Great Barrier Reef

Let's travel back in time to last Thursday. Cairns was not a complete bust. In the end, I was the only one in our group willing to pay for a snorkeling trip to the Great Barrier Reef. Despite the eventual lack of interest by the others, I was not about to let this once in a lifetime opportunity pass me by.

I chose to take the ReefQuest boat! Yeah, I thought it sounded quite fantastic myself. It was also on sale. Unlike many of the world's popular snorkeling reefs, the Great Barrier Reef is located many miles off shore. Our tour took us to the Norman Reef, on the outer reef, near the open water of the Coral Sea. ti was only 60km from town. Literally, I was snorkeling in the middle of nowhere.

Before I sum up my experience in the reef, let me give a quick disclaimer. Seeing the Great Barrier Reef was the number one thing I wanted to see in Australia. This is the largest, most spectacular reef in the whole world! It can even be seen from space! So, let's just say I was quite hyped for this trip.

After nearly two hours of restless waiting as the boat headed to the reef, after flipping through every page of the fish and underwater wildlife guide, we finally arrived! I donned my stinger suit, flippers, mask and snorkel, then pushed off into the clear blue waters. What I saw, however, was not what I expected. Instead of a myriad of colors no crayon could duplicate, I was treated to gray, unhealthy dying coral. There were pockets of splendor scattered throughout the area, but the reef was quite sad. With global warming, pollution, and constant tourists, the Great Barrier Reef is in danger. The newly high acidity of the water will probably kill the reef in the next fifty years, resulting not only in the death of the largest living thing on earth, but the end of a billion dollar industry for Australia.

I wasn't disappointed by the reef, but more by what we as humans have done to it On the plus side, the variety of fish was outstanding! Hawaii had fish everywhere, but they were mostly the same kinds of fish. The Great Reef has different fish everywhere I looked. I later consulted a guide and identified 20 different marine animals I saw in four hours of snorkeling. Who knows how many more I saw that I couldn't find in the guide? Among the many highlights were barracuda, a sea turtle, a giant clam, some fish that were literally as big as me, and finally my first shark! At first, I thought it was huge, but after swimming by me a few more times, I realized it was a harmless, five foot long reef shark.

Overall, it was an enjoyable trip. Apparently, the coral further North isn't quite so damaged as by Cairns, but I just didn't have the time or money to get there. It was very fortunate that I had the chance to see it now how it is, because it will only get worse as we add more years of pollution and abuse to our oceans.