Laurel Cliffs: Great Barrier Reef

Prior to our trip to Keppel Islands, our experience with the Great Barrier Reef included 1 to 2 hour boat rides from the mainland to the outer reef where Eric and I would be dropped into what felt like the middle of the ocean to snorkel or scuba dive. We realized this would not work well for kids but still wanted them to be able to experience the Great Barrier Reef while we are living here. The Keppel Islands are located on the south end of the Great Barrier Reef and not far from the mainland so the coral has experienced many bleaching events (from weather events and pollutant runoff from the mainland). This means the coral was not as healthy, vibrant or diverse as in other areas of the reef but it was accessible by beach – we could walk out to the reef in protected coves with calm waters. Even still, swimming with their heads in the water was too scary for Asher and uncomfortable for Cady at first. Our first two attempts at snorkeling with kids did not produce much.

The kids had a great time with the funny fins on when they were on land! Cady and Asher at shelving beach preparing for the first snorkel attempt:

We learned that our visit to Great Keppel coincided with the lowest tides of the year and that the reef at Monkey Beach would be almost completely exposed. So we hiked over and got there just before low tide. This ended up being a huge blessing. The reef was transformed into the best ever tide pool that we could all walk around and explore. The kids realized how close the reef was to the beach, how easy it was to stand near, and how many amazing creatures were hanging out there. We stayed for four hours until the reef was completely covered again and we needed to get back for dinner.

The exposed coral protects itself from the sun’s rays with a slimy brown goop:

View of the receding tide and the exposed reef on Monkey Beach:

Boxfish (a type of puffer fish):

There were crabs everywhere! But most were climbing in the coral, scraping it (I’m not sure what they were eating but it was loud) and very camouflage. This one was about 4 inches long and under ankle-deep water just hanging out:

Can you spot the giant clam in this coral island? When we would toss water on the clams they would close tighter and squirt water back:

The sea cucumbers were huge! We even watched one (slowly) move:

We had stingrays swim in the shallow water right by our feet. Can you spot the spotted ray in this picture?

We don’t have pictures of any of the colorful small fish that would dart out from around the coral – they were too fast – but there were heaps of them and so many different kinds. The only fish I managed to capture in this photo was a small boxfish (right in middle of photo) but he had just pushed out a group of brightly striped orange fish from underneath one coral to another:

Probably the biggest success of the low-tide reef exploration occurred when Asher was splashing water on a giant clam and stirred up the water enough that a small (18 inch) Wobbegong shark came out from the coral right at his feet. He quickly picked up an empty shell and followed the shark around trying to feed it to him. Not the best plan. Luckily Asher still has all of his fingers. Wobbegongs are a type of carpet shark and very camouflage:

Asher trying to feed his fingers to the shark:

The afternoon at the low-tide reef was so successful that we decided to go to the same reef the next day but earlier in the morning so that we could get in a proper snorkel before the tide was completely out. The adults took turns going out first and this was probably one of my all-time favorite snorkel experiences. The diversity of fish was astounding. We saw many large sting rays, cod, turtles, and pretty much had the reef to ourselves to explore. The kids took turns going out with Eric. He would hold onto them and tell them when to put their heads in the water. At one point Asher spotted a large ray just in front of them and alerted Eric who was still walking. We had our underwater camera (GoPro) but with the excitement and kid wrangling we didn’t get many pictures.

Asher and Eric in the water: