Advantages: Magnificent coral and wildlife
Disadvantages: Avoid other touist craft - especially if you're down stream!

...The Great Barrier Reef is a most remarkable place. When I dived over the reef I had a copious amount of wildlife for company - as well as the rubbish and worst from boats moored upstream! The reef is obviously a magnet for tourists and for those who make a living from tourists and it is unfortunate that one of my enduring memories of the reef is attempting to surface through a cloud of toilet refuge from five boats moored further up the current. If you can find a guide who will take you (in safety) away from the usual tourist spots the reef lives up to its reputation as one of the most beautiful areas in the world. The coral - for all the erosion - is still to be marvelled at and the wildlife second to none.... Read review

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Advantages: Second largest mass of living coral in the World!
Disadvantages: For divers only

...“Deterioration or disappearance of any item of the cultural or natural heritage constitutes a harmful impoverishment of the heritage of all the nations of the world. It is incumbent on the international community as a whole to participate in the protection of the cultural and natural heritage of outstanding universal”. – quoted from UNESCO’S World Heritage Convention. In keeping with the above words, the Belize Barrier-Reef Reserve System was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1966. It was thus accorded the same status as Machu Picchu in Peru, the Grand Canyon in the United States and other such wonders around the world. So what makes this site of “Universal Value”? ******************************* A Heritage Worth Preserving ******************************* The Belize Barrier Reef is the second largest mass of living coral... Read review

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Advantages: Breathtaking Trips
Disadvantages: Sunburn?

...The Grat Barrier Reef is an amazing place to visit, try and go there if you possibly can because it is simply brilliant! On a nice day, a trip to the reef is like a day in paradise. With the sun beating down as you travel out the journey is worth it alone, but the real highlight is snorkelling amongst the tropical fish and colourful coral! Many trips include a delicious BBQ on a beach. I would recommend The Whitsunday Islands as the place to go, but wherever you went you can't go too far wrong!... Read review

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Advantages: natural outstanding beauty
Disadvantages: remote, expensive

...They say it is the only living thing that can be seen from space. They say it is the largest living thing on Earth. They say it is an area of outstanding Natural Beauty. I am not too sure about the first two claims, but whoever they are, they are absolutely spot on about the last. ***Background*** There is some dispute as to how big The Great Barrier Reef ("GBR") is but it is somewhere between 2300-2600 km long and consists of between 2700-2900 individual reefs and 900 islands. Each individual reef is made up of billions of individual coral polyps between 3-50mm in size and colony sizes between 75mm-1500mm. As each polyp dies, new growth starts on top of it building the size of the colony and the GBR is around 600,000 years old although the modern reef started growing on the older reef platform around 20,000 years ago... Read review

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Advantages: Amazing fish, warm water, sun and good food
Disadvantages: You can't stay long enough

...The Great Barrier Reef is one of the wonders of the natural world. It is also declining fast - so if you get the chance go and see it before we finish it off for good with pollution and damage. We atyed in Cairns and some of us did a diving course with ProDive - a five day thing which included two days out on the reef on a boat. When it became clear that I was not cut out to be a diver, I changed to snorkelling instead. Being out on the boat is incredible - at times above the reef the water is so shallow that you can clearly see the bottom and some of the wildlife. The water is warm, clear and blue, and putting your face in the water for the first time is amazing. Huge fish surround the boat, the multicoloured coral is below you and hundreds and hundreds of creatures are all around. To make it even more meaningful you can go... Read review

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Advantages: Such an unforgettable experience
Disadvantages: Cost (well not when parents pay!)

...The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park was established in 1975 and is the world's largest marine protected area in the world. It is approximately 2,300 kilometres long, running from just north of Bundaberg to the tip of the Cape York Peninsula. A lot of people think that the Great Barrier Reef is one massive reef in the middle of the ocean. It is actually made up of over 2,700 coral reefs! The Reef is also quite a young reef compared to many other is the world at around 500,000 years old. The GBF is home to such classes as corals, anemones and sea pens and has waters ranging in temperatures from 18 - 33 °C. The individual corals range from 3 - 56 mm in diameter or height; while colony size varies from 75 mm -1500 mm (1.5 m) in width, height or length. They're massive really! The animals that live among the reef are spectacular... Read review

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Advantages: Safe for the whole family and lots to do
Disadvantages: Swimming can only be done so long

...is the star attraction and it is wonderful how they have managed to fit everything around this great idea. There are many rides that you can go on with groups or individuals as you swing your way down the flumes to the bottom. At Typhoon lagoon you also are able to scuba dive to the coral reef as the have a filled fish coral reef within the park . There are laso attractions for the young memebrs of the family aswell which makes it a great place for the whole family.... Read review

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Advantages: Dissolves quickly, good trace elements, no waste products left
Disadvantages: Bags are difficult to re-seal when opened

...Kent Marine is one of the leading names in marine aquaria. They make a variety of products to help marine fishkeeperes to improve and simplify their set ups. Kent’s salt is becoming one of the most popular in this country. It is aimed for fish only or reef systems, and contains extra calcium, strontium, iodine and many trace elements which are all exceptionally useful for reef tanks. These products also make it one of the best for marine keepers that use reverse osmosis water, as it replaces the important elements. This salt contains no traces of phosphate, ammonia, nitrite or nitrate. It gives a pH of 8.4 and dissolves very quickly. Calcium and Magnesium levels are very high which helps corals in an invert system to grow at their maximum . I have been using this salt throughout my marine fishkeeping experience and have found... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent scenery
Disadvantages: Had to come home!

.... The wall extends on for 12 miles along this coastal length, dropping to 1800 m depth but with a fringing coral reef on its shore side then patch reefs between that and the actual shore. The patch reefs are numerous, many probably haven't even been dived. They are usually surrounded by areas of white coral sand and depths from 10 to 20+m, so offer excellent areas for the less experienced as well as longer dive times for anyone. All the expected Caribbean fish and invertebrate life seemed present, but I didn't see anything really large except for the occasional Caribbean reef shark. The Caribbean generally sounds like it has such a large contingent of visiting sport fisherman that large fish are uncommon, but conservation measures are slowly beginning to help, I'm told. The deep water does bring in some larger fish and sharks for feeding... Read review

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Advantages: Warm seas, Amazing marine wildlife
Disadvantages: Yeah, right!

...! It is a pleasant sea entry, although if there has been a storm recently, it can be more of a surf entry! You have to run in between waves! For those that don't know, it can be great fun while you are carrying heavy full air tanks! Once beneath the surface, it is a different world! There is a bit of a tunnel (with no roof) that you can swim through that leads to the reef. The rocks are covered with sponges and corals and there are always plenty of fish lazing around in there. The first time I ever went diving here, I found myself surrounded by myriads of coloured fish in this tunnel. Once out onto the reef, you can see all the different shapes and colours of corals, sponges and green sea plants. These are surrounded by all the little fish that live on them. If you listen you can hear the crunching of the parrot fish eating away at the coral... Read review

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