Expedition 2015 California + South Seas + Australia

JBL Expedition 2015: California, South Seas & Australia

2300 km Coral Reef: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

With over 400 coral and 1500 fish species the faunal diversity is many times higher than in the South Seas. To save money we booked a day trip on the Poseidon, and it was so crowded, it felt like there were another 200 people on board. We were glad when we finally arrived at the Agincourt reef after a 1.5 h trip. One glance at the reef showed us the meaning of coral diversity. You had the feeling you were seeing the 360 hard coral species which live there all gathered together within a few square metres. We even found a few dormant whitetip reef sharks and a Napoleon wrasse there. Over us swam hundreds of snorkelers, so you never felt alone. In addition to the unbelievable colours of the Acropora hard coral species, the large Tridacna clams, which were given the lurid name “killer clam” by Jacques Cousteau, were well worth seeing. I asked quite a few dive guides and none of them has ever heard of anyone getting their limbs stuck inside a “killer clam”, or anything dangerous like that. Around 5:00 p.m. we returned to Port Douglas. Our recommendation: It’s better to book a small boat with a few passengers than a huge yacht with a Disneyworld atmosphere!