Great Barrier Reef

That's Low Isle, our Great Barrier Reef destination. It's on the inner reef, a one-hour fairly low-speed boat ride from Port Douglas. It's also where Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin last touched land after being speared by a stingray, according to this news report excerpt:

"Irwin was pulled aboard his research vessel, Croc One, for a 30-minute dash to Low Isle, where a Queensland Rescue Helicopter had been summoned, his Australia Zoo said in a statement.

The crew of the Croc One performed constant CPR during the voyage to Low Isle, but medical staff pronounced him dead about noon."

And by the way, according to Wikipedia:

"In the weeks following Irwin's death, at least ten stingrays were found dead and mutilated, with their tails cut off, on the beaches of Queensland, prompting speculation that they had been killed by fans of Irwin as an act of revenge. "

Steve Irwin recently lost out to Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and their baby in a fashion magazine contest to see who would appear on an Australia Post stamp.

Nicholas and Sarah snorkeled as soon as we got to the island while Peter and I stayed on shore, but we still saw lots of cool reef stuff from the beach, thanks to a very low tide. Later in the day, after a buffet lunch on the ship, we took a ride in a glass bottom boat. According to the guy driving the boat, there are about 400 types of coral on the reef, but only about 40 varieties that are really colorful. Also, many of the eye-popping magazine pictures of the reef are taken at night with bright flashes. So we felt better about what we did see, which was fantastic regardless.