The bottom of the sea (back to the vacation recap)

We didn’t have a yellow submarine but we had a lovely day in the octopus’s garden (yes – I am on cold medicine). Departing Port Douglas on the Silver Sonic, we headed to the outer reef for a day of exploring. The all day trip entailed stops on three separate reefs. I even found the courage to try an introductory scuba dive at one of the stops.

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven wonders of the natural world. It is larger than the Great Wall of China and the only living thing on earth visible from space. The marine park stretches over 3000km (1800 miles) almost parallel to the Queensland coast, from near the coastal town of Bundaberg, up past the tip of Cape York. The reef, between 15km and 150km off shore and around 65km wide in some parts, contains the world’s largest collection of corals (in fact, more than 400 different kinds of coral), coral sponges, molluscs, rays, dolphins, over 1500 species of tropical fish, more than 200 types of birds, around 20 types of reptiles including sea turtles and giant clams over 120 years old.

These critter pictures were taken by the ships photographer purchased along with the pictures of us.