I visited this WHS in December 2017 and January 2018 from Hamilton Island and from Cairns. In all I dedicated a week to this extensive WHS to be able to cover different areas and features of this marine WHS by boat, by plane and by helicopter.

Even though I travelled to some of the most beautiful marine areas in the world (ex. French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Maldives, Seychelles, Caribbean), none are comparable to the Great Barrier Reef not only in terms of size but in terms of the different hues of blue/turquoise, the clarity of the water, the variety and amount of marine life. This applies both underwater and from above. Since we visited during stinger season, we wore a stinger suit when snorkelling to be on the safe side. Being such a vast area, you get to see and experience different things depending from where you're based.

The World Heritage Area Boundary withing the GBR Marine Park stretches from beneath the Torres Strait to just above Fraser Island excluding harbours and islands. For the first 5 days we stayed on Hamilton Island, one of the Whitsunday Islands, and every day we did a different excursion to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Already from my window seat, flying from Brisbane, I enjoyed an incredible aerial view of two of Australia's great WHS - Fraser Island and the GBR. First I saw never-ending sandy beaches, dunes and trees. Then the sheer beauty of the GBR and the Coral Sea islands and islets.

Even though the effects of the last cyclone are still visible with dead trees along the coast, the views of Whitehaven Beach and Hill Inlet on Whitsunday Island are a great treat you shouldn't miss while cruising/snorkelling/diving around the GBR. Swimming with manta rays, dolphins, turtles, sharks and colourful reef fish of all kind is practically guaranteed when exploring the GBR from Hamilton Island or Airlie Beach. Excursions aren't cheap and distances to cover require full day trips to be able to enjoy yourself without constantly keeping an eye on the watch. As is the case with most tourist destinations in Australia, everything (and I mean everthing) is owned by monopolies so ultimately you'll always pay the same people (Hamilton Island.com) for accomodation and travel. A company worth checking out for group excursions and helicopter/sea plane tours from Hamilton Island/Airlie Beach is Cruise Whitsundays.

The snorkelling trip at Heart Reef and Heart Pontoon was incredible. If you have enough time (and money) there's the option of sleeping here in the middle of the GBR which means you'll have the place to yourself before/after the first boat arrives (or else there are also some liveaboard boats too). We spent the best part of two days snorkelling here and there was always a close encounter with countless new marine species to be had with every snorkelling session. The highlight was interacting with a very friendly and curious two metre Maori wrasse. The variety of coral is rightly the central reason justifying the GBR's inscription and OUV.

We headed next to Cairns and again the aerial view of the many atolls and scattered coral reefs was definitely a plus point, but it wasn't comparable to the huge reef further south. Unfortunately, we confirmed our initial thoughts after allowing a further two days to the GBR with Cairns as our base. Even the local city council is aware of this and in fact there were all sort of billboards and adverts depicting pictures of the GBR around the Whitsundays or further south and stating that "if you're looking for the heart of the Great Barrier Reef, you're in the wrong place! Don't worry we can take you there". That said, we still enjoyed our excursions to the outer barrier reef, to Green Island and to Michaelmas Cay. The highlight here was spotting a fever of blue-spotted stingrays. There are much more people on tours/excursions from Cairns simply because there are daily international and charter flights to/from Cairns (mostly from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, Japan, etc.). Should I ever go on a repeat visit to Cairns in the future, I would definitely opt for a proper visit to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park, however it would probably be more for the rainforest/birdwatching than the marine experience.

Even if global warming, climate change and human activity are having a very negative effect on the GBR, the sheer size, colours and beauty you still can experience and see for yourself both underwater and from a seaplane/helicopter tour (photo) are truly indescribable. I generally prefer cultural WHS to natural WHS but the GBR truly deserves to be on everybody's bucket list hands down.