Moore and Elephant
Tuesday 10 March 2026
Today’s excursion to Moore Reef at the Great Barrier Marine Park a UNESCO World Heritage Site off the Australian eastern coast near Yorkey’s Knob might well be the experience we’ve been most excited about of all our planned adventures on this trip. It is recognized as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, the largest living structure on earth, and is visible from space. However over the past several days several storms with heavy rain, damaging winds, and hazardous surf visited this area. We learned this once we were aboard the Sunlover catamaran with two hundred and fifty of our closest friends and arriving at the pontoon platform that would be our base of operations for the next few hours. So upon arrival our first adventure was a lengthy wait while the crew inspected the platform and the adventure boats for damage and cleaned the facility. Meanwhile we’d already decided to up the adventure with a quick helicopter ride over the reef. That was a great decision. Once we stowed our gear in a locker and headed out to the platform the majority of our mates were already in the process of donning sting suits and getting ready to visit the reef by snorkeling but we were expecting great views from the glass bottom boat and the semi-submersible so we opted out of the getting wet process. Maybe that wasn’t the best choice. We did get a ride in the semi-sub but the water wasn’t as crystal clear as we’d hoped, probably due to a combination of the storms and the clean-up process. Not only that but the glass bottom boat had to be bailed out and repaired meaning that it was out of operation most of the day and we didn’t score a ride. In addition the underwater viewing chamber offered a very limited view of one piece of coral and a few fish. That said, we had an absolutely amazing ten minute helicopter ride over Moore Reef and Elephant Reef. A bonus is that despite the fact that we arrived late back to the ship, we had no worries about being left behind since we were on a ship organized tour. We’ve made some amazing memories today and whetted our appetite for more reef experiences! Expect that next time we’ll hope for better weather and that we’ll don the snorkel equipment and get wet.
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