The question I get asked most often by people planning their first Great Barrier Reef trip is some version of: “Which island should I stay on?” And my honest answer, every time, is that the island question is the wrong…
Wrecks make reefs. This was the first thing I learned about wreck diving, and it’s the thing that keeps me coming back to them. A ship sinks. The steel corrodes slowly, the paint fades, the superstructure colonises. Within five years,…
Most people, on their first reef dive, look past the coral. This is understandable. The reef is full of movement — fish darting, current swaying sea fans, a turtle ghosting through the blue. The coral is just the backdrop. The…
Reef travel with children is one of the most rewarding versions of the trip and one of the most logistically complex. The rewards are real: children who encounter the reef at formative ages develop relationships with the marine environment that…
Not everyone who visits the Great Barrier Reef comes to dive. Not everyone comes primarily for the reef at all. Queensland’s coastal tourism has, over the past two decades, developed a category of cruise product that sits between the dive…
This article requires a disclaimer that most surf travel articles don’t need: the Great Barrier Reef is not a surfing destination. The GBR’s structure — a barrier reef that intercepts and dissipates ocean swell before it reaches the Queensland coast…
Let me tell you about the worst dive of my life that turned out to be the best. I was doing a channel dive at Fakarava Atoll in French Polynesia — the south pass, Tetamanu, which has a reputation among…
Heron Island is not like other places I’ve stayed near a reef. At most dive destinations, the ocean is something you travel to — you board a boat, cross some water, arrive at the site. At Heron Island, the reef…
The Red Sea often surprises travelers who associate coral reefs only with tropical islands. Along large stretches of coastline in Egypt, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia, the reef begins directly offshore. From the beach the water may appear dark and empty,…
There is a specific protocol for swimming with a whale shark that every operator will brief you on before you enter the water, and one of the rules is: no touching. This rule exists for conservation reasons — human contact…