Palau made a decision in 2020 that I think about regularly when I’m underwater on any reef anywhere in the world. The government declared the entire exclusive economic zone — 600,000 square kilometres of Pacific Ocean — a fully protected…
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth, built by animals smaller than your fingernail over millions of years. Understanding how it formed changes how you see it entirely.
What happens on Queensland's farms and in its rivers doesn't stay on land. The connection between water quality and reef health is one of the most important - and most politically contested - stories in GBR science.
Gladstone is an industrial port — but it's also the gateway to Heron Island, Lady Musgrave, and the extraordinary southern end of the Great Barrier Reef.
Lihou Reef is the largest coral atoll in the Coral Sea - 2,500 square kilometres of lagoon enclosed by a reef ring 125 kilometres long. Almost no one has dived it.
Scorpionfish are the reef's most dangerous fish to step on, and lionfish are among its most spectacular. Both are masters of the same strategy: look like something that isn't a fish, then strike.
The photograph I am most proud of from fifteen years of reef snorkelling was taken with a waterproof point-and-shoot camera worth about two hundred dollars, in a lagoon I’d been told wasn’t particularly interesting, of a hawksbill turtle feeding on…
The packing list for a reef trip has a specific structure that most general travel packing advice misses: it divides cleanly into dive gear (heavy, bulky, non-negotiable), reef gear (lightweight, always in use), and general tropical travel (minimal). Understanding which…
The Whitsunday Islands are famous for sailing and white sand beaches. Less well known are the fringing reefs that surround many of the islands - accessible, diverse, and often overlooked by visitors focused on the outer reef.
Getting children genuinely engaged with the Great Barrier Reef requires matching the experience to their age. Here's what works — from under-8s at Green Island to teenagers diving the outer reef.