Andyheather's travel blogs:
|
|
  | |  |
The Reef
Entry 83 of 113 | show all | print this entry |
Our boat to the Great Barrier Reef left from Port Douglas rather than Cairns; it had been recommended that we use a company that went to the outer part of the reef in order to avoid stingers (Jellyfish) that are in the waters closer to the shore at this time of year. We used a boat owned by the large QuickSilver group and were very impressed with the quality of the trip.
The boat was fast catamaran and took about 1.5 hours to reach the Agincourt ribbon reef system, right on the edge of the continental shelf.
We stopped at 3 sites during the day and we were able to snorkel at each of them. We decided not to do an introductory dive from the boat and most of the time the water was so shallow over the reef that we didn't really miss much. The fish and coral were absolutely incredible -- the most spectacular spot being a single tower reef known as Barracuda Bommie which was teeming with all sorts of fish. We saw giant cod, big clams, barracuda, blue starfish and many other colourful fish and coral.
We didn't see any sharks, jellyfish or clown fish (Nemos). A guide on the boat explained to us that the "Finding Nemo" storyline wasn't (shock, horror) an accurate portrayal of clown fish life. Apparently, they live in groups of about 4 fish with one female which is larger than the males. If, as in the story, Nemo's mum had been eaten by a shark, then Nemo's dad would have grown larger, changed sex and become his mum and Nemo himself would have taken the role vacated by his dad who had become his mum! I think this is true, but Aussie guides do tend to weave fact with fiction quite freely. Also, despite all Reef cruise operators liberally showing clown fish in their glossy leaflets, they are pretty rare on the Reef.
All in all, a great way to spend our last day in Australia.
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries by andyheather, from Australia or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
