Cairns is a popular launch point that sees boats travelling to several individual reefs. Tours normally include snorkelling as a part of the package, but if you want to upgrade to a scuba diving experience, then these opportunities are available on board.
Even if you have never dived before, there are beginner dives available, allowing you to swim amongst the beautiful corals accompanied by an experienced guide. You can also snorkel straight from the beach at many of the islands of the reef. Glass bottom boat. Glass bottom boats create a window into the astonishing aquatic world and are perfect for elderly visitors or those with small children.
Night tours also operate, giving visitors the chance to see the coral polyps as they emerge from their stony houses to feed on passing creatures. Trek to an island lookout To see the mosaic-like formation of the Great Barrier Reef, observing it from a high vantage point is a must.
Since the reef is located several kilometres offshore, the best place to view it is from one of the islands that is nestled among it.
Fitzroy Island, for example, has several hiking tracks that will take you to lookout points. Boom netting. A newer addition to the activities on the Great Barrier Reef. Boom nets hang from the back of boats and as the vessel cuts through the azure waters, participants can clamber onto it and zoom above the reef. Activity pontoons. These floating adventure parks remain at the reef and boats travel out to them daily. Featuring slides, observation decks and sea walking plus snorkelling and diving , these action-packed pontoons provide you with several exciting ways to experience the wonder of the reef.
All activities are intensely regulated and managed, ensuring a sustainable industry that does not harm the reef. Many activities also provide additional information to educate all reef visitors. You can trust that you will see a vast array of corals and countless fish and anemones when you explore the reef, but what you may not expect is how blue everything will appear. But the reality is that the water absorbs many wavelengths of light and at a depth of 5m most of the colours apart from blue have been absorbed.
Pictures taken on an underwater camera, however, can be corrected with a red filter, allowing you to see the reef in all its vibrant glory! The Great Barrier Reef truly is one of the most surreal and enchanting places in the world. Watching vibrant fish dart in and out of a sprawling network of corals and anemones is a sight like no other. When you are in Australia, book on to a tour, experience this natural wonder for yourself, and play your part in protecting this spectacular marine ecosystem.
Distance along the reef ranges from 0 at the southern end of the GBR to 1 at the far northern end corresponding degrees in latitude are given in brackets. Distance across takes the value 0 on the coast and 1 on the 80 m contour of the outer shelf. The short dashed lines along the x-axis indicate the location of the survey sites.
Figure 3: Map of estimated hard coral richness in the GBR. The areas of highest richness were the far northern GBR, and the offshore region. There was a weak positive relationship between richness and hard coral cover, which is not unexpected, given that on nearshore reefs, whole sites can be occupied by extensive beds of just a few species of genera such as Goniopora, Porites, Alveopora, Echinopora or Leptoseris. Conversely, other sites that were recovering from a past disturbance may be species rich, even at low levels of hard coral cover.
Table 2: Mean coral cover in ratings of the whole GBR, and the main seven community groups. The analyses distinguished 12 spatially defined coral communities Devantier et al.
Most species were more abundant in the far northern inshore groups both shallow and deep and the offshore group, compared to the four remaining groups Fig.
Importantly, none of the remaining northern and southern communities contained any indicator species. These poorer communities only contain species that also occur in higher numbers elsewhere. Thirty-two species occurred across most sites. These species are generally ubiquitous and widely distributed beyond the GBR, and include species such as Pocillopora damicornis, Stylophora pistillata, Galaxea fascicularis and Acropora hyacinthus. The far northern and central offshore communities were extraordinarily rich.
The two far northern communities had the fastest rates of species accumulation, indicating that they are substantially richer than described here.
In three of the other four communities, cumulative richness was of the order of c. This showed that the low coral richness in the other regions northern inshore, northern offshore deep, and southern inshore N-I, NO-D and S-I were due to a low representation of taxa at individual sites, rather than to a small regional species pools. Figure 5: Species accumulation curves for the seven coral communities. For abbreviations of the region names see Fig.
A total of species in 75 genera of reef-building corals were recorded in the surveys. Most species present in the GBR were widely distributed across regions, but sparse in abundance across sites. Just 8 of these species were recorded only on mid- or outer-shelf reefs, confirming that a large majority of taxa can live albeit some in low numbers on nearshore reefs where water may be turbid from terrestrial influences and sediment re-suspension.
Nine species were recorded only in the tropical far northern and northern waters all being new records for the GBR ; for these species the northern GBR appears to represent the margin of their distribution ranges Veron The reasons for their absence from the intensely surveyed more northern inshore areas of the GBR are unclear.
The taxonomic inventory in this study for the remote far northern communities is clearly an underestimate of total regional richness, as the species-abundance curves have not begun to plateau Fig. The analyses distinguished 12 GBR communities. Although finer-scale structure was not presented in the broad large-scale analyses presented here, our best model suggests a separation of up to 22 communities, thus suggesting additional community types exist at finer spatial scales. As many coral communities share a substantial proportion of their coral species, a continuum of community structure exists over space and depth.
Such continua in coral communities has also been reported elsewhere, e. Differences in species composition between inshore and offshore communities are partially explained by differences in the physiology of species. The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness of the major threats to the Reef including industrialisation, global warming and fertiliser run-off. Australians, indeed the whole world, loves the Great Barrier Reef and its breathtaking wildlife. Our Traditional Owners have a profound spiritual connection with the Reef and few can dive or snorkel in its clear waters without being moved.
In biological terms, the Reef is home to a treasure trove of plants and animals, many of them as yet unknown to science.
But all of this is at grave risk. The Reef is highly vulnerable. In the past three decades, it has lost half its coral cover, pollution has caused deadly starfish outbreaks, and global warming has produced horrific coral bleaching.
Coastal development also looms as a major threat. Some of the Reef's inhabitants, such as turtles and crocodiles, have been around since prehistoric times and have changed little over the millennia. The Park itself extends south from the tip of north Queensland, in north-eastern Australia, to just north of Bundaberg. It ranges between 60 and kilometres in width and has an average depth of 35 metres in its inshore waters.
On the outer reefs, continental slopes extend to depths of more than 2, metres. Did you know, coral reefs are made of calcium carbonate? Tiny soft-bodied organisms called coral polyps help to form coral reefs. Coral bleaching Coral bleaching is the result of global warming caused by the mining and burning of fossil fuels like coal.
Global warming is heating our oceans, and if the water stays too hot for too long, corals bleach and die. Corals only spawn once a year When conditions are right, often after a full moon, the incredible phenomenon of coral reproduction takes place. An entire colony can synchronise, with each polyp releasing its genetic matter into the water creating a scene reminiscent of a snowstorm.
This event can leave deposits on the surface of the water visible from space! Following this, new corals can form. Amazingly, it can take a single polyp to start a new reef! Visit in the winter The summer months may seem like a great time to visit the reef. But aside from the scorching temperatures, what may put you off a summer visit are the stingers. Stinger season stretches from November to May and within this time you could find yourself wearing a stinger suit in the water or only swimming within enclosures.
But have no fear! Related article: Top 5 things to do in the Great Barrier Reef.
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