Nudity on the Reef

I had an amazing, mind-blowingly awesome snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef during which I saw lots of beautiful fish, many different types of coral and some Loggerhead turtles, which I even got to touch! It was simply unbelievable. It's amazing how humbling nature is. I could feel my perspective changing as I viewed all the underwater life.

I practically lost my bikini! My straps were slipping off my shoulders and I was definitely exposed,

After the snorkeling was over and we were heading back to the marina, they allowed some people to do what was called boom-netting, where you sit in a loose rope net tied to the back of the boat while it pulls you along. Sounds fun, right? Not so. At first the boat went along slowly and it was pretty amusing, a lot like a water park amusement ride. Then they started to go a bit faster and this is where the nudity part comes in. I practically lost my bikini! My straps were slipping off my shoulders and I was definitely exposed, but too focused on trying to stay on the net to do anything about it.

Then I felt the bottom of the suit start to slide off and by now the boat was going pretty fast. Water was cascading towards me and it was really hard to hold on to the rope. Not to mention I could hardly breathe and swallowed at least a liter of water. My bottoms kept slipping further off until they were literally hanging onto my toes. I gripped them with my toes as tightly as I could given I was being thrown off the net. I could have let go and been picked up by the little boat trailing us, but I certainly did not fancy lingering in the shark-infested waters for longer than was necessary, so I held on as tightly as I could, bikini be damned!

Everybody saw my bare bottom once again..

Finally the boat slowed down and I grabbed my bottoms while everyone hopped off the net back onto the boat. Relief? Not so much. Now I had to find a way to put my suit back on while still holding onto the net and maintaining my modesty all while people on the top deck looked down at me snapping pictures! Unbelievable. Finally I managed to pull them on but, in my hastiness, they were backwards. One of the crew gave me a towel to wrap around my lower half and I went up to the deck to change. I asked a girl around my age to hold up the towel for privacy while I turned my bikini around, but she didn't really do a good job at that so everybody saw my bare bottom once again. How humiliating, even more humbling than seeing nature at its finest. I spent the rest of the ride back to shore avoiding eye contact and counting down the minutes until it was over. Up until then it was a fabulous trip.

What about other cities where you've enjoyed similar experiences? Send us your travel stories and get 2 free nights at St Christopher's Inns! Send your submissions to travelwriters@st-christophers.co.uk. The views expressed here are not neccessarily the views held by St Christopher's Inns (Interpub plc).