Great Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef, Australia - Day 16
With some nerves and excitement, Katie and I boarded the Wavelength 3 which was to be our transport around the Great Barrier Reef for the day. On the hour and a half voyage to the reef we attended a talk put on by Paul, a marine biologist and member of the crew. He first spoke about how to get the best our of our experience and how to interact with wildlife. His lesson was to act uninterested, do not 'sneak' around, smooth body movements, and avoid eye contact. He said if you followed these, the fish wouldn't consider you a predator and carry on with what they were doing letting you get closer to watch them. It really worked too, it was kind of frustrating and interesting at the same time when you are floating there watching a ton of fish then watch as they all disappear as someone comes splashing by, just to reappear again when they are gone. The second item he talked about was sharks. He expertly demystified sharks in a way that put me, and I assume most others in attendance, at ease with the possibility of encountering on. Paul taught us that sharks greatest sense is electroreception. This gives the shark the ability to analyze the electronic signature of objects in the ocean to determine if it is food or not. Human's body structure and electronic signature are unlike anything sharks are familiar with and because of that will avoid humans under normal circumstances. He describe the thought process of sharks and said you could guess their decisions and movements by thinking of them as "cautious, conservative, risk adverse, adults." If a shark is just swimming by you, it will sense that you are there, but wont recognize your human body structure and signature, thus the shark will then avoid this unknown object as it might be a threat.And then, we were in the water. The Great Barrier Reef is such a magical, beautiful place. Corals and fish of every color surround you as you try to take in every little bit of the reef. We saw clown fish, zebra damsels, a star fish, claims bigger than us, huge fish that I don't know the names of, and two reef sharks. Both sharks did exactly what Paul had said they would do and got away from us as soon as they could. Katie and I got to snorkel three reef sights, including the Opel Reef.(Color from my GoPro doesn't do the reef justice)
