And it doesn’t stop there. The reef system also contains 400 species of coral, 30 varieties of seagrass (half of all the species found in the world), and 500 species of seaweed and marine algae. For you shark lovers out there, you can find 165 different species of the apex predator in Australian waters.

Australia is a great country with a lot to see, do, and experience, but experiencing a country from beneath the surface is an essential part of exploring the world.

Naturally, diving is a great family experience. The minimum age for doing open water scuba is 10, though, so it’s more appropriate for families with older kids. There are plenty of companies providing diving experiences in the region, with Hayman providing a 5-star experience.

Fish

If you’ve done any diving, you know that reefs offer some of the best diving. They are rich, interdependent ecosystems. Here are just some of the fish you can expect to find on the Great Barrier Reef.

Clownfish are quite popular. They can be really entertaining to watch as they move back and forth among the tentacles of the anemone that serves as their home. A special layer of mucus keeps them safe from the paralyzing sting of their host. If you are very still and don’t blow out large bursts of bubbles, they will often swim toward you briefly before darting back to their protective spot.

It is not uncommon to see large groupers along the reef. They are typically slow-moving fish that can be quite curious of divers. If you move leisurely, they will usually let you get fairly close. In Honduras, we went shark diving, and a grouper even let my son hug it! (I don’t support touching marine life, but the divemaster had him hugging it before I realized what he was doing.)

Triggerfish are beautiful creatures. During nesting season, you have to pay attention to their movements, though. They have been known to get aggressive with divers, and their bite can be quite painful. If they seem to be darting around a lot, keep your distance.

Corals

These are amazing forms of Nature’s art work. Corals are classified as hard and soft, and they are all critical to the marine ecosystem, with soft coral probably being even more important. I really enjoy photographing them. All the colors, shapes, and textures make for great photos, especially for macro shots. Just remember to keep your distance, watch your fins so you don’t kick any, and definitely don’t touch any of them. Not only can some be painful to humans when touched, but our fingers can disrupt their protective layer which could lead to diseased coral.

One of the best parts of travel is creating memories that last a lifetime. Diving the Great Barrier Reef and all the various other activities you can experience here are bound to give your entire family something to talk about for decades.

Have you dove the GBR yet? Is it on your list?

Ever since I had read about these islands during my days as a novice diver, I have wanted to go there. The Perhentian Islands had been ranked highly for scuba diving. When I was discussing our upcoming visit with the Bohemian Travelers clan in Penang, Malaysia, I had mentioned doing her eldest son’s scuba certification for his 14th birthday. I also convinced her to join him. Penang is not an ideal place for diving, so we discussed the Perhentians, and a plan was hatched.

After finishing the confined portion of their dive training in an incredible pool, they were even more excited about the idea. I could barely wait for the day to arrive! We rented a car since it would end up being cheaper, and a lot easier, than taking a bus.

The ride from the mainland to the islands was rather interesting and, thankfully, easier then the crossing we used to take between Utila and the mainland. Although it was quite a bit more bumpy, and I was relieved that my back didn’t decide to start giving me problems after the journey.

My initial impression of the Perhentians was. . . well, meh.

We’ve lived on plenty of islands throughout the world. Perhaps we’ve become spoiled by it, but to say I was underwhelmed by these islands would be putting it nicely. But, there was diving to be done, so that was promising. And at least our room had air conditioning.

My first introduction to diving on the Perhentians came with our water taxi ride further down the island where the dive center was. That seemed kind of cool, an extra fun piece to the adventure. Until we arrived at the dive shop where we discovered we would have to get out of the boat and walk over a large section of dead coral.

Not knowing this ahead of time, none of us had reef shoes. I swore silently as I carefully walked over the sharp coral hoping I wouldn’t end up with a deep gash in my foot.

We got our equipment together while we waited to find out where we were going. That’s when we discovered we would get to walk back over those same sharp objects while carrying all of our gear, including the heavy tanks. My swearing was about to become less silent.

We boarded the boat, which was no small effort, and headed to our first site. I was so excited to introduce my friends to the underwater world! Tigger snorkeled above while we descended and began our dive. Which is when my heart fell a little.

The coral was very unhealthy and quite probably overdove. We did get to see lots of clownfish, some of which were quite tiny, but apart from them and the overprotective damselfish, the Chihuahuas of the ocean, we didn’t see much interesting sea life.

I was so disappointed! I wanted to wow them! Especially Mary because, well, certain aspects of the training required a lot more . . . effort from both of us. I wanted her to be so amazed that she felt like it had all been worth it. Maybe on the 2nd dive.

We returned to the dive center where I discovered this outfit has an unusual scheduling method. We had to sit around for almost 2 hours until our second dive! The kids took it in stride, and after lunch they went snorkeling.

Walking back to the shop from the boat proved to be even more dangerous in the afternoons when there were other boats anchored in the same area. You often had little room to move around their lines, and twice I almost stepped on the sharp end of an anchor while I stumbled over the coral and rocks.

Our 2nd day of diving wasn’t much better, except this time we knew we’d have a long wait between dives. And, actually, their last dive had some of the worst visibility I’ve been in. (We were there at the tail of the monsoon season up north, and this could have affected visibility.) It was good enough for us to finish the dive, but, once again, there just wasn’t much beyond the occasional sea cucumber and clownfish.

I was so disappointed for them. In spite of it, though, they’re still addicted to scuba.

The rest of our stay in the Perhentians just didn’t do much to change my mind. There was a pretty sunset, but I’ve seen better.

On the way back to Penang, we did get a highly unusual treat, though. We had seen the wild elephant crossing signs plenty of times but hadn’t seen any elephants. As we got closer to our turnoff, though, Mary spotted some! We were all jumping in our seats.

We got a little adrenaline rush when my friend apparently got a little too close for the bull’s comfort, and he began a charge. I was honestly surprised my body could move that fast!

He stopped as soon as we jumped back into the car and stood there with his ears unfolded, waving his head from side to side. Once he was assured we knew our place, the cow and young elephant came back out from the bushes, and we enjoyed some more time watching them.

What a way to end a trip!

My 2 cents

There are much better islands to visit while in Malaysia. Aim for Redang if you still want to be in this region. It’s far less touristed, and the reef is in better shape.

If you do go to the Perhentian Islands, I can’t recommend spending the money to dive there. There are much better spots in Malaysia and nearby Thailand and Indonesia. And if you do go, I’d suggest diving with one of the operations that uses an actual dock.

Yeah, you have that whole breathing underwater thing, but that’s really relatively easy.  Buoyancy can make it a challenge sometimes, too.  And those damn fish tend to not want to sit still and pose.  Though I greatly appreciate how patient moray eels are as models.

And then there is current.  In Utila, photography was really easy most of the time because you don’t have much of a current to work against.  You can hover while taking your photo and pretty much stay in the same spot.  When you’re diving in Cozumel, though, and the current is 4-6 knots. . . video is a better idea perhaps.

Before Tigger did his wreck dive, I had gone diving at the local wreck.  The last time I had been here was over a year ago when I was earning my advanced open water diver certification and had only about 6 dives to my name, so I was eager to come back and dive it now that I know what the hell I’m doing in the water.  Naturally, I brought my trusty underwater camera with me.

I got a few nice shots until my camera mysteriously wouldn’t turn back on.  It can be a little tough to troubleshoot a camera under water, especially when you’re inside a shipwreck at depth.  Once we came out of the ship, I stopped to take a photo of the propellers.  My camera still didn’t work.  I tried pushing different buttons, holding it upside down (hey, you never know), etc. Then I finally got a hint.  The monitor flashed:  Batteries exhausted.

Yes, I failed at keeping batteries fully charged.  Arrgh! You would think someone who has been doing photography since they were in high school would remember that but nooooo.

Batteries aren’t the only issue underwater, though.  There’s also white balance.  As you go deeper, certain colors drop out.  The first is red.  Get deep enough, and basically all you’ll see is blue.  Sure, blue is a pretty color, but why settle for the above when you get a photo like:

Guess which one I remembered to do white balancing on.

How do you white balance underwater?  It’s similar to what you do above the surface.  I have a white slate I dive with.  About every 3 meters or so, I use the customize white balance feature on my camera.  Point the lens at the slate, choose measure, and voila, you can get better color in your pictures.  But, yeah, when doing underwater photography, you have to remember these little details.

Like making sure you have fully charged or brand-new batteries in your camera when diving.  Sigh.

At least I didn’t try taking the camera on the dive without putting it in the underwater housing first.

What are some of your “favorite” camera blunders?

Sharks tend to hang out at deeper depths. Octopi come out to play at night. Junior open water divers don’t usually do night dives.  Plus, you get to hear about how Dad got to go wreck diving.  At least a few times a week.  You’d love to join, but really you can’t because the wreck at Utila, where you’re living at the time, is way beyond your depth limit.

At age 12, you get to upgrade to junior advanced, which means your new depth limit is now 21 meters/75 feet and you just have to be with an adult when you dive. Yay! You can do some fun adventure dives, like a night dive, but still you can’t go deep enough for most wrecks. In fact, you can’t to the wonderful shark dive at the nearby island of Roatan either, since it’s 2 meters below your limit.

All of this means you get to wait until you’re 15 years old before you get to be a full advanced open water diver so that you can go to 30 meters/100 feet. It’s only another 5 years. Of course, when you’re 10 that’s half your lifetime. Sounds kind of long.

We lucked out when we went to Roatan. As a certified diver, it’s your responsibility to dive within the limits of your training. When you’re with your parent, it falls on them. When your dad is an instructor, well, it’s a little easier to find a dive shop willing to just trust parental judgment. And because of that he got to go shark diving last year.

Now we’re on Cozumel again. You’ve seen part of the local wreck, the Felipe Xicotencatl, while snorkeling as you watched your dad and his friends diving below. You weren’t a diver then so it wasn’t an option. Now you are, but it’s still out of your reach. Really sucks!

Unless you find a dive shop who knows your dad well enough to say sure, it’s all on Dad. And so you finally get to go wreck diving!

Tigger got his nickname because he’s bouncy. He doesn’t walk, he bounces. Really, he’s no different in the water. One of his favorite things to do while diving is bounce up and down. Not a good thing while diving for a few reasons, but an absolute crap idea if you plan on entering a wreck.

During the week leading up to his 1st wreck dive, we reviewed safety issues several times. Plan A was to go to the wreck and swim around and over it. It’s actually a cool wreck to explore just on the outside. But, yeah, it’s way more fun to go inside. So, the deal was if he could control his bouncing and pay attention to my signals, then we would penetrate, or enter, the wreck.

A great place to test how he does moving through tight spaces

He was doing so well, that we got to do just that. And my chest was positively bursting with pride as he did so well I could even take him into some narrower areas. Even more fun since I didn’t have to float above him and push his tank down so that he didn’t bop his head or something.

Inside the wreck

It was an absolute blast to get to take him to do one of my favorite types of diving. He loved it, too. I’m hoping he’ll write about it. But, just like the #1 rule in diving: I won’t be holding my breath.

What makes it so special?  Sure, there are lots of great diving areas in the Caribbean; however, as Cozumel became a popular dive destination, it was made clear that protections were needed, and the marine park was quickly established to help protect the vital coral reef.  The island’s beaches are popular with sea turtles as nesting sites, so divers are often treated to multiple sightings of the beautiful turtles underwater.  We recently were treated to an enjoyable swim with a turtle that an expert estimated was about 65 years old (they can live to between 85-102 years).

Because of the protected areas and the transition from sleepy fishing village to a tourist destination that attracts cruise ships throughout the year, it is common to see rather large fish here.  For instance, in popular Utila, Honduras, midnight parrotfish are found fairly often on that island’s north side; however, it is rare to see any that are much larger than about 7 inches.  But in the protected waters of Cozumel it isn’t uncommon to find these beautiful fish being as long as 4 feet!

Cozumel also boats waters that are crystal clear.  If you are familiar with underwater photography, you know that by the time you’re at 40 feet or deeper, you generally will only see blue and green colors.  However, the waters here are so amazingly clear that light is able to penetrate more deeply, and one can see vivid yellows even beyond 100 feet!

Obviously, being a huge dive destination means you have a large choice of dive shops.  You can find everything from low-budget centers to larger dive operations that have a fleet of boats and their own all-inclusive resorts.

While there are areas that are calm enough even for snorkeling, the majority of diving in Cozumel’s turquoise waters is drift diving where you allow the relatively swift current to carry you along.  Some areas have such great current that you enter one dive site and are picked up by your boat after having enjoyed three, separate and unique sites.  If you haven’t enjoyed a great drift dive before, you’ll quickly fall in love with diving in Cozumel.  You feel like you’re flying, and you barely need to move a fin.

If you’re a little more adventurous, the island is very close to some of the best cave diving in the world.  Ask your dive center about diving in the caves of the subterranean river system known as cenotes.  They are one of the things the Yucatan is famous for, like world heritage sites such as Chichen Itza, and being able to swim with the world’s largest fish, the whale shark.

Cozumel is very affordable, safe, an extremely good location, and offers some of the best diving you’ll probably experience.  So what are you waiting for?  Come on down!

But, this is Mexico.  4 PM could easily mean 6 PM.  And in this case, it was more like we’ll leave at about 7:30 PM. Plenty of time to get my anxiety up.  So finally the car was loaded, and I was in it trying to not show my fear.  It only takes us about 10 mins to get to Paradise Reef, so I was doing my deep breathing. But no, that wasn’t our first stop. Apparently “I already picked up everything” didn’t include tanks. Kind of an important gear piece.  So we were headed there first, but we have to stop to pick up a master diver candidate first. She was dressed more like a hooker than a diver.  I watched her stumble to the car and heard her slurred speech, and I was a bit nervous. Then he had to put more credits on his cell phone.  I resisted the urge to scream. I was nervous enough as it was, and the further delay was putting me on edge.

When he got out of the car to get the tanks, Hooker Diver leaned forward to ask me something in Spanish, and the stench of cheap alcohol washed over me. When he got back in the car, I said to him in English: “You realize your friend is a bit drunk, right?” No, he didn’t. So we had to take another side trip to drop her off at her home.

Finally at about 9 PM we were parked at the beach.  With only a thin sliver of a crescent moon shining on the water, every wave made me want to not get out of the car.  We reviewed the signals used when night diving while I tried to slow my breathing and panic down.  There was a cool breeze which helped keep my sweat to a minimum.  “You okay?” he asked. Do I lie? Then I couldn’t believe it when I said “Maybe. Let’s go.” Who said that last sentence! “It will be fine. You’ll enjoy it.” So he’d like me to believe.

Masks were on. It was showtime. He gave me the sign to descend, and I had half a mind to put my fin down and say “Hell to the effin no!” But replace effin with a more adult version, maybe add a couple of other choice words, and it would be more correct probably. Instead I could hear my raspy breathing through the regulator as water covered my head.  With only our flashlights to cut through the inky black darkness, I followed my instructor closely.  Every kick cycle I reminded myself about my breathing.

The first time I saw his light flash up and down, I felt the adrenaline rush and I stared closely. Oh, it was just a coral head he wanted me to see. Phew!  The first several fish we saw were nice and blessedly small. I didn’t know if our barracuda friend (we had a slight run-in with it during the previous day’s dive) would be attracted by our lights or not.  After the first few unusual fish spotting, I was more relaxed. By the time we found our first octopus, I was hooked.  Then came the signal to go black and cover the lights.   Floating while hovering near a reef with all that coral when I couldn’t see was a new source of anxiety for me.  But then I waved my hand and saw the green sparks from the bioluminescence.  I looked at my instructor with a child’s glee on my face. He obviously couldn’t see me my face-wide grin, but his moving fins caused even more showers to appear. Panic was completely gone.  I could do this all night. Okay, I surrender. Night diving actually IS fun, I thought.

On our way back to our entrance/exit point, we found an octopus walking along the bottom.  To get to see them that close, see the colors change, etc., was just an incredible experience.  When we surfaced, I was positively joyous. But our adventure wasn’t over.  Walking back to the shore, I hear “Follow me very closely so you don’t step on any sea urchins.  They’re all over the place.” Nice.  So I followed him like a puppy dog over the slippery stones until we were finally on land, still completely elated by this experience that previously had almost, almost, terrified me before it began and now had me almost completely hooked on night diving.  “See these?” he asked, waving his flashlight at a bunch of gray, rectangular shapes that reminded me of trilobite fossils.  “They’re cucarachas.” I positively can’t stand cockroaches, and stepping on them in bare feet? Yeah, not so much fun.  I trudged on quickly and made it through the sea urchin and vile cucaracha gauntlet back to our car.

That’s when we discovered the car decided to stick to the apparent agenda for the evening that nothing but the dive would go positively smoothly.  It refused to start. I laughed quietly, shook my head, and looked up at the stars as I heard several new swear words in Spanish join the cacophony of nighttime songs in the air.