How is it that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is still one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World and visible from outer space.

How is it that we can revisit the corals at Myrmidon Reef – an ancient, detached platform existing beyond the barrier reef proper, exposed to the full force of the Pacific Ocean – it persists, essentially unchanged season after season.

Despite claims of repeated mass coral bleaching and the reality of severe tropical cyclones, this reef, Myrmidon reef is little changed.

Its waters are still warm and clear – crystal clear.  In the ‘Garden of Porites’, in the back lagoon, there are still monster corals more than 3 metres in diameter.  These colonies persist as blocks, each of one colour: in olive green, or brilliant blue, while others are a golden yellow.

Can we acknowledge the size and strength of these corals.  What can we learn from them?  What makes this coral reef, and so many others at the Great Barrier Reef so resilient.

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After my first visit to Myrmidon Reef, on December 1, 2020 with Shaun Frichette and Stuart Ireland I penned something about that experience, and the shark, ’tis here.   That was four years ago.

All the photographs in this post were taken by Stuart Ireland.