Heron Island

I am a blogger slacker. How the hell do people manage these things, let alone websites. Damn overachievers. 4 days left in Brisbane, and a months worth of blogging to do. Plus two papers and a final. Plus three dinner dates. Probably partying after. Where do you draw the line between work and party. An eternal question? One that can only be answered when we have passed onto the next life. 

Anyways, Heron Island folks. Off the coast of Australia, 10 days, southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef. This trip was the definition of 'getting after it.' Patrick Kealy, I have officially exceeded ur getting after it skills.

We left on at a bus late night from campus. Thus, I pre-gamed the bus party by kicking it with my Aussie homies Georgy and Morgan at the campus bar. Karaoke night.

It was that kind of night.

Crazy (awesome) guy at the bar. 

Woke up on the bus in the early morning, and stretched my arms, and thought to myself, 'damn, it feels good to be a gangsta.' carried on with life. Boat ride to the island was quite rough. But the queasiness was eased by this sight.

Things are looking up, folks. 

Got to live with the boys in a cabin separate from the rest of the class. A bungalow equipped with kitchen. Heron Island staff looked at us and said, damn, these kids need their own party pad. And they delivered.

The E Cabin.

Goon. Embrace it.

Went on a cool reef walk the first day. Played with a bunch of sea cucumbers which slightly resembled the human organs of assorted races. Saw some tiny reef sharks, some colors, and a whole lot of coral.

Disfigured sea star.

I don't know if I have ever been blacker than in this picture. Bring it, Lil Wayne. 

Third day was Halloween. We got to do awesome boat dives during the day. In the evening, people dressed up and such. There was a pinata, good food, and tons of wine. It was good stuff. 

Square table dinner.

The ninja turtles. Dedicated to their costumes no doubt. As was I...

Playing Goon of Fortune. Hang a bag of goon to a laundry contraption, spin it in a circle, whoever it lands on drinks.

Some random pictures of stuff on Heron Island. 

Standing in the beach tree named Pandanus Pedunculatis. 

One night these random aussies came and partied with us. The two old guys were named Blaze and Frank. They were odd ones, but legends none the less. 

Yep, rapping the bandana and tie dye. 

While in Heron, we were actually doing a research project. My team studied the interspecies relationship between the Graphic Tusk Fish and the wrasse Coris Batuensis. We won the best project award, cuz we are legends. 

The team with a Graphic Tusk Fish. On the right, our drunk ass/awesome tutor Adrian.

The last night, we enjoyed a nice ship wreck evening snorkel, a gorgeous sunset, and a fair amount of night time partying. 

Good memories on this dock.

The ship wreck. Snorkeled there many times.

The boys of E Large, the male subdivision of E Cabin. 

To the left to me, Dr. Craig. To the right, Dr. Ian Tibbets. Surrounded by drunken doctors. There is hope yet. 

Moron.

Team Husky getting frisky with tutor Adrian.

Well, that covers notable activities. Other than that, I snorkeled for about 5 hours a day. A lot of it was for research. But lets be honest, snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef is never a chore, even at 5:30 am. For those pictures, let facebook be ur guide. Unless I get ambitious and put them on this blog at some point. I'll update this with other things ive done soon enuf.

Until then, play on playa.