Today's adventure started with making sure I had everything I needed to go to the Great Barrier Reef. That includes bathing suit, sunscreen, towel (it's always important to have one's towel along!), hat, sunglasses. Oh, and something dry to put on after snorkeling (for me) and diving (for others).
We were on a high-speed reef cruiser named 'Evolution', with an inner salon and multiple outer decks. As we checked in, we were all given out 'safety number' which they used to make sure they could keep track of everyone. Mine was 49. I like that number. It's the square of 7, a prime number. If you add the digits, the sum is 13, another prime number. If you add those digits, the sum is 4. And if you multiply the digits of 49, the product is 36. If you divide 36 by 4, you get 9, which is the square of 3, which is a prime number.
I just thought you would like a glimpse into about first 15 or so seconds in my brain following my assignment of 49 as my safety number.
Here is some random information about the GBR.
It is the largest reef system in the world, covering over 340,000 square kilometers. That makes it half the size of the state of Texas and only slightly smaller than the Baltic Sea
The GBR can be seen from space
The living corals sit on dead coral from as long ago as 20 million years
The corals that make up the reef are alive.
There are many threats to the reef, with climate change being the main one
A bleached reef is not a dead reef, but it means there is danger of it dying
There are still (prehistoric) creatures living on the reef that haven't changed in millions and millions of years
On the way ...
We rode out to our first location for getting in the water - Saxon Reef. Itost was absolutely beautiful. I snorkeled, which I haven't done for years. The water temperature was about 26C- which is almost 80F. Pretty balmy for the middle of the ocean. Saw some sea cucumbers and fish. I didn't see any turtles or sharks. But it was lovely. The pictures are from the boat - I didn't have a waterproof case for my camera so don't have pictures while i was in the ocean.
We stayed at Saxon Reef for about 2 1/2 hours, which included a BBQ lunch cooked and served by some of the crew. After everyone - well almost everyone - had their fill of the water and the food, we headed off to our second site - north Hastings Reef. In my opinion this site was even more beautiful. I asked some of the divers and snorkelers which site they liked better, and all that I asked said this latter site was the better of the two.
Hastings Reef
I didn't go back in the water again, but I did ride in their semi-submersible sub, which took us right up against the reef.
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