‘Out on a swim’ is a coral reef blog that tells the stories of the characters who live under the waves and what has caught my eye when ‘out on a swim’ in the lagoons of Norfolk Island. It is also a record of the difficulties Norfolk Island’s reef faces, like many others around the world, as a result of the poor water quality that has been allowed to flow onto it.
This page shows the most recent blog posts. For the complete catalogue, visit the ‘Out on a swim index’ page.
This blog is rated in the Top 20 Coral Reef Blogs in the world.
Eclipse butterflyfish – Chaetodon bennetti, Norfolk Island
September is Biodiversity Month – the perfect time to celebrate the astonishing variety of life on Norfolk Island’s reef. From new fish sightings to coral mosaics, every observation is a reminder of how much there is still to learn and protect.
Read more about why biodiversity matters, globally and right here in our lagoon.
Read MoreThis patch of Acropora is close to the colony discussed in this blog post, and is similar to how it would have once looked before disease took hold in that area..
I’ve tracked one plating Acropora coral from 2021 to 2025. In just a few weeks, white syndrome wiped it out. Nearly four years years on, it’s still smothered in algae and sea squirts, with only the tiniest hint of new growth. It’s a stark reminder: without tackling the root cause, we’re just watching the same sad story repeat itself.
Read MoreA banded coral shrimp, Stenopus hispidus, Norfolk Island
Candy-cane stripes, long white feelers, and a reef spa on offer – the banded coral shrimp waves its antennae to advertise cleaning services to passing fish.
Read MoreMr Lemonhead, the yellow boxfish (Ostracion cubicus) 8 August 2025, Norfolk Island
Meet Mr Lemonhead – our lagoon’s teeny yellow boxfish with a big design legacy. He inspired a Mercedes Benz concept car, proving how nature is full of surprises. And he shares the lagoon with other critters whose tricks have also shaped real-world inventions.
Read MoreParagoniastrea on Norfolk Island’s reef
Some corals wear more than one colour for a reason. When Paragoniastrea australensis colonies fuse early in life, they form living mosaics. A beautiful reminder of coral cooperation on Norfolk Island’s reef.
Read MoreToday, 28 July, is World Nature Conservation Day. After the dry 2024, Norfolk Island’s reef is looking healthier – a brief reprieve as less water - laden with nutrients - flowed into the lagoon. These photos show what’s possible. It’s a reminder that recovery is within reach – though renewed runoff could quickly undo the gains.
Read MoreParagoniastrea australensis, Emily Bay, Norfolk Island
In Emily Bay, Norfolk Island, a single coral bommie – Paragoniastrea australensis – has stood for decades as a micro-reef, harbouring diverse marine life and local memories. Once photographed in 1988 and still thriving today, it remains a keystone of reef biodiversity and a living link between past and present.
Read MoreBluebarred Parrotfish – Scarus ghobban, first recorded in Norfolk Island’s lagoons in February 2021
Over five and a half years of snorkelling Norfolk’s lagoon, we’ve documented 23 fish species not previously recorded in this area. Some are local ghosts, others climate migrants. These observations help us understand and protect what makes our reef so special.
Read MoreNepean Island (left) and Phillip Island (right) to the south of Norfolk Island are free of rats. Rat-free seabird rookeries are important for the health of coral reefs.
Not all poop on a reef is bad poop. In fact some kinds of poop can be a reef’s most important invisible engine. Fish poop, bird poop – even poop that gets eaten again by other fish – all of it keeps the ecosystem ticking over in a way that’s nothing short of extraordinary.
Read MoreDay 6 of this photo series from Norfolk Island coincides with the final day of the UN Ocean Conference in Nice. After a week of documenting decline, today’s post offers a different view – what reef recovery can look like when conditions improve. Drought in 2024 gave the reef a break, and the results were unmistakable: healthier corals, lower disease, and more fish. This is what’s possible if we act.
Read MoreI wrote about this massive coral in a blog post ‘The Ancient Massives’, 20 March 2022
Day 5 of my blog series for the UN Ocean Conference: two long-lived coral colonies in Norfolk’s lagoon died quietly from disease. No drama – just slow collapse and overgrowth by algae. A reminder that not all reef losses are loud, but they are happening.
Read MoreHynophora pilosa colony, Norfolk Island
Day 4 of a week-long photo series from Norfolk Island, shared during the UN Ocean Conference in Nice. Today’s post spotlights a Hydnophora pilosa colony where white syndrome appeared suddenly and spread quickly, taking out around a quarter of the coral. In the months that followed, algae quietly filled the gap – a subtle but telling shift from coral to algae that’s happening across the reef.
Read MoreLone Pine, Emily Bay, Norfolk Island
In Day 3 of this blog post series, published while leaders gather at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, we see Norfolk Island’s coral reef lagoon quietly delivering a stark warning: recurrent land-based pollution, coral disease, and delayed decisions are dismantling this ecosystem in real time.
Read MoreAn Acropora coral colony, Emily Bay, Norfolk Island, showing early signs of growth anomalies
Day 2’s post coinciding with the UN Ocean Conference looks at coral growth anomalies – sometimes called coral ‘cancers’. These slow-moving diseases quietly weaken coral colonies, making them far more vulnerable to storm damage and algal takeover. On Norfolk Island’s reef, I’ve watched this exact process play out over several years. This is how chronic stress silently dismantles coral ecosystems.
Read MoreHealthy montipora coral, Norfolk Island
Today is World Ocean Day — a timely moment to launch my week-long blog series on Norfolk Island’s reef. Each day this week, I’ll be sharing photo essays that document the slow but steady pressures reshaping this fragile reef. Today: how shifting baselines make us blind to what we’ve already lost.
Read MoreA view across to the inshore reef, Slaughter Bay, Norfolk Island
A personal reflection on Norfolk Island’s coral reef environment, political denial, and what John Wyndham’s The Kraken Wakes can still teach us about slow-moving disasters — and why this election matters more than ever.
Read MoreAstrea curta corals are ‘small, moderately plocoid [flattened], distinct, and almost circular’ . Normally grey-green in colour, you can see from the images here, ours are often beautiful rich gold, although they do vary. They have a neat growth habit and button-like corallites, which can grow in columns, spherically or flattened. Large colonies of these can form gorgeous undulating bumps.
Read MoreSlaughter Bay, Norfolk Island, March 2020
Last week, the chance of coral bleaching in Norfolk Island’s inshore lagoons was raised from ‘Watch’ to ‘Warning’ and will more than likely rise to Alert levels one and two in coming weeks. So why do I worry about water quality all the time when bleaching seems inevitable these days and so the reef is probably doomed anyway? Read on to find out.
Read MoreSmall numbers of different fish species is not an unusual phenomenon on Norfolk Island’s reef, but it does demonstrate what a tiny, precious, coral reef ecosystem we have, when we can count individuals on one hand and watch each of them grow, like these little blackeye thicklips, a member of the wrasse family.
Read MoreEmily Bay at low tide, early morning, December 2024
It is five years since I began wielding a camera underwater in Norfolk Island’s lagoons and my third ‘year in review’ for this ‘Out on a swim’ blog. And what a journey it has been. At least this year I have some great news to report, but – a bit like a curate’s egg (partly bad and partly good) – there are also some downers. Find out what 2024 has meant for Norfolk Island’s reef.
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