Australian Geographic — May-June 2017

70 Australian Geographic

F

OR MOST VISITORS to our greatest natural icon, inter-

actions with the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) take place

on day trips out of major tourist hubs such as Cairns,

Port Douglas or Airlie Beach, further south. But for

a deeper connection with the ebb and flow of daily

life on the region’s myriad coral reefs and islands, a

ship-based multi-day adventure is a worthwhile option.

It’s mid-November and I’m aboard the 35m Coral Expeditions

II, which will be my floating home for the next few nights. I had

embarked 24 hours earlier in Cairns, from where we sailed 175km

north to moor off Cooktown for our first night aboard.

British explorer Lieutenant James Cook found safe harbour

here following a near-fatal encounter with the reef to the south

on 10 June 1770. After sustaining serious damage to HMB Endeav-

our’s wooden hull, Cook and his crew careened their broken

vessel, intentionally running it aground six days later in the mouth

of what is now known as the Endeavour River. They then spent

seven weeks repairing the damage, replenishing their food and

water supplies, and caring for their sick. They are said to have

named the place Cook’s Town and today it boasts relics and

monuments celebrating the event. We have ample opportunity

to visit these and this tropical town’s other attractions.

From Cooktown our journey continues north-east to reach

Lizard Island, where we will finally enter the water for the first

time. Lizard is a continental island surrounded by fringing reef

about 33km off the coast of Cape Flattery. Much of the island is

covered in rolling grassland and dense eucalypt and acacia wood-

lands that sprawl all the way down to pink-grey granite rocks on

the shoreline. There are also paperbark and pandanus swamps

nourished by rainwater that accumulates underground in the

valley behind Watsons Bay, where our ship has anchored at a

permanent mooring established for the exclusive use of Coral

Expeditions’ vessels.

Nervous excitement ripples through the passengers as we climb

into the ship’s tender and head ashore. The water here is crystal-

clear, warm and still and we hurriedly pull on our snorkelling

gear before stepping out from the beach, impatient for that first

view of the world beneath the water’s surface.

Hikers congregate on the peak of Cooks Look, Lizard

Island’s highest point, after a tough one-and-a-half-hour

pre-dawn ascent.

Watsons Bay, where our ship pulled in to anchor at a

permanent mooring established for the exclusive use

of Coral Expeditions’ vessels.

Snorkellers get some

final safety tips on the

lowered platform at the

back of the boat before

moving over the reef.

PHOTO CREDITS, PREVIOUS PAGE: CORAL EXPEDITIONS; THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: CORAL EXPEDITIONS; NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY / ALAMY; JESS TEIDEMAN