Welcome back, Great Barrier Reef

by Travel OZ on 14 Sep 2016 OK. It didn't really go anywhere. But there were all sorts of doom and gloom reports of massed coral bleaching last summer. And yes it is fact that much of the northern sections of the Reef were bleached. But you know how hardy and resilient coral is?

In many parts of the Reef, the algae that abandoned the coral when waters heated over summer has returned to bring colour back to our beloved reef. Film-maker Greg Grainger has just undertaken a series of dives all over Reefs, out of Cairns and Port Douglas. And his findings, documented on video, show renewed vibrancy in the reefs he dived.

Many of his dives were to the Agincourt Reef, where popular operators like Quicksilver and Tropical Journeys take tens of thousands of visitors every year. Further south, off Orpheus Island, Grainger documented a kaleidoscope of colours emantating from the soft corals that populate the reefs in that area. None of this is to say there has not been long term damage to reefs further north.

But the overwhelming evidence documented in Grainger's latest Travel Oz programmes, to screen on the Seven Network this next month, is that our Great Barrier Reef has come back to life – and full colour – in so many areas.