With over 2,900 individual coral reefs covering more than 2,000kms you’d think organising an event of this scale would have logistical problems….but nature’s got it right every single time for the past 20,000 years.

This year was no different. On the nights of November 16/17th the spawning of the coral that makes up the Great Barrier Reef hit a crescendo with a blizzard of activity occurring beneath the waves all the way from Lady Elliot island in the south to Port Douglas in the north.

Synchronised spawning happens with almost all the types of coral species spawning on the same night. It happens so the male and female gametes can effectively meet. Imagine trying to match up eggs and sperm in an ocean of moving salt water!

The corals rely on environmental cues to determine the exact time to release their gametes into the water. The cues involve lunar changes, sunset time, day length, water temperature, and/or rate of temperature change. The short-term cue is most often the lunar cycle, with sunset cuing the mass release.

In some places, the spawn can be visually dramatic, clouding the usually clear water with gametes, typically at night.

Coral polyps (the name for each piece of coral) are clever little things. The coral found in the Coral Exhibit at REEF HQ in Townsville (in the middle of the town) spawns on exactly the same night as that found out in the middle of the ocean.

The ocean becomes one of the most fertile soups too with worms, fish and crustaceans all taking advantage of the protein-charged water. Chantelle from here at Tourism Queensland was out on the dive boat Wings III in Whitsundays during the event and managed to photograph some of the worms feasting on the mist of life

With all the diving I’ve done on the GBR I’ve not yet been in the right place at the right time to wittnes this activity. Being sat in the TQ office here in Brisbane doesn’t make it any easier!

But dive operations around the reef acknowledge it’s one of the most incredible events on the calendar with scientists, divers and photographers around the world flocking to Queensland to witness the event for themselves. Next year I intend to head out onto the reef with dive kit, cameras and lights ready to capture the action, but for now here’s some footage of the event:

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

Captain Cook sailed into the same river mouth in 1770 with a whacking great hole in the side of his ship, the HMB Endeavour. I however was much better off apart from the 25 knot winds that swept me along.

From that moment on the location became known as Cooktown and the stretch of water, the Endeavour River. It’s significance to me as an Englishman was huge, and to any Australian a famous part of the country’s history.

With yacht Sunshine following closely behind I landed at the boat ramp to a welcoming committee including the town’s mayor Peter Scott, Steve McRoberts (the man from TQ who believed in the project from day one), and two film crews from Channel 7 and 10.

It’s been a truly epic project to have conceived and achieved and the last eighteen months have been damn busy for all concerned.

I have to thank an entire list of people but for now a huge slap on the back must go out to Kayleen Allen (Project Manager), Sophee McPhee (Best Girlfriend in the World and epic Media Editor), Mum & Dad (Silver Surfers extraordinaire) and the entire chain of sponsors who made this adventure possible.

For now I have to take the support boat, yacht Sunshine, back down the coast to the Whitsundays where she lives and then head back to Brisbane. There are lots of jobs still do do before I can put this adventure to bed – at least a couple of huge movies from the expedition still to edit and post. As soon as they’re completed I will post them up here.

The are many more adventures still to have here in Queensland and my brain is already plotting the next one.

Watch this space dear friends,

But for now, yours expeditionally,

Ben & Crew

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.

_______________________________________________________________________

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).

_______________________________________________________________________

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)

_______________________________________________________________________

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)

_______________________________________________________________________

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.

_______________________________________________________________________

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

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…

I challenged Jessica Watson, youngest person to sail around the world, to a race from Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island to Pebble Beach on Hamilton Island.

Unfortunately it didn’t all go according to plan….have a look at this movie we shot to find out what happened:

Being the consummate professional she is her answer was of course “yes I’d love to”. Little did she know I’d hold her to it!

We’d been chatting about what we could do as an event around the Whitsundays to bring in some media attention for the area and the Season of Sailing that Tourism Queensland run over the next few months.

How about a kayak race around the Whitsundays? – hmmm too far really!

Ok then a sailing trip with us for a few days? – Jess is far too busy for that!

Well in that case how about camping with us overnight and then racing a couple of identical Hobie Adventure Island kayaks from Whitehaven Beach to Hamilton Island? – sounds perfect!

After a rare long night’s sleep Jess was up and ready to take on a new challenge. It’s not sailing around the world but it would be a fairly interesting challenge considering the wind was up to 20 knots.

I had Tim onboard and Jess had Damian, two journalists with almost two days kayaking experience between them…this could get interesting.

3…2…1…and they’re off! Out went the sails, the peddling started in earnest and…my damn rudder broke!

Jess said I was too scared, I said it was sabotage during the night. Whatever the reason my kayak was going nowhere.

Plan B – jump into a single boat and travel to Hammo together. Damian and Tim would have to watch from yacht Sunshine, but the journey was back on.

Our first mark from Whitehaven would be the Solway Passage; renowned for its strong current and ripping tides. As we turned the corner into the wind our sail was furled in and it was pure peddle power….for nearly 40 minutes! Jess hadn’t signed up for this but she was up for it.

Finally we cleared the channel and turned downwind allowing us the chance to get the sail out and start to build some speed. With Jess at the helm it was fantastic just to sit back and watch how the experts do it. She surfed us down the waves making the most of the blustery conditions.

With a press boat alongside we were dwarfed by them and the waves but it felt excellent to have water spraying in my face, the kayak zipping along and the experience of a lifetime.

An hour later we pulled up onto Pebble Beach at the luxury resort of Qualia to one of Jess’s fantasy arrival dreams – BIG FLUFFY TOWELS!!

Although the temperature outside was 24c the windchill had given us both a rough ride and our fingers were numb through. I really should toughen up at moments like this…I mean Jess at the age of 16 had sailed around the world through the Southern Ocean in temperatures around 0c.

Jess thanks so much for the experience, you’re a true inspiration to us all and the crew of the Best Expedition and I wish you all the best for your next adventure. Taking the youngest ever crew on the Sydney – Hobart Yacht Race on Boxing Day 2011.

Yours expeditionally

Ben

P.S. RACE VIDEO TO FOLLOW…..