Ribbon Reefs

The Ribbon Reefs are a collection of long, narrow reefs stretching for over 100 km (62 mi) in the northern regions of the Great Barrier Reef. Located along the shallow continental shelf which drops off to thousands of meters, the Ribbons are broken down into 10 smaller sections and are simply named Ribbon Reef #1 to #10. The reefs here are a long way from the coast of Queensland, in the Coral Sea, far beyond the reach of any day trip tourists. I don’t know how all the old seafaring captains and crews did it 100s of years ago. Even with today’s charts and GPS and satellites and weather predictions and and and…sailing along all these reefs is very tricky business. With no island to block the winds and few mooring balls to safely tie up to, finding a good sandy spot to anchor without catching any coral is a challenge. Watching for large bommies that seem to pop up from nowhere, we find a safe anchorage far enough away from any reef yet close enough to snorkel off the boat to explore those bommies and shallow reef. Being out here in the middle of nowhere we are often the only boat. Not sure that now would be a good time to watch Castaway again. We are lucky to have a good weather window of sunshine and light winds to safely visit Ribbons 3, 6/7 and 10. One morning, as we were sailing between the Ribbons, a large pod of dolphins raced along our bow. Limited human contact has helped ensure that these reefs can support an outstanding range of marine life.

And impressive it is!! Healthy colorful hard and soft corals and clams. Lots of larger fish enjoying the steep outer reef slopes and heavy current. Massive Groupers, Impressive Potato Cod (distinctive markings, 4’, 200lb). Unusual Black and White Snapper, Diagonal Banded Sweetlips, Humpnose Unicornfish, elusive Triggerfish, Rabbitfish, Moorish Idols, Angelfish, Bannerfish, Butterflyfish, Anemones, Wrasse, Parrotfish grazing on the coral and algae and many more “whatisits”. (It’s hard to appreciate the size of these fish, large and small, from the photos.) Had some Gray Sharks (larger than your average white or black tip shark) check me out late one afternoon while snorkeling alone. Seems they didn’t appreciate me being close to large schools of smaller fish during their fish feeding time.

Hm. Time to head back to Nutmeg for some rum.
XOXOXOXO
Gma & Gpa