The Great Barrier Reef

Thursday we made our way to Port Douglas in the state of Queensland.  On Friday we spent most of the day at the Great Barrier Reef.

I was trying to decide how to describe the Great Barrier Reef. I think our travel guide does a good job, so I'm going to quote pretty much verbatim from it. "The reef supports the most diverse ecosystem known to man, an ecosystem which has evolved over millions of years." The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven wonders of the natural world. It is larger than the Great Wall of China and the only living thing on earth visible from space.

We took a boat out to a large pontoon where there were several options for exploring the reef.

The boat we took to the reef

These are views of the reef from the pontoon.

Mel and I snorkled.  Here's a photo of snorklers in the same area where we were.

Terri and Randall getting ready to snorkel

Our guide Darren snorkled with a Go Pro camera.  These are photos he took.

Giant clam