I was blowing bubbles on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef and looking at my thumbs. Thumbs up means I’m OK. No, it means I want to get out of the water and rethink this adventure. Thumbs down means I’m having fun. Or is it the other way around?
The lure of cascading coral, tropical fish and giant, doe-eyed turtles convinced me to try something I had vowed I would never do — scuba dive.
“Snorkelling is like watching a great party through a window,” is how Cairns-based marine biologist Chris Cook put it. “Scuba diving is like being at the party.” Given the dire predictions many have made about the future of the Great Barrier Reef, I couldn’t resist seeing the party up close while I had the chance.
Which is how, on a recent trip to Australia, I found myself holding on to a rope tied across the end of a large catamaran with other beginners and trying to get comfortable in scuba diving gear (while strange, grey fish bumped into my arms and legs). One sign from me and my instructor Simon would grab my arm and take me underwater to the reef for “the best half-hour of your life.” I really wanted to have a short conversation about the whole thing first — I wasn’t sure, maybe I needed more time to think about it, should the breathing apparatus really feel this way? — but underwater is a small-talk-free zone, so I pointed my thumb into the deep and we headed for an all-too-brief tour of paradise.
The corals, dozens of shapes and sizes in pinks and yellows and blues, were just as I had imagined, yet hard to believe at the same time. The fish were cartoon-like — especially the clown fish that have become favourites with tourists since the animated movie Finding Nemo. And the slow-moving Green Turtles were so charming that I forgot not to smile, causing water to leak into my mask.
My introduction to scuba diving — introductory dives are available to uncertified beginners — was one highlight of the day I spent on Passions of Paradise, a catamaran that is one of dozens of boats that leave Cairns daily for tours of the nearby Great Barrier Reef. I also spent hours snorkelling — which was pretty fabulous, even if you didn’t get quite close enough to touch the turtles — learning about marine life on the reef, and enjoying a sumptuous buffet lunch.
The reef tours all offer a view of the reef from slightly different perspectives with prices ranging from about $50 or less for a ferry to a reef island, to between about $90 and $200 for day trips, to many hundreds of dollars for overnight, multi-day trips. Some of the boats are very large, holding 300 or more people, and offer experiences for everyone from certified scuba divers to those who prefer to keep their feet dry and see the reef from a glass-bottom boat. Others offer exclusive moorings away from the crowd on the outer reef. Passions of Paradise is relatively small and moors in two locations, including one away from the crowds.
Although Passions of Paradise powers out to the reef by engine, the crew return by sail power alone, which makes for a peaceful end to the day and is one reason the tour has earned an environmental stamp of approval.
So much choice can make choosing a boat difficult. Cook, the marine biologist who leads daily information sessions about the reef as part of a program called Reef Teach, says one of the best ways to select a reef tour is by checking the lunch menu — probably as good a way as any.
Tourists from around the world have been flocking to the Great Barrier Reef to snorkel and dive for decades. But, in recent years, there has been growing concern about the reef’s future
The Great Barrier Reef, made up of nearly 3,000 individual reefs, is the largest such system in the world — so big that it can be seen from outer space. Cairns, which is about 1,700 kilometres north of Brisbane in the tropical northeastern tip of the continent, is the main departure point for the reef.
About the same time that I began planning a research trip to Australia earlier this year, a Chinese freighter took a wrong turn and smashed into part of the Great Barrier Reef. The story made headlines for a few days and then faded. But it made me think.
From this side of the world, the iconic reef seems increasingly fragile and threatened by not only stray freighters but, more significantly, climate change. If I was going that far anyway, it seemed imperative that I see the reef now — before it was too late.
One balmy evening in June, I joined a small group in a classroom above a shopping mall in downtown Cairns to learn about Parrot fish poo, among other things. The next morning, I was due to head out to the reef.
“Just remember,” Cook, the cheerful marine biologist at the front of the class was saying, “about 70 per cent of that lovely white sand you will see out there is made out of parrot fish poo.”
Reef Teach is one of the least flashy of all the many tourist options available in tropical Cairns, which is not only Australia’s gateway to the World Heritage-designated reef, but a haven for backpackers, crocodile tours and tacky souvenir shops.
For 15 Australian dollars, you get tea and cookies and a couple of hours learning about what you are likely to see on the reef, how to identify coral and fish, what you can touch and what you should be afraid of (not the mild-mannered reef sharks, they assure you).
The course, which was started in the local library by a university professor, has been described by one guide book as the most valuable thing you can do in Cairns. Its motto is “With Learning, Comes Appreciation.”
And there is a growing focus on climate change and how that might affect the reef. In the past
12 years there have been several incidences of mass coral bleaching caused by higher-than-usual water temperatures. The reef has largely recovered, but scientists predict more outbreaks of coral bleaching and other threats related to climate change.
Of equal concern to those worried about the future of the reef are recent outbreaks of devastating crown-of-thorns starfish and the killing of sharks, something that affects the balance of life on the reef.
On Passions of Paradise, they are also thinking about climate change. It is the end of a beautiful June day, the temperature is a tropical 28 degrees and the sun is sinking as the catamaran sails in to Cairns harbour. On board, passengers are asked to fill out a survey about climate change and the reef. One question asks: Would the effects of climate change make you less likely to visit the reef?
It’s a tough question to answer. Every international tourist on-board Passions of Paradise and the other boats exploring the reef has travelled for hours by jet to come here and learn to better appreciate the reef. While familiarity is likely to make people around the world want to protect the reef, it is a big carbon price to pay.
I put those concerns on hold while I put my head underwater for a last look at the moving picture show under the sea.
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