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Heart Reef at Hardy Reef
It’s hard to imagine a more beautiful place to ride-out lockdown than Australia’s UNESCO-listed Great Barrier Reef!
The statistics are staggering: the 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands that make up the Great Barrier Reef stretch across 2300 kilometres (1,429 miles) into the Coral Sea off the northeast coast of Queensland, Australia. Between 24 km (15 mi) and 240 km (386 mi) wide, this – the world’s largest coral reef system – takes in an area of 344,400 square kilometres (133,000 sq mi) and is “the only living thing on earth visible from space”.
But of course, it is not just big: it is stunningly beautiful.
Called one of the seven wonders of the natural world, UNESCO writes that the Great Barrier Reef “is of superlative natural beauty above and below the water, and provides some of the most spectacular scenery on earth.”
One of the principal reasons for affording the Great Barrier Reef UNESCO-World Heritage status in 1981 was its ecological importance. According the the World Wildlife Fund, the region is home to “more than 1,500 species of fish, 411 types of hard coral, one-third of the world’s soft corals, 134 species of sharks and rays, six of the world’s seven species of threatened marine turtles, and more than 30 species of marine mammals, including the vulnerable dugong.” Where else could you find such biodiversity?
The last time I visited the reef was some thirty-years ago. Since then, the eco-awareness of tourism infrastructure has greatly improved: the operator I travelled with on this more recent trip, Cruise Whitsundays, boasts Advanced Eco Certification and partnership with Eco Barge Clean Seas. Their giant pontoon, Reefworld, is moored above the Hardy Reef, allowing visitors close, but relatively non-invasive access to a coral wall, with its myriad of colourful fish and other marine life. I can’t scuba, but snorkelling here in a supplied stinger-suit (Beware jellyfish!) was pure joy. While I didn’t see any of the endangered sea turtles who are often sighted by swimmers here, I did meet an enormous humphead wrasse – an exciting first for me.
Join me on the reef – about three hours off the coast of Australia:
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Cruise-Boat Dock
My rainy morning started at the Port of Airlie, where I pick up my transport to the reef, a Cruise Whitsundays catamaran.
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Dive Team
Whether it was the lack of international tourists because of Australia’s closed borders, or the fact that it is rainy season/low season, but the young staff almost outnumbered the travellers.
Boats in the Whitsundays
The Whitsunday Islands are a sailor’s paradise: 74 tropical islands covered in dense rainforest and bounded by white sand beaches between the coast of Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef.
A Boat Like Ours
Cruise Whitsundays operates island transfers, so we pass a cat exactly like ours as we head out.
Whitsunday Islands
Dive Team Member
Rocky Outcrops in the Whitsundays
Hamilton Island
Our first stop is the Hamilton Island port, where we exchange passengers to-and-from here and Daydream Island.
Leaving Hamilton Island
Property here is mostly high-end.
“Explore”
We are not the only tour boat in the region.
Underwater Observatory
My first activity, once I arrive at the multilevel Reefworld facility, is to walk down to the underwater observatory.
Damselfish (Neoglyphidodon Melas)
Lifeguard on Duty
Other day-trippers are already in the water, and a lifeguard keeps watch over the areas marked out by swim-rope dividers.
Rescue-Ready
There is great attention to safety: we were all coached in basic signals while still aboard our transfer boat.
Robinson Helicopter
I had to stay dry as I had one of the four seats on a scenic helicopter flight.
Brown Boobies (Sula Leucogaster)
While waiting for our turn to load, I watched the seabirds, …
Black Noddy (Anous Minutus)
… many of whom weren’t remotely disturbed by our presence.
Helipad in Hardy Reef
As we lift into the air and leave our helipad behind, the reef stretches out in all directions, and the exclusive double-story helipad in the heart of the reef comes into view.
Hardy Reef Helipad from Above
The view is stunning, and the the colours change dramatically with every shift in light. What’s even more amazing is that this particular helipad has a luxurious boat shed underneath.
Heart Reef from Above
Just 17 meters (56 feet) across, Heart Reef is a naturally formed coral outcrop.
Heart Reef
The now-famous heart-shaped reef was discovered by a local pilot in 1975. For its protection, diving, snorkelling, and swimming in this immediate area is not allowed.
The Next Helicopter Load
The breathtaking scenic flight is short: too soon, the next load of passengers shuttle in …
Boat Operator
… and we are transported back to the main float.
Brown Booby
Sea birds are all around, in the air …
Seabirds
… and resting on floats …
The Platform
… as we go back to the pontoon.
Butterflyfish from the Sub
The colours of the reef are muted from the semi-submarine, …
Yellowtail Fusiliers (Caesio Cuning)
… but amazingly vibrant in the sunlight …
Almost Abstract – Feeding Frenzy
… where fish come to the surface to be fed.
Me and an Endangered Humphead Wrasse
Of course, the snorkelling was the absolute highlight of the day! I got extra lucky when I met the resident Māori wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) and one of the scuba photographers with his underwater flash was handy.
This magnificent world is under threat. Even here in a designated Marine Park with World Heritage status, the reef is challenged by bleaching caused by ever-warming waters, and by reduced water quality because of dredging for port expansions, and waste-water run-off from expanding on-land developments.
Add to these stressors increased shipping activities, extreme weather events including floods and cyclone, and even illegal fishing, and it is no surprise that some scientists maintain that the Great Barrier Reef is at a critical tipping point and could disappear by 2050.
I feel so lucky to have enjoyed it!
I hope it lasts for my children’s children – and yours.
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Photos: 16February2021
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