Coral Sea Kaleidoscope - Bring Your Camera

Bring Your Camera

Australia comprises a vast continent about the size of the continental US, with urban sophistication along coastlines and the incredible Outback composing much of the interior. Down Under includes the longest-known continuous human culture on earth, the Aborigines, who have been around 40,000 to 60,000 years.

If at all possible, spend a day or two on either side of your trip in Sydney or Brisbane. Of course the famous Opera House in Sydney and the former Olympic stadium and grounds present great camera fodder, as well as many other attractions (www.sydneyaustralia.com). Brisbane (www.visitbrisbane.com.au) features water parks and great native wildlife zoos, including the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.

Even if you don’t append some continental exploration time to your Oz trip, you needn’t worry too much about what to do after the fishing on the Odyssey. Buy or rent an underwater camera if at all possible. Above water, you will fully treasure the marine beauty of the Coral Sea reefs, with its isolated sand cays featuring nesting sea turtles and seabirds; below the water’s surface, snap memories of the shimmering shallows packed with colorful reef fish as well as an array of sea life at night attracted to the built-in underwater hull lights of the mothership.

On my last trip, the hostess dived off the back of the Odyssey to swim with a humpback whale that wandered by – a rare experience and great photo op indeed. In addition, just about everyone likes to beach comb on the desolate islets, with photo subjects including huge varieties of birds, butterflies and other interesting species. Amazing seafaring history includes visiting assorted shipwrecks, the vestiges of which can still be seen on shallow reefs or at the bottom of same. One interesting plaque can be found on Porpoise Shoal at Wreck Reef. It commemorates the survivors of the wreck in 1803 of a ship commanded by famed (but apparently not always accurate) navigator Matthew Flinders. He secured everyone on this tiny sand cay and then amazingly rowed back to Sydney in a lifeboat, returning in company with two other ships to carry off all of the people, not one of whom perished in his absence.

Other Notes of Interest

the Coral Sea

• Official Name: Coral Sea Islands Territory, with its primary feature the Great Barrier Reef.
• Geography: With the exception of a colony on Willis Island, it’s composed of small and uninhabited tropical islands, reefs and atolls northeast of Queensland, Australia.
• Area: 780,000 square kilometers or 484,670 square miles, extending east and south from the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef.
• Government: A territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and administered from Canberra by the Territories Section of the Department of Transport and Regional Services. The Coral Sea is visited regularly by the Australian Navy, with weather stations on many of the isles and reefs. A small staff runs a meteorological station on Willis Island.
• World War II History: The Battle of the Coral Sea became the theater for a major naval battle between Japanese and US aircraft carrier fleets in May 1942. No clear winner emerged, but the encounter set the stage for the decisive Battle of Midway a month later.