by Genevieve Georget

Created on: February 27, 2009

I recently returned from a month long, absolutely incredible trip to Australia! Among the highlights of our adventure was the day that my husband and I hopped on a sail boat and spent about ten hours visiting the Great Barrier Reef. Our entire visit to the North Eastern part of Australia was sort of a last minute decision actually. We had originally decided that we would visit either the Outback or the Great Barrier Reef, but didn't think that we had the time or money to visit both. We figured that since our last trip to Hawaii was tropical, it made more sense to visit Ayers Rock and the Red Center, an environment that neither of us had ever seen before. We couldn't do it though...we couldn't get that close to the Reef and not stop by to say hello! So we trimmed a little bit of time here and there, dug down deeper into our already dwindling pockets and managed a short yet amazing visit to one of the most spectacular places on earth.

So early one cloudy Monday morning in April, we got up with the sun and made our way to the Pier in Cairns, Australia. Around 8am, we stepped on our boat, The Passions of Paradise, with about fifty other passengers and began our trek out into the ocean to visit one of the great wonders of the world. As we set out to sea, the skies opened up and gave us a glorious day. Spending the day in close quarters with that many other people gives you the opportunity to make many new friendsand in our case, it also provided the opportunity to witness first hand just how much Europeans enjoy taking their clothes off in public! But for a person like my self, it also offered up the perfect environment for people watching...a hobby that I love immensely!

As we set out to find our location on the Reef, my husband and I spent many hours lounging in the sun along the front of the boat and taking in the rare occasion to be doing...well, nothing! During that time, I noticed three young girls. They must have been in their late teens or early twenties (twenty-one at the most I would say) and the three of them were having the time of their lives! It was so fun watching them throughout the day and remembering what it was like to be that age. I was a very different person at that time in my life and while it wasn't really that long ago...it certainly seems far in terms of experience. Right away, I noticed that all three of them had identical tattoos on the outside of their right foot. They were pretty tattoos that appeared to be cursive writing. I couldn't

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