Day 3 – Great Barrier Reef

The Reef is actually pretty far away from the Australia coast. It took an hour and a half to motor out there. The Aussies take great pride in the reef and are focused on maintaining its beauty. I was expecting to get out to the reef and see plenty of other boats filled with snorkelers and divers, but that wasn’t the case.  We visited three different reef sites and saw only one other boat. I think they regulate which tour operators can visit which reef sites and that keeps down the total impact on each individual reef site. It also provided for a better experience as you really felt like your boat was alone in the ocean.

The colors and diversity of the reef were pretty impressive. Plenty of bright colored coral and exotic fish. The Great Barrier Reef is much more impressive than the reef we visited in Belize. We were able to see turtles, reef sharks, stingrays, giant clams and much more. My camera wasn’t prepared to capture the action at the reef as it wouldn’t do well underwater. Thankfully the tour operator provides pictures of the day. Here are a couple to give you a flavor of what we were able to see:

The guides were marine biologists and had some interesting insights into the reef. The local ecosystem of rainforest, mangroves and the reef are all closely inter-connected and each couldn’t survive without the other. The rainforest provides essential nutrients that make their way to the reef, the mangroves filter the runoff and nutrients from the rainforest into format compatible for the reef, and the reef provides shelter for the mangroves and rainforest by preventing large waves from making it to the shore. The coral in the reef also produces a sulfide when tempatures reach certain levels that is released into the atmosphere and produces rain clouds that in turn water the rainforest.

The reef also plays a role in the creation of sand. Turns out that the parrot fish eats the coral, takes some of the nutrients, and then disposes of the remainder which becomes…..sand. Dana and I each heard this from different tour guides. I heard that nearly all the sand in the area is a result of this, Dana heard 30%. So maybe the right answer is between the two, either way, that’s a whole lot of sand.

Check out more photos from the tour operator: https://picasaweb.google.com/114612877246919085926/GreatBarrierReef#

Check back for Day 4. We visit Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation: where the rainforest meets the ocean.