Well, we aren't actually on or in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), but, we are between it and shore. A few days ago, we had an onboard lecture by Capt Wallace Cray, a GBR pilot and, if I understood correctly, he is our pilot as we traverse the area from roughly Brisbane to Torres Strait at the tippy top of Australia closest to New Guinea.
One of the things Capt Cray talked about was an ever growing / flourishing golden brown algae that thrives in the area just inland from the GBR. Our ship, the Voyager, certainly got up close and personal with it! At first, there were just streaks off in the distance and we thought it to be perhaps oil but, as ew got more into it, it was obvious that it wasn't oil as it was just slightly below the surface. When the Captain (of our ship) made his noon announcement, he reminded us of what it was.
Photos below were taken from our cabin balcony.
The algae was so thick, it made the water look like a muddy river delta.
When the wake of the ship caught the mass, it reminded me of the boiling mud we'd seen back on our excursion from Tauronga, NZ.
It is not yet known what effect it is having / has had on the coral of the GBR. Capt Cray did tell us it does absorb / process a huge amount of carbon dioxide! That could be a good thing.
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