The Best Expedition in the World was a roaring success.

Not just from a personal point of view as I completed the 1600km challenge without breaking or busting anything on my body (all toes, fingers, arms and legs are still connected).

My Hobie Adventure Island has been donated to the very worthwhile charity, Sailability who encourage and facilitate sailing and boating throughout Australia for people with disabilities. The perfect place for my yellow machine!

Yacht Sunshine was returned to its berth back with Sunsail back on Hamilton Island after covering 2000 nautical miles on the stunning Coral Sea.

Mum & Dad managed to drive around 15,000kms in their Apollo Motorhome without so much as even a scratch to them or the vehicle, blogging about and photographing their adventure as they went. Read more here.

And the media coverage the adventure gained throughout the journey was excellent with regular stories featuring on Channel 7, 9 and 10 here in Australia, ABC Radio and the newspapers across the country picking it up very well. We wrote regular features in the Courier Mail, filmed for Channel Ten’s Totally Wild Show and blogged for The Ecologist online.

I entertained journalists from around the world, giving them all the chance to come and have their own Queensland adventure out on the Great Barrier Reef; bloggers from Korea, a group from Hong Kong, travel agents from around Europe and journalists from throughout Australia.

A big thank you has to go out to Jessica Watson who came and camped with me for a night on Whitehaven Beach (tough hey!) and then raced back Hamilton Island on-board my Hobie kayak, taking on serious lung-fulls of water along the way! Best of luck to her and the team for their latest adventure, Another Challenge, the very awesome Sydney to Hobart Race which departs on Boxing Day.

I’ll be back very soon with another movie from the incredible dives we had with Pro Dive when we visited Cairns back in August.

So here for your viewing pleasure is a short movie that hopefully summarises the expedition and the adventures we had. It’s been recorded and uploaded in full HD, so maximise your screens, sit back and enjoy

It’s where the very edge of the largest living organism in the world meets the open ocean, where the swells roll in after building for 14,000kms and where the depth drops away from a tame 40m to a vertigo-inducing 2000m!

In the last week of the Best Expedition in the World the crew and I have decided to head out to this part of the reef to see exactly what it’s like out there. To dive some of the cleanest and clearest waters in the world where impeccable conditions allow marine life from the calm Coral Seas and the rolling Open Ocean to live side-by-side.

Fringing reef and inner islands

Having been up and down the Great Barrier Reef over the last couple of years exploring the inside of the GBR I’ve become familiar with the fringing reefs that surround the 300 islands. They’re home to huge number of hard and soft corals, provide ideal nursery conditions for schooling fish and are perfect for a first-ever snorkel or dive.

The Inner Reef

The next step out takes you to the inner reef with sections up to 10kms long, twisting in shape; some long and spindly, some expansively wide. Having protection from the open ocean and far enough from the land to not be affected by sediment and run-off from the rivers and creeks. They are beautiful swathes of coral thousands of years old interspersed with every single shade of turquoise you can imagine. If god was as artist he would have used up all his blue paint pot right here.

The large coral bommies that make up the lee-side of these reefs are dotted around like freckles on a face, each creating it’s own micro-environment reaching from sandy sea-bed to the rolling surf above thriving with life, both permanent and transient. As we cruise past them they show only their brown tops, hiding the menagerie of life below. It’s only when we don our snorkels and masks and dive into the clear blue beyond that we can see it up close in its true form. Beauty and majesty fail to describe the scene.

The Outer Reef

It’s rare that people get to where we’ve been today. Operators, day boats and live-aboards stick to the more sheltered waters of the inner reef choosing protection as the most important thing for their customers, and quite rightly so.

So when the option arises to sail beyond these limitations Skipper Paul, Sophee, Kayleen and I grab it. As we left Port Douglas the weather wasn’t exactly playing the game. To moor or anchor 40kms from the coast requires calm and light conditions for a comfy and stress-free night’s sleep for skipper and crew alike…we didn’t get that for the first three I can tell you!

Leaving Low Isles behind we tracked north to the relative shelter of Mackay Cay, a sand island on the north-west corner of Mackay Reef some 50kms from Port Douglas – still the inner reef though.

Finally on the morning of the 6th September the wind has dropped off enough for us to head out to our destination – Agincourt Reef. A few months ago I read a report in one of the international newspapers stating it to be “The best coral reef system in the world” and I simply had to see for myself if that was true.

Agincourt is made up from four separate reefs all face out into the pounding waves of the South Pacific Ocean. The Outer Reefs are distinctive for their sheer scale of their walls, dropping from less than a metre deep at the top to over 1200m with a few hundred metres. This really is the edge of the abyss and reputedly where the big stuff lives – whales, sharks and huge schools of pelagic fish.

We’ve visited three separate dive sites since arriving here and the range of geography and geology is remarkable. There are vast gullies on the outer wall lined with heavy-duty corals, rubble and sand. There’s also protected bays harbouring bright, colourful and fragile coral bommies offering protection to all manner of marine life. The clarity of the water and visibility are superb too, the ocean currents doing their part in washing and cleaning out the reefs making dive conditions just about perfect.

Agincourt reef really is one of the most enthrawling locations I’ve visited so far on the expedition and really lived up to all I was expecting – if you ever get a chance hook up with one of the operators who come as close as they can to here. Find out more here

Today I hit the water again in my kayak with a fairly long 52km leg to go from here at Agincourt 4 Reef through to Bloomfield Lodge – a luxurious stop-off for one night to recharge both mine and the laptop’s batteries.

Only a few days left now on the Best Expedition…

Yours ‘Expeditionally’

Ben

This morning I sat on the steps at the rear of yacht Sunshine having my usual shave and was joined by a few underwater friends.

Mr Batfish swam past, then came back, then decided to come up and nibble on my toes! When another one came along Mr Batfish became all territorial (obviously I have attractive toes to him) and chased him away.

This amusing little episode continued long enough for me to grab my camera, film a short clip and of course reward him with a tasty fleck of fish from last night’s dinner!

Enjoy

During the planning stage of the Best Expedition in the World I was putting together this website and decided to include some Reef Heroes who go above and beyond to help protect the Great Barrier Reef.

Today I met some of those heroes, the children from the Gordonvale State School just outside Cairns. First job was to give a presentation to them all about the Best Expedition and the incredible adventures we’ve had so far…their little eyes lit up when I started talking all about sharks and the ugly Bumpheaded Parrotfish.

The national curriculum here in Queensland teaches about sustainability, the environment and lessening our impact on the planet. The students and teachers here at the school go one step further and have been recognised by the GBRMPA (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority) as the best educational establishment in the state – well done to you all!

Their Excelsior scheme is a community approach to sustainability which the upper school take very seriously and integrate into their daily lives wherever they can. Recycling happens throughout the school, special bins are located in the play areas and the students have their own projects they work on to further decrease their footprint.

On our tour of the school we were shown the new permaculture area where fruit and vegetables are being grown, the tuck shop which next term will stock products with biodegradable wrappers and the creek which runs around the school grounds is the source of more hard work.

Amy Macalpine, Jarrah Pearce and Georgia Moor-Tolson have conducted audits of the banks of the creek to establish the bird, insect and fish life that calls the area home. Together with Queensland Fisheries they have investigated conditions conducive to fish species that inhabit O’Leary’s Creek compared to nearby pristine creeks.

The banks between the school and the creek have been turned from wasteland into flourishing habitats for birds and insects by planting over 200 plants, bushes and trees. The combined with a continual litter-picking program conducted by the lower classes and Nathanael’s project to limit the number of golf balls entering the creek from the neighbouring golf club, go a long to to ensuring the school’s yard, the creek, the ocean and ultimately the Great Barrier Reef stay cleaner and healthier for all those living in and around it!

There is still plenty of work to be done statewide to keep the drain ways, storm-drains and creeks clear of litter and rubbish ensuring less enters the Great Barrier Reef but with the work of schools such as Gordonvale the future is looking just that little bit cleaner and brighter.

Well done to all of you!

Ben

The beachfront roads are swamped with tonnes of sand and uprooted trees. Port Hinchinbrook Marina bears the human side of the destruction with 30 luxury yachts and motorboats piled up in one corner of the harbour.

Further out to sea some the islands of the Great Barrier Reef take a major hit with monstrous swells smashing into their shores, resorts taking a structural bruising and the landscape receiving a thorough spring clean of all the dead wood.

3rd August 2011 – A picture perfect day in Cardwell exactly six months since the category 5 cyclone passed through the area.

Idle curiosity got the better of the crew and I. We simply had to head there to see what had happened and how the recovery process was going. This part of the world is stunningly beautiful, has a heavy dependency on tourism so forms an important stop-over for the expedition.

Port Hinchinbrook marina looks ok, there aren’t many yachts or boats there admittedly, but it’s certainly open for business. We docked against a pontoon, met up with Mum & Dad (read about their Queensland Road Trip here) and caught a lift into nearby Cardwell. The shops along the beachfront are bustling, there’s people milling about, a Greyhound coach load of travellers fill the local cafe and life seems to be moving along rather well.

We sit down to order lunch, supporting the local business is the right thing to do. Helping them with our mouths and dipping into our pockets is one way to help the locals get their lives back to normal. Call it rubber-necking but the Grey Nomads are all stopping here too, curiosity can be a good thing.

I spark up a conversation with the local butcher, she’s owned her business here for a decade and shows me photos of what is was like the morning after Yasi hit. With a three metre storm surge entering her shop front and the main road almost washed away, things are obviously a little better now. But she insists that’s the psyche of Queenslanders – they just get back up and on with life again.

Orpheus Island

The aftermath of a cyclone can be felt above and below the ocean. With storm swell 9 metres above normal, the surging waves roll deeply across the ocean floor moving huge objects as big. Even as big as the SS Yongala – a 100yr old cruise liner! Fragile coral reefs are also at risk, thousands of years of slow coral growth can be destroyed all too easily. I had to get underwater in some of these areas to see for myself what had happened.

We stopped at Orpheus Island Research Station for a couple of days, it’s been here for 20 years and is a gem of a location. Nestled in the nape of the island with some superb coral reef and bommies out front and right in the line of Yasi. I’m not sure what to expect really but as I dive, snorkel and swim around the bay I’m very happily surprised by the amount that remains undamaged.

There are areas that have broken staghorn coral, but at least 80% of the bommies remain standing, the hardier of the corals remain untouched. The micro-environments these coral reefs provide are still thriving with fish and marine life, the colours are still there and I surface having had the best dive experience since Lady Elliot Island, one of my firm favourites on the Great Barrier Reef.

Up on the land the evidence is a little more obvious. Trees have been stripped of their foliage and the luxury resort around the corner has been damaged. I stop by to talk with Rob and Kylie, the resorts managers, about the night of Yasi and the phoenix that’s rising from the ashes.

This is a perfect opportunity to make things better. With slight damage to some of the holiday villas the owner of the island saw it as a chance to redesign and rebuild his business and bring it up to date with some of the other island resorts around the world. Eco-sensitive living is what the name of the game is going to be here. They are installing solar water heating and solar power systems in Phase 1, bringing online a rainwater collection and treatment system later in the year and planting their own market garden they will grow their own fruit and vegetables in for use in the resort’s kitchen.

He also decided to employ local indigenous workers from Palm Island to help with the rebuild over the next few weeks and once the work is completed some will stay on as permanent staff. It’s just a different way of thinking about the future and how to make things better after a natural disaster.

Conclusions

Let’s not beat around the bush here, the damage that Cyclone Yasi created was far reaching, but six months down the line the trees are looking green again, the beaches are as beautiful as they always were, the marine life has come out of hiding to swim all around you and the people have come out fighting.

Queensland has always had tropical storms and every time it recovers and comes back stronger. Visiting the epicentre has been an education in human spirit and natural resilience and one to be very proud of.

Tropical North Queensland is definitely back in business.

Orpheus Island research station has absolutely loads of these huge beauties lying around. At low tide, the shells of around 300 Giant Clams become exposed and so commences one of the most awesome natural displays I’ve ever seen – the visual symphony of the squirting clams!

The abundance of clams around Orpheus Island can be attributed to an experiment. In the 1970s, a scientist used this site to investigate the viability of farming Giant Clams to repopulate Asian waters, as the majority had been harvested to the verge of extinction.

In order to clean and expel sand and grit washing over their muscles, the clams squirt seawater high into the air. If there were only a few, you’d probably miss them. Here there are so many means you can sit, and watch, and laugh away at the spectacle!

According to traditional Chinese belief, the Giant Clam’s adductor muscle (which opens and closes its shell) is thought to be an aphrodisiac. Too many of the world’s endangered species are hunted and harvested to supply ingredients for alternative medicines and such.  Thank goodness, Giant Clams are currently protected by the CITES agreement – they can no longer be exported without a permit.

Today, Giant Clams are seen as precious, friendly giants. Due to their immense size, they were once feared and misunderstood. Often labelled the ‘killer clam’ or  ‘man-eating clam’, tales of divers getting caught in their steely grip and drowning circulated far and wide (we know, today, they were mostly fable). Even the U.S. Navy Diving Manual had instructions on how to escape the creature’s clutches.

The clam can close its shell, some of the larger ones cannot even close it tightly, however it has to go through the slow process of emptying its water chamber; and so the legendary tales of divers being drowned when getting stuck in a clam are mostly fable.

Nowadays, Giant Clams aren’t considered aggressive. However, they continue to be the largest species of bivalve mollusc on record. In 1817 on the coast of Sumatra a specimen of T.gigas was discovered that measured 137cm, the weight of just the shells was 230kg suggesting that the live animal would have weighed about 250kg.  Another rather large giant clam was found in 1956 off the Japanese island of Ishigaki. When it was finally examined in 1984 the shell was measured at 115cm long and the total weight was estimated at 340kg.

In between the two shells you can see the soft mantle of the clam, which varies greatly in colour from golden brown to yellow or green/blue. There are bright coloured circles on the flesh called iridophores, they have lenses that direct light into the mantle; the clam senses light and then figures out if there is a potential predator nearby and it needs to close its shell. There are only two holes in the mantle, the inhalant siphon contains the gills and water is drawn in to extract oxygen and to filter it for plankton; and the exhalant siphon which is tube-like can expel large amounts of water during spawning or when the clam needs to close its shell.

Giant Clams also have a long lifespan, surviving 100 years or more in the wild. All of them commence life as males, eventually switching to hermaphrodite status. At spawning time, chemical signals trigger clams to release either sperm or eggs, the largest releasing up to 500 million eggs at one time. Once fertilised, the eggs enter a swimming stage and then a planktonic stage before they settle down into the reef for the rest of their lives.

Giant Clams can be found in shallow, warm tropical waters on reef flats and shallow lagoons in the Pacific Ocean. However their range has reduced since the 1970s, due to over-harvesting for their meat and shells. These exotic-looking creatures are also popular in the aquarium trade.

These clams are now classified as vulnerable, and are protected by the CITES agreement so they cannot be exported without a permit. Attempts at farming them have also helped to reduce pressure on wild populations; and may be used to help restock wild populations where necessary. With a bit of thought and care these beasts of the mollusc world can return to their old haunts in the Indo-Pacific waters.

Watching the Orpheus Island Giant Clams community create their water-spitting symphony was an unforgettable experience. I hope these gloriously quirky creatures receive the protection they need so they can continue to thrive on the Great Barrier Reef.

It is truly one of the most difficult waterways to navigate in the world and we’ve found this out over the last few months of sailing and kayaking up its length. The reef is suddenly upon you and if you’re not armed to the eyeballs with charts, maps and a GPS you could very easily run into it!

There are literally hundreds of wrecks lying in the waters of the Coral Sea, of those who were less fortunate and didn’t make it to dry land.

Hinchinbrook Island is known to have a number of shipwrecks strewn about its coastline. Ramsey Bay on the eastern seaboard of Hinchinbrook woke up to a new discovery the morning after cyclone Yasi had passed through the area; that of a newly exposed wreck.

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Ramsay Bay Wreck – Hinchinbrook Island

Its identity is currently a mystery but it is thought to be one of three vessels lost in 1879/1880 while attempting to recover a cargo of cedar timber from an earlier wreck. The island is managed by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) and the wreck is being investigated by the Heritage Branch of the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM).

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Wreck of the Gothenburg

The Gothenburg was a large steamer travelling from Port Darwin to Melbourne in 1875 when it struck a detached reef near Flinders Channel. The vessel could not be floated off and eventually began to break up. A total of 103 lives were lost, including all 25 women and children and all the officers; 22 were saved.

Today the wreck lies broken up in 16m of water. It is located within a protected zone and a free permit must be obtained to enter within 200m of the wreck.

Date wrecked: 23 February 1875

Where vessel was wrecked: Old Reef (Entrance Flinders’ Channel, Great Barrier Reef)

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Wreck of the Mermaid

The Mermaid is famous for its role in the survey of the Australian coastline by Lieutenant Philip Parker King. The Mermaid was used in three of the four voyages made by Parker King from 1817 to 1820. It afterwards served as a colonial vessel, notably for Oxley’s voyage in 1823 when the Brisbane and Tweed rivers were discovered.

The government schooner Mermaid was bound from Sydney to Port Raffles and Swan River on 10 May 1829. Instead of following the safer but longer inshore passage to Torres Strait, the captain navigated the vessel through the Great Barrier Reef.

On the evening of the 12 June 1829, despite the suggestion of the chief officer John Hastings to heave to until daylight, the captain continued and at approximately 05:45 on 13 June the Mermaid struck a low-lying coral reef  to the eastward of Frankland’s Island (Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser 03/11/1829). Several unsuccessful attempts were made to re-float the vessel. The sea began to break over the vessel and the crew abandoned the Mermaid. No lives were lost.

Where vessel was wrecked: South-eastern corner of Flora Reef (Great Barrier Reef)

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Endeavour Reef – Cook’s Cannon and Anchor

Navigating the Great Barrier Reef can be tricky even today and takes skill and reliance on good charts.  Imagine undertaking the feat in a wooden vessel with slow steerage, no charts and no back-up!

Captain Cook and the crew of the Endeavour did amazingly well, but still had problems along the way. At 23:00 on 11 June 1770, the Endeavour struck a reef (now called Endeavour Reef), necessitating that some items be jettisoned in an effort to re-float the vessel.

Six large cannons and numerous other items were thrown overboard. Anchors were also deployed into deeper water to assist in re-floating the vessel; one of the bower anchors was also lost in the effort.

The crew managed to re-float the ship and stem the leak enough to make sheltered landfall up what is now called the Endeavour River and Cooktown.

The six lost (four-pound) cannons and the anchor were located by researchers in the late 1960s and early 1970s and were subsequently recovered and conserved. One cannon and the anchor now reside at the James Cook Historical Museum in Cooktown.

Endeavour Reef is located approximately 48km south-east of Cooktown. We are hoping to stop here to dive the site on the way towards Cooktown in early September.

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I hope this gives you some insight into the wrecks that can be found here on the Great Barrier Reef

Yours Expeditionally

Ben

Yes, it has a intriguing past. But it also has a story to tell with incredible people, fantastic life and soul, a sense of community and sunsets to die for. Welcome to the aboriginal settlement of Palm Island.

When we pulled up onto the slipway on the Esplanade I really wasn’t sure what to expect. Having travelled throughout all of Africa over the last decade I know that alot of the time what you read in the press, isn’t always what you find on the ground.  It was time to discover things for myself…

Walking up the boat ramp Tamsin from the Palm Island school is there to meet the crew and I. She’s been in the job here for three years, sometimes it a struggle to keep her class full, sometimes they all turn up. It’s just one of the differences about being a teacher here. Today the 12 children we’ll be working with are chomping at the bit to get involved…this lesson will be at the beach and in the water!

Together with Reef Check, our chosen charitable organisation for the Best Expedition, we’ve arranged to conduct a Reef Search activity here on the island. It starts with an informal introduction in the classroom explaining the system and once that’s over we hit the Troopie (Aussie for Troop Carrier or Toyota Hilux), bounce down a few offroad tracks and out onto the beach.

Clad in wetsuits and armed with snorkels, masks and slates we cross the sand and submerge ourselves in the tropically warm waters of Pencil Bay, one of the more sheltered locations on the western side of the island.

Now remember these kids LIVE on an island. They eat, sleep and breath the island, know everything about fishing and, although being a little shy initially jump into their wetsuits and into the shallow water right behind me. It’s a fantastic feeling heading off to do this together; I teach them about how to look after the coral and life in the ocean, and they teach me about how to catch fish. Two very different opinions of the Great Barrier Reef and its use.

We spend two hours swimming around the edge of the fringing reef; diving down to see crayfish hidden under the coral outcrops, marvelling at the stingrays surprised by our arrival and recording everything we see.

The morning passes far too quickly and the cold takes hold of the kids, time to return to the beach to warm up. Jenn and Jodi from Reef Check gather up the slates, we pack up the wetsuits and we all make for the Troopie once more. Back at the school the excitement is clearly still there…especially at the suggestion that I’ll go and buy a round of chips for everyone!

It’s been a real education coming here to Palm Island school. When I walked into the classroom at the start of the day I was slightly nervous, I didn’t know what to expect!

I left having made friends, learnt lots, changed my mind about the community and wished we had another day to get to see more of the island.

Great Palm is a very different island to those we’ve visited so far, it’s more like the Torres Straits in terms of culture, community and simplicity. Tourism is not as big here as other islands on the Great Barrier Reef, but there are plans to change this.

Tessa, one of the locals, has just taken delivery of a brand new minibus which she hoped to start tours of the island in. Who knows how it’ll go? Our quick tour takes us past the local football match, the airport and the school once more. It’s basic but gives us an insight into exactly what the island revolves around – community.

We set sail from Great Palm and continue north towards Orpheus Island…

Yours Expeditionally

Ben

Cameron Williams and the team from Channel Nine’s Today Show headed up to tropical north Queensland to join me on a rather incredible dive. That of the S.S. Yongala.

During Best Job I was lucky enough to drop to the ocean floor to visit this incredible wreck site, one that is exactly 100 years old. You can read the blog here so that I don’t go over the same ground twice!

I was very interested to find out how the wreck had stood up to the rigours of Cyclone Anthony and Yasi in the early part of 2011. Rumour had it that some of the hard corals have been stripped from the hull and it had been tipped a few more degrees over.

Heather and the team from Yongala Dive were to be our hosts, we stayed the night at their HQ and we’re ready to go at first light. The weather had been pretty windy for the days leading up to our morning at the wreck and the chances of a smooth ride site and an easy dive weren’t looking good.

It only takes 30 minutes to get out there and after bouncing over the tops of the waves we were ready to go straight away. Being a fairly deep dive it adds an air of adventure to the whole experience and Cameron and I buddied up together, did our safety checks and r0lled into the wet stuff.

DIVING THE YONGALA!! This is where the big stuff comes to hang out. Imagine an oasis in the middle of an sandy ocean floor….huge rays, lots of snakes and big sharks too!

The wreck suddenly appears out of the darkness below. We spent two full dives patrolling the upper and lower sections of the ship. Winding around the Whip Corals, swimming between the schools of fish and every so often glimpsing the outline of a huge Queensland Grouper, a Maori Wrasse (one of the Great Eight we’ll be covering in the next few days) and even the resident 4 metre Bull Shark.

It’s renowned to be one of the best wreck dives in the world and would certainly have to agree. The cyclone has had some effect on the windward side of its hull but to be fair it’s cleaned it and readied for the next generation of coral to infest!

The film below was shot using the excellent Nikon film equipment which has been supplied for the expedition:

A massive thank you to Heather and the team at Yongala Dive for one of those incredible underwater experiences….if you like diving don’t be a muppet – get wrecked here!

The Best Expedition Crew (or, should I say, skipper) has caught a fish.

In fact, the team has caught two: a yellow-fin tuna followed by a spotted mackerel. Both weighed in at around 8kg. Not bad, considering we’d had absolutely no luck up until the halfway point of the Best Expedition in the World. Check out the video below, to watch the drama unfold!

Our belated success certainly wasn’t due to a lack of fish in the sea. Thanks to GBRMPA’s zoning initiative, the Great Barrier Reef is positively thriving with marine life. It just took us a while to get our techniques, strategy, and bait right!

It felt awesome to catch our first two fish. It felt even better to know we’d done it whilst fishing sustainably (only one fishing line per fisherman) and in the right zone (blue).

Fingers crossed, our lucky streak will continue…