When my wife Carrie and I visited Honduras in 2006, we treated ourselves to an open water dive course. It was such an incredible experience that we immediatly got our advanced PADI certification.
The belly of a Manta Ray. These things were massive, amazing and just as curious about us as we were about them. (taken by some German guy on our boat)
In the years since, we have scuba dived all over India, Central America, SouthEast Asia and the USA. But our dream is to go beneath the blue waters of Australia and the Great Barrier Reef.
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has captured man’s imagination since its first discovery. Travelers have sailed over its waters and documented every above-water inch of it. Underwater, however, the land is so vast that man couldn’t fully explore it even with a million holidays to Australia.
Stretching over 2,000 km from Lizard Island in the north down to Great Palm Island in the south, the Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system and the only such structure, made up of living organisms, actually visible from space.
The first whale shark Carrie and I have ever seen in nearly 50 dives...this thing was easily 15-20 feet long (taken by some German guy on our boat)
The main attraction of Great Barrier Reef is the dizzying array of marine life it supports, many of which are believed to be endemic to the reef, showcasing the best of Australia scuba diving.
Schools of fish (taken by some German guy on our boat)
A more specific attraction of the reef is that it’s the breeding ground for 6 species of turtle, attracted by varied menu of seagrass. The olive ridley, hawksbill, leather back, green, flatback and loggerhead turtle are all frequently spotted at various sites on the reef.
For scuba divers, Cairns and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef represent some of the finest and most exotic diving and snorkelling in the world.
For scuba divers, the Great Barrier Reef is like the holy grail. Often refered to as the best dive in the world, it actually is overrun with tourists and has been damaged much over the years. That’s a big reason why we want to get there asap! Hopefully one day soon, we will.
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All underwater photography on this page was taken by Claudio on our 5 day scuba diving liveabord adventure off the Similan Islands in Thaland
