Marion Reef - Coral Kingdom

Nigel Marsh · Issue 44, Sep/Oct 2008 · pp. 50–54

Products mentioned: Nikon D50, Ikelite Housing, Nikkor 60mm, Tokina 10-17mm, Nikkor 10.5mm, Inon Z240 strobes

Flying over the Great Barrier Reef is one of life’s great experiences. The endless maze of reefs, the brilliant blue of the water and the intricate shapes of each reef are a sensational sight from the air. But we were going beyond the reef and heading out to more unexplored and interesting territory, the Coral Sea, 400km off the Queensland coast. After an hour and half our goal was in sight, Marion Reef, and I was arriving in style - on a seaplane. Over the last twenty years I have been very fortunate to dive many of Australia’s remote Coral Sea reefs. All offer fantastic visibility (generally 40m to 60m), pelagic fish, lots of sharks, a great diversity of reef fish, wonderful invertebrates species and some amazing corals. Everything is generally bigger and better in the Coral Sea. Marion Reef is one of the most isolated of the Coral Sea reefs. The reef is 40km long by 20km wide and is r…