What is the Great Barrier Reef? Well it is a biome, and is considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world! That's one reason we are so excited to get to visit here. The Great Barrier Reef holds thousands of different species of fish, and is one of the largest areas of biodiversity in the world. 

The Great Barrier Reef is located about 9 to 95 miles off of Queensland, Australia (From different areas) but Queensland is where our flight tomorrow is going to be taking us! 

The 1800-mile stretch of the Great Barrier Reef hugs the Queensland coast of Australia from Bundaberg to Cape York on the east side of the island. The reef is made up of a variety of extremely vivid colors produced by biotic factors, which pertain to life, proving to be the ultimate natural underwater experience for eager scuba divers. Included within the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem, or the system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their environment, are over 400 species of coral and 1500 species of tropical fish that produce these brilliant colors and provide a beautiful sight for tourists. (Source: http://great-barrier-reef-biome.wikispaces.com) 

(http://www.travelstation.com.au/destination/queensland/great-barrier-reef/great-barrier-reef-map/)

Question: What's the capital of Australia? 

We are on our way to Australia right now! The plane ride is going to take a few hours but it will all be worth ti once we get to Queensland, Australia because just off the coast of the city in the Coral Sea is The Great Barrier Reef!!

(http://www.australia.com/explore/icons/great-barrier-reef.aspx)

This is going to be our first times visiting this reef, but we have been to the Red Sea Coral Reef in Africa which was absolutely stunning! It stretched over 1,200 miles of the African coast. Here's a picture from that trip, 

(http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2011/03/beauty-fragility-coral-reefs-picture-essay-day/)

Question: Which do you think is nicer? The Great Barrier Reef or the Red Sea Coral Reef?

So we are sitting in the hotel right now waiting to start our first diving lesson, We are so excited to be able to explore the Great Barrier Reef! It's going to be so beautiful, we are expecting to see all different species of animals and different fish.

The two of us were sitting on youtube looking at some videos just to see what we could be expecting. heres a really cool one!

Question: What type of coral is the Great Barrier Reef, hard or soft coral?

Sadly, as newer divers we have to start out in shallower waters. However, because of this we could get close up to one of the producers of the Great Barrier Reef! Bull Kelp! This strange form of kelp is seen all over the shallow water's floor. Look at the picture we got to take during our diving lesson today!

Question: What is the most common producer in the Great Barrier Reef?

We are stuck staring at giant kelp for a few days while we wait for the OK to dive into deeper waters. We are pretty sure that today is the last day that we are stuck diving in shallow waters but after that the rest of The Great Barrier Reef is all ours! 
Giant Kelp is actually really beautiful as you can tell from the picture above, and the best part about this producer is that it's actually used in many of our products such as ice cream, toothpaste and even some cereals because it's such a great emulsifying and binding agent! Did you that there was kelp in such common foods like ice cream!?

While diving today, we got to swipe an amazing picture of a secondary consumer of the Great Barrier Reef! A Whale Shark! Whale Sharks are only a secondary consumer because they don't consume as much as a top consumer (such as a White Tip Reef Shark). Many people associate the whale shark with whales, and as a mammal BUT the whale shark isn't a mammal it's a fish!

Question: Did you know that a shark wasn't a mammal? 

Today we came face to face with one of the top predators of The Great Barrier Reef, the White Tip Reef Shark! The small shark doesn't grow past about 5.2 ft in length, but it still has a massive appitite and loves to eat by squeezing it's small body into the cracks of the reef to catch fish.

Question: Did you know that one of the top predators could be so small? Does this shock you?

The Great Barrier Reef is absolutely beautiful! Today we got to go swimming with the dolphins, and we saw all of the biodiversity that co-exist together in the ecosystem. The biodiversity of the reef shows how important it is to keep this ecosystem healthy to keep the different species safe. You can see in our picture all the different types of fish that exist in the reef. 

(http://ecsuabroad.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/best-beach-vacations-asia-south-pacific-mexico/)

Question: How many different forms of coral make up the Great Barrier Reef?

The Great Barrier Reef is known as the largest biological organism in the world which we were able to see when visiting the reef. The ecology of the Great Barrier Reef is one that is vulnerable to even slightest human influence. In these times, human activity has intensified to a level where our actions have extended to the coral reefs on a global scale. We took this picture where you can see the effect of coral bleaching. 

(https://theconversation.com/great-barrier-reef-dying-beneath-its-crown-of-thorns-6383)

Question: What causes coral bleaching?