Diving the Great Barrier Reef

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Cairns » open water
February 23rd 2008

Published: March 31st 2008

The Great Barrier Reef is a pretty massive creation and it's easy to see why it's considered a top Wonder of the Word. We spent 5 days exploring different areas- and feel that we only caught a glimpse of what's out there. The first day we spent on the Ribbon Reefs, a series of reefs on the outer fringes. These are too far out for most day boats and therefore mostly undamaged from heavy tourist... Read Full Entry

Photos are below

Photos: 36, Displayed: 21

Underwater Romance

Look at him go!

Dead coral

Coral dies regurally and is necessary for new coral to grow on top of it. This pile of dead trumpet coral looked like a boneyard

Josh is lost

This may be the picture before we swam to far away from the wall to get picked up. When we looked down we saw a massive shark circling us. Deanne rose our flag and had a quick pick up.

Navigation Test

We completed the navigation test for our advanced course thanks to Deanne's Giant Clam landmark.

Crawfish or Lobster

This is my favorite picture of a hiding lobster taken on our last night dive.

Sea Cucumber

Had to include one picture of these things. They don't move very fast but they are everwhere. You can pet them if you want, but a white discharge will come out.

Sunrise

Sunrise on the last day. Deanne woke early to get this shot. I was still fast asleep.

Approaching Lizzard Island

Lizard Island is the most northerly jumping point to the GBR. Here is the end of our diving. From here we catch a low level flight back over the reef to Cairns.

Dive Group

There were 12 divers on this trip. It was awesome to swim around without seeing 30 other divers like many of the other boats.

The Crew

It's easy to tell them apart. The skipper and the engineer stand idly watching as the dive instructor and master play around.

Lizzard Island getting closer

We are getting closer to Lizard Island. It took a while and is hard to believe that our dive boat didn't move any faster then the Two Sisters. I guess 10knts is a good cruising speed even for an ocean going boat.

Our Vessell

Nimrod Explorer was our home for 4 nights on the sea. Deanne didn't even get sea sick!

Our Plane

This was our little plane to get back to Cairns

The View

Flying over the reef was stunning, and much better then cruising for 20 hours back to Cairns.

2nd April 2008

bogansdownunder
Josh & Deanne

Cedrick's dive
There's a picture of me pointing at "something"- it's Cedrick!!! We put him a net bag and looped it through the weight belt so that he'd stay safe. I think he liked it, even though all of the fish we bigger them him

Tot: 0.155s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 47; dbt: 0.0488s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb

Do not copy images or text from this page without requesting and receiving permission. All rights are reserved by the author and photographer.

Contact Josh & Deanne (bogansdownunder) - a lack of a response does not mean that you have permission to use material from this page.

Diving the Great Barrier Reef

Copyright Notice: All Rights Reserved