Reef peeping off Port Douglas


Underwater and eye-to-eye with an endangered hawksbill turtle, Lindsay Davis is seduced by the natural wealth and beauty of Australia's maritime treasure trove off the spectacular Queensland coast.


Great Barrier Reef holds bittersweet memories for Australians. Here, at Batt Reef on Queensland's remote northeastern coast, two summers ago, that larger-than-life conservationist Steve Irwin was fatally stabbed by a stingray's poisonous barb.

But the cautionary tale of Irwin's demise hasn't stemmed the tide of tourists leaving the sleepy safety of Port Douglas for the 15-kilometre journey out to Great Barrier Reef.

One of the main reasons people come to stay at Port Douglas is to spend a day snorkelling at this world heritage site – the largest living reef system in the world. Here visitors hope to swim with giant green sea turtles and hawksbill turtles that feed on the seagrass beds, coral lagoons and sea sponges that inhabit the area.

We join the crew on board Sailaway IV, a state-of-the-art Lagoon 500 catamaran, for a 90-minute journey out to the reef. Once clear of Port Douglas, the sails are hoisted and we cruise comfortably along the sea's glass-top highway.

There are several options for tourists to get to the reef, from a 20-minute blast in a high- powered catamaran to a jaunt in the Shaolin, an authentic Chinese sailing junk. All cost about A$180 for the day and cover similar territory.

For more experienced divers there is also a trip to the outer edges of the Agincourt Ribbon reefs, but though the coral is more colourful, there are fewer turtles. Novice snorkellers and family groups visit the Low Isles.

We moor just off the Low Isles, named by Captain James Cook, who wrote in his journal in 1770 "and then we came to some low isles ". The name stuck.

Before getting into wetsuits to go snorkelling, we take our first look at the coral in a glass-bottomed boat. Alex, our captain, takes us into shallow waters for a looksee, and immediately the many types of coral – boulder, branching, plate, table – in auburn shades come into view. There are also giant clams, at least a metre in length, between the spaghetti corals.

Near the Low Isles is Mangrove Island, a 10-hectare dot in the ocean that is home to about 60,000 birds.

Alex slows the boat to point out some young osprey, but there are also honeyeaters, pied imperial pigeons, sooty oystercatchers, white-breasted woodswallows and the colourful mangrove kingfisher.

They live with the constant threat of predation by reptiles, but there's a balance to the ecology. Should any crocodile shorter than two metres swim out here, Alex tells us, it's deemed not a threat.

Which raises a tricky question: what do you do if you see a crocodile in the water? "Go the other way," says Alex, deadpan.

"What about stingers or box jellyfish," asks someone else.

Sensing the mood, Alex launches into some gruesome crocodile tales before concluding: "You've more chance of being hit by a bus than being bitten out here."

Once in the water, it takes a moment to get your bearings as the eerie silence engulfs you. After you adjust to your underwater surroundings, you start marvelling at the many different fish – there are more than 1500 species in the area – that pass by without even a cursory glance. I recognise a school of bat fish as they pass, but more importantly I spy a young hawksbill turtle, less than three metres away, looking right at me.

It's as curious as I am, so we each swim a few metres closer before it gets bored and paddles away, using its broad flippers, and settles on the large shell of its sleeping mother. I hover above, soaking up its distinctive markings: a deep brown shell speckled with light spots and streaks; the markings that made it so valued by jewellers.

Hawksbill turtles, named for their beak-like mouths, can live for up to 50 years. And though they are carnivorous, they have a wide diet consisting of sponges, jellyfish, crustaceans, sea urchins, and molluscs. Like all turtles, it is the early years that are most dangerous and despite females nesting several times during a season and laying as many as 200 soft, round white eggs in each nest, it is still an endangered species because of dwindling numbers.

Not that you'd know it out here. All our group head home satisfied that they have sighted this magnificent aquatic reptile.

After a decent swim we return to the small island to explore and take in the lighthouse that was built there in 1878, before we return to the boat for lunch.

On the sail home, an 18-knot crosswind hits, dropping our speed to about seven knots. The journey may be slightly choppy but we are all content that we have not only been swimming with the fishes, but with a reptile that can trace its heritage back to the age of dinosaurs.

REEF FACTS

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park was established in 1975 and is the world's largest. It is about 348,700 square kilometres and runs from north of Bundaberg to the tip of the Cape York Peninsula.

The area contains more than 2900 reefs. As the world's largest coral reef ecosystem, it is home to: 1500 species of fish 150 species of hard corals 215 species of birds 16 species of sea snake 6 species of sea turtle