Great Barrier Reef WARNING LOTS OF PHOTOS!

hey there
I can't believe i didn't comment on this thread earlier.
reminds me of my times in the Philippines. I know pacific indo waters carry the most coral diversity compared to any other place in the world, but i gotta say these pics are simply breathtaking! maybe its because i wasn't into reefkeeping too much back when i was diving haha

anyways, i'm seriously thinking of scrapping everything here and going there to be your partner or something lol

thank you so much for sharing, if you need any parts for your camera equipment that you can't get over there let me know-

Jin
 
This by far has got to be my number one favorite image from those you have posted, and man you had plenty. But for ME personally, this picture just does it all, I love it I love it, and am considering taking it to FedEx/Kinko's to get it blown up for a poster in my room, (assuming we do not lose quality), and with your permission of course. :)

IMG_0044_5.jpg
 
I like that picture a lot as well, but (and I hope I don't ruin this for you) it seems like perhaps it was helped by humans to create that mix.

Since we do know there are efforts to reseed some reefs, when I saw that image yesterday I wondered if it was a project someone was working on. It just doesn't look like it happened naturally.

Definitely wallpaper material. :)
 
It's a great collection of corals, but i can assure you that there was no interference whatsoever. That was taken over on the windward side of Orpheus Island, which is out of bounds to almost everyone, including all but a handful of researchers.
Also, there is nothing that i am aware of that anyone can do to help coral colonise areas (on a larger than tiny scale) that exceeds what they can do themselves.

Reefs out here grow and colonise like there is no tomorrow. An area wiped flat and clean by a cyclone will be totally recolonised within a year, and will be back to it's former glory within about 5-10.

I agree with you though melev, it does look almost too good to be true. Almost like a coral candy shop window, with one of each flavour. :)

Dyepes, you have my permission to do what you wish (short of sell!) with my photo. I'm flattered you think so much of it to make a poster! Let me know if you need the origional (higher resolution), and i'll email it to you.

Oh, on that subject melev; i've sent you a pm with my email address(es).

My camera is beyond worth repairing (too old and battered), but i will be browsing ebay to see what i can find. I'm thinking it would be better long term though to take the opportunity and get a new system, which i can build on slowly as i get the money.
 
I sent you a pm edr42, but I assume your box may be full or just some error happend. If you do have the original higher resolution image still, I would love to get it.

You can email them to me here
 
Great pics. All the pics from Orpheus make me miss it alot. I'm jealous of the vis you had in most of these pics. It wasn't very good last time I was there.
 
It's funny, I sit here and look over this thread every week during lunch at work. I'm not 50' from a 236K gallon tank and am looking at the ocean right now through my window...yet I everything I want to see is on my screen! It's also fantastic to hear how well the reefs are doing there.
 
Wow! You brought insight into the GBR for me. Who ever is in charge of keeping the GBR healthy also needs to have the same power over the rest the worlds reefs. Absolutely beautiful!


Dan
 
The starfish you posted a picture of looks kinda like the Crown of Thorns Star on the t.v. documentaries.

When you see it, do you see a path of destruction behind it? They supposedly can wipe out an entire area of all it's corals. I think they eat the tissue right off the skeleton.

Do you have any pictures of this?

BTW, I love that pink and green coral in the last set of pics.
 
mskohl, yes that is indeed a crown of thorns. I saw a maybe 3 or 4 over 10 dives, so the population is not prolific. There was so sign whatsoever of any coral destruction in its wake, all reefers know how insanely fast corals can grow in the right conditions, so any destruction these things cause is totally insignificant.

They eat by extruding their stomach lining over their prey (coral polyps) and digesting the food before absorbing it.
You must remember that these critters are as much a part of the reef ecosystem as parrotfish, angelfish or butterfly fish, and if you actually take a close look at one one day, they are quite fascinating.

dtaylor123, the guys who run the GBR marine park would appreciate your support. One of my lecturers was in charge of the zonation planning, and got everything from death threats to public condemnation for increasing the protection level.

I'm hoping to make a day trip to the S.S.Yongala wreck, and another 4 day reef/yongala trip in the next week or two. But my camera woes are far from over. Still need at least $1500 for a new set up, and all my savings just went into car repairs.
So it looks like there won't be any photos from these trips. Might be December before i can afford anything, and by then i'll be back down in Sydney.
 
Thanks for the info on the starfish. I'm in Oklahoma and have only gotten to go snorkeling once while in Hawaii (and we were too new to realise we were in a too populated area). All I've seen is on the documentaries and they make it seem like total devastation. Nothing like a real-life observation.

Good luck with the camera situation. We'll miss the pics for sure.
 
Hey melev,
Camera is unrepairable, they stopped making the model a few years ago, and it's just worn out.
All the lens gears are falling apart, the electronics have regular fits, and lines were starting to apperar on photos under low light.
I checked to see if they could repair it, and it would have cost far more than a new camera to get it done, if it could be repaired at all.

All in all it's just worn out. It did pretty well over its lifetime.

What i'm looking at now is the canon powershot G9. The other alternatives are only around $100 cheaper, so it makes sense to go for one that will be useful for quite a while when shelling out $1,500.

This is really crap timing to be needing to pull money out of thin air with all these dive trips coming up, and with no camera as well.
A friend of mine at uni (from florida) has a relative high up at the National Geographic, and i was hoping to send some photos from these upcoming trips over to see what they think, but it looks like i'm gonna be caught short with money and time.

Ah well, such is life. :)

I was also hoping to post some updated tank photos ( it's finally looking really good!).
I guess you guys will just have to hang tight until i figure something out.

In the meantime, thanks for all the comments, and i'll see what photos i have lying around to keep everyone interested until i have some new ones.
 
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