Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef

We went from Airlie Beach to a 50 ft. sailboat for three days/two nights. We got stinger suits (as you can see in the photo) to ward off the thumb-size, slightly visible stingers while snorkeling. We were there with three other couples plus five others, including our skipper, Steve, and decky, Suzy. It was an international group- two from Melbourne, one from Hong Kong, two from Newcastle, U.K., one from Scotland, one from Switzerland, one from Ireland, one from Wales...then Steve was from Sydney and Suze from the French Riviera. Steve and Suzy are opposites in looks. He is a middle-aged big, burly, tough man while she is short and petite, dark, and soft-spoken (but also strong). They get along well. He steers the boat and she helps with ropes and things on deck, cooks, cleans, and hangs out. Words can't describe how incredible it was to snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef. We learned the GBR is the only living thing that can be seen on earth from outer space. It was very surreal. Unfortunately, these photos I took with my waterproof camera don't really show the bright colors and variety of life under the water. When we returned from our first snorkel outing, Steve offered to take some more experienced people out for more, particularly to dive with snorkel gear on. I surprised myself by asking if I could go and they let me- as we were reaching the spot in the raft, Steve told us "Now, there are bities here" and I laughed nervously, not knowing whether to believe him (I chose not to at the time, and never saw any, but believe he wasn't joking because there are sharks in the area). I tried learning to dive but it was hard without filling my snorkel tube with water so after a while, I just delighted in snorkeling more. The whole experience was amazing and one of the best things I've ever done. That night, we could see the Milky Way from the deck of the boat as we talked with each other about our home countries.