May 2014 on the Great Barrier Reef

A Thing of The Past
Captain Trevor Jackson

Dinosaurs. Kids love them. If you’ve got little children about the house chances are you’ve also got a dinosaur or two…the fluffy toy variety of course. I’d never really given it much thought until the other night my 4 year old asked me “Daddy, what happened to the dinosaurs?”

I went on to explain to her that the environment is in a constant state of change and that the dinosaurs fell victim to an inability to evolve with the changes that took place in their time. I’m fairly certain that made no sense to her but it seemed to do the trick at that moment. I got to thinking after that, thinking about change, about evolution, about the ability to adapt. The dinosaurs are an EPIC example of how being ‘stuck in the now’ can be a bad, bad thing….catastrophic in fact. Change is inevitable …it’s natural….and the key to thriving lies in the ability to adapt. Quickly.

Recently, Far North Qld experienced a weather event that got everyone’s attention; big time. Tropical Cyclone Ita was a beauty and we were lucky to have gotten off so lightly. The day after she crossed the coast all we could think was “wow, we dodged a bullet there” but on our first expedition afterwards….nerves were on edge that our favorite spots might be damaged.

A day before returning to sea we held a meeting at the Mike Ball office to come up with new ideas to invoke if we were forced to. Some great concepts came out…more trips to Yongala, a Holmes/ Bougainville/ Osprey Reefs trilogy trip, expanding further into the Torres Straits. We actually left the meeting excited instead of worried. Regardless of what Cyclone Ita dished up, we were ready to evolve straight away

So here are the facts….straight from the horse’s mouth…‘the Ribbon Reefs are go’. The Cod are still swarming the Cod Hole, the Snakes are still slithering at Snake Pit, the Pixies are still at the Pinnacle…..but with our new desire to expand, we went looking anyway. At the very the first new spot we tried we stumbled upon a coral encrusted shipwreck we never knew existed. A fantastic result straight off the bat, and one of what will become many exciting discoveries in the coming months. Cyclone Ita was a virtual non-event, the sun came back out and dried up all the rain…..and as for dinosaurs…well they’re a thing of the past.

Rogues Gallery: