Underwater Photography Travel Guide to the GBR
The GBR is extraordinary to photograph — if you know the equipment, the technique, and the sites. Here's what I've learned after years of underwater photography on the reef.
Daniel Mercer
Daniel Mercer is a reef travel writer and marine ecology enthusiast based in Queensland, Australia. He studied marine science at James Cook University and has spent years exploring coral reef ecosystems across the Indo-Pacific region. His work focuses on reef travel, marine life, and responsible exploration of fragile ocean environments.
What Coral Reefs Look Like at Low Tide
Many travelers only experience coral reefs at high tide when the water covers the reef structure completely. Low tide reveals a different side of the reef that is rarely discussed in travel writing. As the water retreats, sections of the…
Osprey Reef: The Coral Sea’s Most Remote Dive Destination
Osprey Reef sits 340 kilometres off the Queensland coast, surrounded by 2,000 metres of open ocean. Getting there takes two days by liveaboard. It is worth every hour.
The Kimberley by Sea: Australia’s Most Dramatic Coastal Expedition
The Kimberley is not a reef destination in the conventional sense. There are no coral gardens, no tropical fish in saturated colour, no cleaning stations with mantas hovering above them. What there is — in quantities that are difficult to…
Sea Turtles of the GBR: Ancient Navigators of the Coral Sea
Six of the world's seven sea turtle species are found on the Great Barrier Reef. They've been navigating these waters for 100 million years - and they're in more trouble now than at any point in that history.
Port Douglas: Small Town, World-Class Reef
Port Douglas is what Cairns might have become if the airport had been built somewhere else. Sixty-seven kilometres north of Cairns on the Captain Cook Highway — one of the finest coastal drives in Australia, the road running between the…
Cape Tribulation: Where the Rainforest Meets the Reef
At Cape Tribulation, two World Heritage Areas — the Daintree rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef — meet at a single beach. Here's what that means for visitors.
Raja Ampat: The Reef That Resets Your Expectations
There are destinations you visit and destinations that reset your sense of what’s possible. Raja Ampat is the second kind. I first heard the name from a marine biologist at a conference in Cairns who had just returned from a…
Solo Travel Guide to the Great Barrier Reef
Solo travel and the GBR are a natural match — especially on liveaboards, where strangers sharing a purpose become something close to a crew.
When to Go: A Month-by-Month Guide to the Great Barrier Reef
The honest answer to “when is the best time to visit the Great Barrier Reef” is: it depends what you want. The longer honest answer is that there is no single best time, because the reef is a large and…