Yellow-Banded Sweetlips at Challenger Bay in the Great Barrier Reef

I spent a weekend aboard the Taka Ribbon Reef Explorer, a 5-day trip organized by Deep Sea Divers Den. It was an absolutely incredible trip where I had the opportunity to dive 14 times on the Great Barrier Reef and go snorkeling with Minke whales, who are in the middle of their yearly migration south. The diving far surpassed my expectations, as the boat took us to far north diving spots that few other companies go to. In fact, one of our dive sites had only been visited by three other dive groups before us!

This set of photos comes from the Challenger Bay dive site, a shallow reef with abundant soft coral formations and schools of angelfish, sweetlips, and wrasses.