With only a few days of calm weather sandwiched between long periods of 25-30 SE, we had to curtail our ambition to go out to the Coral Sea atoll of Marion Reef and instead opted to do a reconnaissance trip to the inner reefs 60-70 nm east of Mackay.
During our third week at the Swain Reefs, we finally hit the jackpot! At all four reefs we visited, we saw better coral.
When you see the fringing reefs around the Whitsunday Islands it is easy to feel dismay at the state of the battered corals and sparse fish population. It is a little better on the outer reef, but not a lot. And you wonder: Is it recovering or is it the last hooray? Are we hoping…
Sv-Anui 