The Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Great Barrier Reef - from the air.

The Great Barrier Reef on Australia‘s north-eastern continental shelf is a site of exceptional natural beauty stretching for 2,000 km (1,250 mi) and covering an area of about 350,000 sq. km (135,100 sq. mi), making it larger than the whole of Italy. It is not only the largest UNESCO World Heritage Site on earth but also contains the world‘s most extensive coral reef system.

Composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 island in the whole area located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia. It can be seen from outer space and is the world’s largest single structure made by living organism.

Beautiful fishes swimming.

Colorful scene under the water.

The reef runs mainly north to south, passing through a number of different climates, accounting for the thousands of different species of marine life that inhabit it. It is made up of 3,400 individual reefs, including nearly 800 fringing reefs, coral islands, continental islands covered in forest, sandbars, and mangrove systems linked by huge turquoise lagoons.

The whole reef is under threat from global warming, with increasing damage to the coral itself, but it is of vital importance to the world’s ecosystem, containing as it does a third of the planet‘s soft coral species, the largest existing green turtle breeding site, 30 different species of mammal, including breeding humpback whales and a large dugong population, as well as sponges, molluscs, 1,500 types of reef fish and 200 species of birds. It also contains fascinating original archaeological sites and is probably the most spectacular marine Wilderness on earth.

Great Barrier Reef stretching over long area.

Beautiful corals.

Tioman Island, Malaysia

Tioman Island is one of the popular islands in peninsular Malaysia. Be the biggest in the archipelago of about 60 volcanic islands, some inhabited, and situated in the southern shores of the Malaysia East Coast. The size oi the island is about 20 X 12 km (12.5 X 7.5 mi), and boast fabulous tropical beaches set around the mountainous interior.

Tioman Island was first recorded in the journals of Arabian merchants in the tenth century. Traders from India, Persia and China also came this way since Tioman Island had betelnut, sandalwood and camphor to trade and was safe haven from monsoon storms. The island also marked the navigational point at which to head north-east towards Cambodia.

Beautiful landscape of Tioman Island.

Map of the island.

In 1830 the islanders deserted their homes for 15 years, after pirates landed and took 70 people for the slave trade. In the 1920’s the island was again deserted after devastating outbreak of malaria swept through the population. After World War II, when the Japanese detachment used the island as a base, it sank into oblivion until, in the late 1950’s, it was chosen as the setting for the Rogers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific because its unspoiled beauty.

Many coral reefs surround Tioman Island and there are several good dive sites. It is possible to walk across the island in a couple of hours and explore the forest the forest that is home to many species of flora and fauna.

Feeding the fish.

Diving.

There are many resorts provided the facilities for diving activities. The transportation to get into this island too are includes boats and airplanes. Tioman Island is among the greatest for its beautiful corals and crystal clear water.