Port Douglas: Snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef

We booked a snorkelling trip out of Port Douglas with Wavelength. Had to get up at the crack of dawn, but man, it was worth it! AMAZING trip! One of the coolest things I've done in my entire life!! It was like swimming in the reef display of the Sydney aquarium. The tide was low, so we could get really close. So close in fact, you had to be careful not to bump into the coral. The sun was shining, bringing out all the pretty colours of the coral and the fish. And there were fish everywhere: orange-and-white clown fish (think Nemo), black-and-white striped zebra fish, butterfly fish,... If you kept still, they would swim right by you, so close you could reach out and touch them. Lots of other wonderful creatures too: we held a sea cucumber, touched the skeleton and tentacles of a coral, saw starfish, Christmas tree worms and a huge clam, more than half a metre long. And we shared the water with a reef shark! Also spotted a dolphin on our way to the first snorkelling location.

One of our guides, Emma, is a marine biologist who did her thesis on the Great Barrier Reef. She told us lots of cool things about the reef. For instance, corals produce their own sunscreen, and there are reef fish that use this sunscreen by eating bits of coral. This is the subject of some interesting research: if scientists can discover how this fish manages to extract the sunscreen through his digestive system, maybe they could create a sunscreen pill. No more worries about missing a spot!

Sea cucumbers are the housekeepers of the reef: one time, as an experiment, all the sea cucumbers were removed from a little piece of reef. Within a week, the sand had turned black. And the most romantic fish in the reef are the butterfly fish, you will always see them in pairs. They are so dependent on each other, that if one of them dies, the other will only survive a couple of weeks.

Clown fish can change gender when necessary. So, in real life, when Nemo's mom died, his dad would have become his mom. That would be one very confusing film! A sad side-effect of Finding Nemo: it's highly unlikely you'll find him in the reef. Since everyone wanted their own Nemo after the film came out, there are almost none left in the wild. Our guide knew of one anemone with two little fish in it, and that's it...

Squid have some unique defense mechanisms to protect them from predators. One species will use their ink to draw the exact shape of a squid in the water, so his pursuer will attack the ink, allowing the real squid time to make his escape. Another species which is heavily hunted by lobsters, will squirt out a liquid which will make the lobster forget that he is hungry, and give him the irresistible desire to start grooming himself instead. How cool is that!

But it's not all good news: the Great Barrier Reef is under attack. A type of starfish called Crown of Thorns is eating the reef. Problem is, there are now so many of them, they could literally annihilate the reef in a couple of years time. Their numbers are quickly growing due to agricultural fertilizers which leak into the rivers, and end up in the sea. Makes them breed like bunnies, apparently. It's already a big issue in the south parts of the reef, and the starfish are making their way up north. The only solution is to kill them before they kill the reef, but that is not so easy. You have to give them a deadly injection in each and every one of their arms. Otherwise they will toss aside the arm which was injected, and simply grow a new one.

I really liked all these stories about the reef. Having some background information made me appreciate the reef even more. Otherwise you're just looking at pretty fishies. Also nice, but not the same.

If I ever go back to Australia, I'll definitely book another snorkelling trip with Wavelength. They are the best! They specialize in snorkelling, take maximum 30 passengers, and send a marine biologist as a guide on each trip. There were two guides on board, which means they have plenty of time to help you with the equipment, and tell you a little bit about what you are seeing. Being marine biologists, they're also really into protection and conservation of the reef. Also, they're really nice people. And with only 30 people on board, you quickly start talking with your fellow passengers. Met some lovely people! Later on we did another bit of snorkelling on a sailing trip, but this came nowhere near the experience we had with Wavelength. So if you are ever in Australia, now you know where to go for all your snorkelling needs ;-)