makes a difference." (Yes we've all heard that talk in church. This day trip that I'm posting about we saw so many star fish lying on the beach and actually we felt a bit pressured by it to start throwing star fish back in the water, but there were so many of them and then we wondered if we might actually be hurting them so we stopped.)

Isn't my mom a babe here? :)

So after my sea-sick adventures riding out to Lady Musgrave Island I didn't know if I could handle our proposed trip out to Moreton Bay Island to go to Tangalooma. But I decided to risk it.

I had heard about Tangalooma - the gorgeous beaches, shipwrecks out in water with a coral reef beckoning snorkelers, the dolphin feedings and shark sitings and had always wanted to go. We had booked tickets to go with Varian's family the year before, but a week before I had a miscarriage scare in my pregnancy with Jaren and had to be on bed rest. So while Varian and all his family were off trekking the beaches and snorkeling I had laid at home on the couch and watched hours and hours of Gilmore Girls.

So I was very excited to go and that motivation plus the huge blessing of having a willing babysitter (My lovely mother-in-law) to watch over Jaren for the day, I swallowed down any nausea and boarded the ship. It was well worth it too!

The ride was smooth and vomit free. We got there and watched the pelican feeding, changed into our togs (swimsuits), rented snorkeling gear and walked along the star fish studded beach towards the shipwrecks. (The star fish V is holding here had 6 points.) We had an amazing time snorkeling. It was different than the great barrier reef but also beautiful and not so rushed. It was stunning swimming around with schools of fish.

Something I was a little unnerved about was knowing that we very likely would be snorkeling with sharks. Duuuuuuuu dum. Duuuuuuuu dum. Duuuuu dum. Duuu dum. Duu dum  dududududududududuud AAAGGHH!

Okay seriously the idea of it and memory still gives me the heeby jeebies! So as we started snorkeling I just kept praying, please don't let us be eaten, please don't let us be eaten. Varian saw sharks the last time he went and he kept dismissing it, saying that they were wobbegone sharks and that although they were a good 6-10 feet long they didn't really eat people. Not that reassuring. But a lot of tourists do go there and so it must be okay right? Granted a lot of tourists try to get photos of their kids riding buffalos at Yellowstone and that doesn't mean it's safe.

So we swam around and I prayed that the sharks would be okay and before I knew it I was accustomed to sticking my face in the water and breathing, and less paranoid about getting eaten by sharks, or cut by coral (okay, I know it's such a minor concern compared to being dismembered or eaten alive, but I am a bit afraid of coral. Plus to be cut by coral and then bleed when you know that there are sharks in the water seems especially terrifying.) AND we DID see sharks. They're a funny shark, they look like army sharks all camoflaged at the bottom of the sand. We watched one that just lay there, but another one started swimming and it was a good 8 or 9 feet long and it freaked us out, even Varian a little.

But we weren't eaten, and if it hadn't been for that dang coral we would have come out unscathed. :) I was pretty cautious and didn't get cut till the very end, but Varian got a giant scrape down his leg at one point. But it was a great day and we loved the shipwrecks and all the amazing fish!!! Didn't I see a sea turtle that time too? I think so but it's been awhile now that part seems fuzzy.

We stopped half way through the day for some tuna fish sandwhiches (sad, right?) and to warm up. Actually this was pretty comical. We had been out for hours and were quite cold and shaking. On the beach there was a little "river" - 1 foot by 1 foot by 3 cm deep water running along and it was so warm from the sun and we were so cold emerging from the water that we let go of our inhibitions and all ended up just laying down right their in the wet sand and letting that warm water trickle around us as we tried to stop shivering. Good times. Then we were back out again till the cold and departing ferry drove us back in.

We came home to get Jaren and all went out to dinner to celebrate our great day and and fact that no one had been eaten alive. (Ps: I'm sorry I don't have more pictures, especially of the shipwrecks, but we were out snorkeling all day long and then when we got back to the beach where my camera was we were in a rush to make our ferry and I didn't remember to take photos till it was too late. I know so unlike me!)

All in all, it was a great experience and a great day! I can't wait to go back!