We went snorkeling and diving in the Great Barrier Reef for a week in Australia and it was fantastic! This is our snorkel footage. There are so many underwater wonders in the coral reefs! The GIANT CLAMS were AMAZING! They grow up to 300 pounds!! One of our bucket list dream vacations and we had an amazing time. We did multiple dives at a few dive spots. We started at a Ribbon Reef, then a couple of other spots, and another Ribbon Reef. We hope you enjoy this video of our snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia in 4K! We have another video with our scuba diving in the channel as well if you want to compare the experiences!
Snuba? What’s snuba?
We had a great time relaxing in Turks and Caicos. We did a lot of snorkeling, and also tried snuba which offers some of the views of scuba with none of the required training. It was a great way for us to test the waters and see if we wanted to scuba dive. There were lots of parrotfish, as well as a few other sea critters around.
A week of scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef
We went scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and it was fantastic! One of our bucket list dream vacations and we had an amazing time. We did multiple dives at a few dive spots. We started at a Ribbon Reef, then a couple of other spots, and another Ribbon Reef. We hope you enjoy this video of our scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia in 4K!
Swimming between two continents
On our trip to Iceland we snorkeled in the Silfra Fissure, a rift where the North American and Eurasian continental plates meet. The 35 degree water is some of the clearest in the world. Even though we were wearing multiple layers and a dry suit, being in the water for 45 minutes was a frigid (but incredible) experience!
Picnic in paradise
On the second half of our Moorea Miti Tour, we enjoyed a delicious lunch on a private beach, followed by some more snorkeling in the crystal blue water.
Circled by sharks
The Moorea Miti Tour was fantastic. For the first half of the tour, the boat brought us to a shallow sand bar to swim with black tip reef sharks and stingrays. Lots of close encounters with these incredible animals!
Walking underwater in Moorea
On the Aquablue Helmet Dive excursion in Moorea, you breathe fresh air that’s piped into a large metal helmet that rests on your shoulders. You walk along the bottom of the lagoon for about 30 minutes with your guide. We loved seeing fish and coral from this new vantage point!
Ultimate Bora Bora snorkeling day 2
This was our second excursion with Reef Discovery! We had read and heard such wonderful things about this tour, we booked in twice because we wanted to hedge our bets against the rainy weather that had been hanging around the island. On this tour, the highlight was the alien looking coral gardens. Take a look at the video to get an idea of what the tour is like!
Diving in with black tip and lemon sharks
We did a fantastic Shark and Ray Snorkel Safari excursion in Bora Bora with three snorkel stops. The first dive was outside the barrier reef where we swam with dozens of black tip sharks and lemon sharks. The second spot was on a sand bar where there were sting rays and more black tips. The last stop was a coral garden, with stunning coral formations as far as the eye could see. Definitely recommend this excursion.
Ultimate Bora Bora snorkeling
We’d heard such great things about Bora Bora Pure Snorkeling by Reef Discovery that we booked the excursion twice! We saw myriad species of fish, moray eels, an octopus, eagle rays, and even a manta ray. Take a look at the video to get an idea of what the tour is like! This video is of day 1.
Giant moray eel gets really close
We came across this very large Giant Moray Eel during our Pure Reef Snorkeling excursion in Bora Bora. This was one of the highlights of that tour. It was incredibly beautiful, and surprisingly gentle. And did I say huge? I guess that’s pretty evident from the video.
Pod of big eagle rays in Bora Bora
There was a pod of eagle rays that kept going in and out of formation while we were snorkeling above them. We saw them during our first Pure Reef Snorkeling excursion, and then again during our second tour.
Huge manta ray in Bora Bora
The tour guide spotted this manta ray from the boat. I have no idea how he saw it given that it was so far away and blended in with the coral. The manta ray was far, but quite big. It looked like a different species than the ones we’ve seen in Hawaii.
Chasing a snowflake eel
I followed this snowflake moray eel for a few minutes because it was quite cool. If I didn’t know better, I’d think it was a snake on land. I’m just glad it didn’t decide to swim up to me. This was during one of our Pure Reef Snorkeling excursions in Bora Bora.
Amazing snorkeling in Bora Bora at the Hilton
There were so many amazing fish at the Hilton Bora Bora Nui, from under the bungalow all the way to the main beach. There was also a lot of coral which was beautiful. The coral looked different in different areas of the resort, from the beach to different sections of bungalows. The 300 bungalow section looked to be the best place to snorkel to us. We saw a big octopus, lots of fish and a school of eagle rays in that section.
Curious eel at the beach in Moorea
When we were walking along the beach to go snorkeling at the Sofitel in Moorea, we saw a many-toothed snake moray / eel very close to shore. I decided to put the camera in the water to see if I could get it on video a few times, and the moray just kept getting closer and closer. It was probably not the safest thing to do and I’m glad it did not bite me, but it was fun. I believe it was a many-toothed snake moray: uropterygius supraforatus.
Big octopus changing colors in Bora Bora
We saw an octopus while snorkeling under our overwater bungalow, and another octopus at the main Hilton beach. It was amazing watching the octopuses change colors, camouflage, and swim (you can see some of what we saw in the 4K video). We spent a lot of time observing them, and them observing us. They may of may not have been annoyed with how long we were watching them! I think we got closer than is usually safe as they can bite quite hard when annoyed.
Eagle rays surrounded us under the bungalow
We swam into a group of eagle rays under our bungalow at the Hilton in Bora Bora and luckily had a camera. Although we were told that these rays are friendly and not dangerous, they had so many sharp barbs that it’s probably wise to be a bit cautious. At first, they were on just one side of us (in front) when we arrived to their location. However, after a minute or two, they moved and started swimming in circles around us. It felt like they were studying us. After about 10 minutes of them circling us, we decided to back off and head back up to the bungalow.
Adventures for two 