I woke up this morning soo excited for our journey to Heron Island, and all I could think about was how fabulous the week ahead of me would be. But I tell ya, every single day has some sort of surprise twist, and it never ends up being as it seems. We pulled up to the ferry that would take us the 2 hour 15 minute journey to the beautiful coral cay; no one seemed nervous, and most everyone was just excited for some stability & sun. About 15 minutes out of the harbor, the waves started getting really rough. I was originally writing in my scientific journal, but I noticed the drop in my stomach (that darn roller-coastery feeling again) and stopped writing immediately. Someone around me asked, “Ashley, do you normally get seasick?” probably in response to the greening in my face. How was I supposed to know? Of course I don’t get seasick on the speed boats we use for tubing around our little freshwater lakes in Michigan, so how was I to compare? One of the hostesses aboard the boat came to my side, asking if I’d like to head down to the lower deck, where the ship would feel more stable. I went with her willingly as the boat rocked violently from side to side in the open ocean.
When I reached the lower deck, I was the only person out of our group of 21 people to come down. But slowly the number grew, each individual looking greener by the minute. My strategy was to look out the window at the horizon, focusing my entire body on that line where the ocean meets the sky. The boat continued to rock violently, and my stomach was convinced I was at Cedar Point, NOT Queensland, Australia. The mantra that went through my head was “Mind over matter, mind over matter,” and apparently I had myself convinced, because I made it all 135 minutes without getting sick! Now, the others on the boat were a different story. 5 people out of our 21 got sick, and plenty of others that weren’t in our group did as well. Ewww. Soo glad that wasn’t me.
When we finally arrived on Heron Island, we put all the boat trouble behind us. Bright clear-blue waters welcomed us on shore, and we jumped into our first nature hike. The island is tiny; only 800x400 meters! We walked out to the crystal-clear beach to have a look in the water, and we came across a pile of at least 50 stingrays, just feeding on the substrate. As Glenn talked a little more about the Island, someone spotted a dorsal fin sticking out of the shallow water. “SHARK!!” someone yelled. Sure enough, a 10 meter-long Hammerhead shark was feeding on the stingrays, right in front of our eyes. It zipped back and forth along the sand, not even caring that a huge group of people were standing feet away. It was soo cool! I’ve never seen anything like that before, and Glenn even said that we were very lucky to have seen such a feeding, as it is a rare occurrence so close to shore. God I love this place :-)
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