The Great Barrier Reef

For me it was a simple decision. If we were coming to Australia then there was no question we'd have to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef. One of the reasons we stayed in Port Douglas was because of its access to the reef. After much research we determined that Wavelength Marine Charters would provide us with the experience that we were looking for. They provide snorkelling only tours and keep each tour group to a maximum of 30 passengers. Our crew consisted of Jon, our skipper, Emma, a marine biologist, and Tim, the guide. They were fantastic and made the day's trip very memorable. Each was very friendly and quite knowledgeable not only about the reef but marine life in general. Throughout the day they provided us with fresh water, snacks consisting of fresh fruit, sweets, cheese and crackers and a lunch with sandwiches and salad. They provided us with all the gear we needed too...snorkel, mask, fins and even a full body lycra suit which was meant to protect against any possible jellyfish but in the end also protected us from the sun.

Our day started at 8am when we boarded the ship. After a quick safety briefing we set off on an hour and a half ride, about 30 miles off the coast to an outer part of the reef called Opal reef. At this reef we snorkelled three different spots. The Great Barrier Reef has about 2900 individual reef systems covering an area of roughly 344,000 square km's.

How to describe the absolutely stunning waters and sea life we saw? Words can hardly describe the utter beauty of what lies within the Opal reef. There is an abundance of vibrantly coloured and multi-coloured fish of varying sizes swimming amongst some of the most beautiful coral I've ever seen. The amount and different types of coral is unbelievable. The water was either crystal clear or the turquoise blue we all dream of when we think tropical waters.

Leading up to the tour I was thinking about what would happen if I encountered a shark in the waters. I pretty much figured that if I knew sharks were present then I wasn't getting in. I was chatting to our skipper on the way out and the topic came up. He assured me that I wasn't on the menu for reef sharks; that they only fed on fish. He also said that if I encountered a reef shark it would probably swim away from me pretty quickly. This helped to calm my fears and in the end we didn't end up seeing one, much to the disappointment of Z.

At one of the stops Emma provided a brief show and tell with a couple of the sea creatures that we were seeing. The first was a sea cucumber...I got to touch it and it's rather slimy on the top side and really quite soft on the underbelly. The mushroom coral was hard to the touch but apparently contains a substance which can be used as a sunscreen and used in anti-aging creams. During lunch Emma spoke about the different types of corals and how they actually compete amongst each other for access to the sunlight. The branching coral grows much faster and has better opportunities to reach the sunlight than day the brain coral. A tidbit that I didn't know was that coral doesn't have to be brightly coloured to be healthy; brown coloured coral is actually just as healthy as the rest. I always thought coral had to be brightly coloured for it to be alive. Interesting what you learn.

The reef is an incredible diverse self sustaining ecosystem so long as it is not disturbed. But that is hard to do with it being one of the main tourist drivers for Australia. The biggest threat to the reef is rising water temperatures. While we were snorkelling the water temperature was 28 degrees Celsius. Emma explained that when the water temperature starts reaching above 30 degrees it starts to mess with the coral's photosynthesis process and potentially results in the coral dying if the temperature doesn't drop back down.

This magical underwater world is so full of diverse life it's not in the least bit surprising to be one of the world's natural wonders of the world. I feel quite lucky to have experienced just a glimpse of its beauty.