After arriving in Gladstone on Tuesday and staying the night at the extremely hospitable Gladstone Backpackers hostel, we took a mid-afternoon ferry to Heron Island. The ferry ride in was very quiet as our group shared the large ferry with only 4 guests that were coming to stay at the resort that shares the island with the research station. The water was calm for the most part and several dolphins were spotted playing around the boat. Upon arrival we were given a quick tour and the snorkeling gear required to conduct our research over the coming days. After settling into our dorms, we took a stroll down to the beach to watch the beautiful sunset (which we missed by about 2 minutes). Once down at the beach we began to wade in the shallow waters and watched juvenile reef sharks and rays come into the bay with the incoming tide. We then ate an amazing dinner (shout out to Pat, the on island chef) of pasta bake and chocolate mousse. The next couple days activities will be heavily determined by the weather so keep your fingers crossed for clear and blue skies. I feel incredibly blessed to be here and I am excited to see what else this astonishing island has to offer!
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