Great Barrier Reef take 2

Our third day* in Australia, we did our second snorkeling trip.  The first trip was to a small island, where the reef was just offshore.  Today we went to the outer reef,  the Agincourt Ribbon Reefs in much deeper waters, and snorkeled off of a platform moored there.  

We used pool noodles to float instead of life vests.  Are we working those sting suits or what?

It was amazing.  First, the boat ride was much smoother and we were able to sit inside or outside, where yesterday had no indoor option, although the ride was much more relaxing yesterday.  Second, it was much nicer being based on a platform with an underwater viewing area, a boat with an underwater viewing area that you could go out in, and floors smoother than the rough sand beach.  Third, the water was very clear, since there were no waves to stir up the sand.  Last but not least, the reef was just much bigger and so were some of the fish.

Can you see through the water here that the reef is right there off the snorkeling platform.

The underwater viewing area was a little claustrophobic, but great way for us to see the fish while we waited for our lunch to digest.

This was from the underwater viewing platform also, you didn't have to swim for (or at all actually) to see great coral.  You could have sat on the snorkeling platform with your face in the water and still have been able to see all this.

Yesterday I was excited because we saw a giant clam about halfway through the snorkeling trip.  Today, as soon as you got off of the platform there was one there waiting for you, and we saw at least a dozen before the day was out.  Our snorkeling guide told us that the cool teal looking moss around the edge of the clam were actually a part of it that acted like eyeballs.  All they could really see was change in light and dark, but it was enough that when he dove down toward it, the clam started to close.  He was showing us how it is not at all like the movies where they snap shut and trap a diver’s hand.  It actually moved very slowly, and he was able to put his hand in and still pull it out, since the membrane on the inside prevented the shell from closing completely.  Not a trick we should try ourselves, don’t want to accidentally damage the poor clam, but still cool to see him do it!

And the reef was so tall!   Because the water was so deep, there was plenty of room for it to grow up and up and up, and it drops off so steeply, but with things still growing all down the side. 

Not a great shot through the window in the underwater viewing platform, but it does at least give you a glimpse of how deep the reef went.

There are turtles and sharks and sometimes dolphins in the area, but we didn’t get to see them today.  We did see one huge blue fish, a Napolean Wrassi, and we saw him up close and personal.  They did a feeding right off the snorkeling platform, and he was so eager, he actually went onto the platform and was partially out of the water.  The man feeding him told Mom that the rough surface of the snorkeling platform was actually less harsh than the coral he would normally have to push through to get at lobsters, so they weren’t concerned about him hurting himself.  Of course some other fish gathered around too, and were so focused on the food that they didn’t pay attention to us and we were able to get very close.  One large red fish almost bumped right into me! 

We just kept calling him Big Blue, but this is the Napoleon Wrassi.

We took a snorkeling tour led by a marine biologist, and he kept stressing how climate change is ruining the ocean, and things are dying at an alarming rate.  Two lessons taken from him: Do everything you can to reduce your carbon footprint (and fertilizer runoff), and see the reef while you can, because it may not be here later.  That is actually part of the reason I finally made this trip, I realized that if I had gone 10 years ago, I would be seeing way more reef, and I was worried what it would look like 10 years from now.  Come see it now (but while somehow not causing the pollution from the airplane).  It’s awesome!

*This post is out of sync with the rest of the posts because I had to wait until I got home to access some of the pictures.