More Great Barrier Reef

Unable to resist the temptation of visiting the reef again. We used up some of our free time with another boat trip to the Low Isles. This had a completely different experience. The visibility was a bit lower, given the proximity of the boats and the recent wave of dust storms, but it was still a lot of fun. There were a number of sea turtles about, and my colleagues swam with some sharks but I missed out on it. My colleague Bruce and I went haves on a digital camera that could be rented through Quicksilver. It was worth it, and the photos came out much better than last time.

These were taken by Bruce:

Great Barrier Reef

Hi All. It's David. I'm in Cairns (pronounced without the R) for a conference with a few colleagues. And in order to focus on work, we headed out to the Great Barrier Reef. We took a tour with Quicksilver to the outer reefs east of Port Douglas (an hour north of Cairns). The reef actually stretches for miles along the Queensland coast of Australia. Quicksilver has a high speed boat that got us to the outer reefs in an hour and a half. They've also set up this amazing pontoon/station where you are based for any number of activities from scuba and snorkeling to a helicopter ride. We just did the snorkeling. The whole setup has been designed so that anyone would get a chance to see the reefs from 5 to 85 year olds. I have never really visited any type of reef before, let alone something as amazing as the Great Barrier Reef. I couldn't resist buying a little underwater camera. It still used film, and I amazingly found a place that could still print film. They also scanned it. So these pictures in no way do the reef any justice. The scans aren't very good, and I have zero experience taking pictures underwater. Just keep that in mind.

If you ever get chance to go here, it is by far one of the best sites in Australia. It definitely deserves a spot in the 7 natural wonders of the world.

Giant Clam