Diving on the Barrier

It was the shock of the cold of the water that brought me to my senses.



What on earth was I doing out in the Pacific Ocean off Queensland, 30 nautical miles from land, and preparing for a lengthy swim in a high tide!

We’d booked a day cruise to the Great Barrier Reef from Port Douglas, the nearest Aussie town to the Reef. Up in the Tropics, only it wasn’t typical Tropics weather!

Made up of almost 3,000 individual reefs of different sizes and at different distances from the mainland, the GBR extends some 2,300 kms along this east coast of Australia. It is the largest marine park in the world. A must for the inquisitive visitor. Non swimmers can opt to go close to the reef with a different company, Quicksilver, who have a permanent activity platform facility with marine biologists on hand near the Agincourt reef, equipped with an underwater observatory. You stay dry. But for me this simply wasn’t an option and it wouldn’t gain me any bragging rights back home!

We’d chosen to go on the magnificent Aristocat catamaran — because it was seven metres longer than the opposition, which meant greater stability, and the wind was up. It was the only operator licenced to get up close and personal with whales, should they appear.

The adverse weather resulted in only 30 bookings that day instead of the usual 90, which thankfully gave us more space to move about the boat.



However, the first 30 minutes as we traversed the rough waters of the shipping lanes was pretty hair raising stuff and resulted in a few cases of sea sickness and the sound of delph crashing around the kitchen area. We’d be warned earlier to go to the back of the boat if we felt unwell, for obvious reasons in the high wind! Most of us remained glued to our seats and wished for the comfort of a safety belt.

The trip was to take in three reefs. The first was at the Undine, where our boat parked at its designated buoy ... to my consternation, about a hundred feet away from the reef’s edge, so clearly visible because of its calmer, shallow, turquoise waters, and defined by big white breakers on the far side.

I was scared stiff of getting my face in the cold water as we’d be wearing goggles (and flippers), and I’d never tried them before. I’d heard it said that if they didn’t fit right, your eyes could pop out from the pressure. And what if Jaws lurked below?

But determination — and the fact that I’d shelled out around €200 for the day — meant I wasn’t going to be a shrinking violet and stay on board!



The divers went in first. And promptly disappeared from view.

I’d opted for a wet suit and a buoyancy noodle as the swell was not at all to my liking, and nervously I eased my bum off the lower step at the back of the boat, facing the reef. Swimming away from the safety of the boat, to avoid the big waves crashing on my head, I decided to bite the bullet and stick my head into the water.

Wow! It was crystal clear beneath the waves and I could see clear black shapes moving around below, but soon realised these were the divers moving about. There was no sign of Jaws and I was happy to think the graceful divers would make tastier meals should one put in an appearance.

Another very different world soon unfolded as I swam even closer. Such fantastic colours! Bright ochre sand and shoals of colourful small and bigger, fish everywhere. Some inquisitive ones were actually coming up to meet me! The depth at this point was only about 16 feet.



On finally reaching the edge of the reef — where the best corals are to be found — nothing prepares you for the sights below. Beige corals of all sizes and shapes and you could have touched them with your hands or feet as you hovered. However, this was a strict 'no no'.

We’d been well briefed earlier on what to do, and especially what not to do, by the professional crew on board. Top priority was the hand signal to be used in case we needed urgent assistance. Second was not to attempt to touch or remove anything from its place. All too soon we were signalled to return to the boat.

Our second and third swims were at the nearby large Agincourt reef, by which time the wind had gathered pace and progress proved most difficult. On the third one, after swimming furiously for ten minutes I was still a long way short of the reef and didn’t feel too bad when others also found it too difficult to attempt and turned back to the safety and warmth of the boat.

Our marine biologist told us that the entire reef area — the size of Japan — is the largest coral reef in the world. It was the first Australian site to be listed as protected by the World Heritage Trust, to make sure its beauty is there for future generations to enjoy.

The reef is a giant, living organism with thousands of species of fish, coral, molluscs and sponges. It is vulnerable and fragile and the strictly licenced boats must moor at a designated distance from the corals. Hence our long swim.

However, it is humans who can cause the most damage to this environment and should you decide to take home a souvenir from your trip, there are very severe penalties. The reef is also under threat from the huge number of Crown of Thorns starfish which eat live coral, bleaching it white.

At 10,000 years old, the corals we saw are very young compared to the dead corals and plants below them, some of which are 2-18 million years old. You feel very insignificant indeed amongst such ancients.

No one knows how many types of fish inhabit these reefs as some can change colour — and sex — and can even then reproduce, like the orange coloured Clown Fish (made famous by Walt Disney’s Nemo), depending on circumstances. You can also come across turtles, rays and lots of shoals of beautifully coloured fish — bright yellows, oranges and silver blue. Butterfly fish, Parrot and Angel fish move in what is almost like synchronised swimming. Big ones include the Queensland Grouper which seems absolutely huge below water. One big, ugly, ochre coloured brute with black spots hovered close to the back of our boat and I learnt afterwards that the crew feed him on each trip, just so they can tell folk to watch out for him. Luckily, he was harmless.

You’ll also see the odd small ‘harmless’ shark, (I didn’t see one!) rays and of course, turtles. The Reef Cuttlefish is one of the weirdest of all with its huge snout. Sponges abound and it’s weird seeing them here as animals in their natural habitat. Big Sea Slugs move gracefully along the sand, and Sea Urchins are everywhere.

Our expert told us that it is not true that giant clams can trap a dangling foot as you swim over them, as often appears in comics or films. This was quite a relief as I encountered a few during my swims. They can look quite menacing when only a few feet below your toes.

Real nasties are the stinger jelly fish that arrive during the summer season from October-April and swimmers must wear protective suits then when visiting the reefs.

Because of the weather, my experience was a far cry from photographs of blue, calm seas as shown on the reef cruise brochures! But as they say, been there, done that! And who knows, someday I may again. But I’ll make sure it won’t be during the Aussie winter months.

That said, the entire experience was one of the memories of a lifetime!

Trish Whelan.