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Norfolk Island's Reef

Discover a fragile paradise – Norfolk Island's beaches, lagoons and coral reef
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    • Kingston, Norfolk Island
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  • Out on a swim - blog
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Out on A Swim

‘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.

This 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..

The fate of a coral colony when it succumbs to white syndrome – four years on

August 24, 2025

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.

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In Corals, Environmental degradation Tags White syndrome, Coral disease, Water quality, coral reef
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Glimpses of recovery: what the reef could be if we let it

June 13, 2025

Day 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.

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In Environmental degradation Tags UNOceanConference, UNOC2025, Coral disease, corals, coral reef, coral health, Water quality
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I wrote about this massive coral in a blog post ‘The Ancient Massives’, 20 March 2022

Warning signs: quiet and unnoticed collapse of two coral colonies

June 12, 2025

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.

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In Environmental degradation Tags UNOceanConference, UNOC2025, Coral disease, corals, coral health, water quality
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Lone Pine, Emily Bay, Norfolk Island

Warning signs: coral disease takes hold

June 10, 2025

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.

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In Environmental degradation Tags UNOC2025, UNOceanConference, Coral disease, Reef health, coral reef, water quality, marine conservation, ocean action, Environmental protection, ocean science
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An Acropora coral colony, Emily Bay, Norfolk Island, showing early signs of growth anomalies

Warning signs: coral growth anomalies – the slow cancers of the reef

June 9, 2025

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.

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In Environmental degradation Tags UNOceanConference, Coral disease, coral reef, water quality, coral cancer
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This Acropora colony on Norfolk Island’s reef was photographed in 2021. Today it is no longer there. Weakened by disease, it was destroyed by a storm surge two years later, in December 2023

Then and now – shifting baseline syndrome laid bare

November 20, 2024

If disease were spreading through our native forests, if our trees were developing strange growths that hollowed them out, making them brittle in the face of each passing storm, would five years have slid by with the problem worsening by the day? That is exactly what is happening on Norfolk Island’s reef. Slowly, insidiously, it is dying and turning to slime.

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In Environmental degradation Tags Coral disease, corals, Water quality, shifting baseline syndrome, coral health
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Extensive area of acropora coral affected by white syndrome on Norfolk Island’s reef

Taking stock. Which way from here?

October 14, 2024

CSIRO are on Norfolk Island this week to present the findings of their report into water quality. As our Administrator, George Plant, says: ‘What the data shows us is that the quality of ground and surface water entering Emily and Slaughter Bays often contains high levels of contamination ... The health of the Emily and Slaughter Bay reef will continue to decline if we do not improve water quality.’

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In Environmental degradation Tags Coral disease, corals, Water quality
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Remnant reef overgrown with algae, 31 January 2022, Emily Bay, Norfolk Island

Come on in. The water's fine ...

January 31, 2022

As Costa Georgiadis says, nature tells the truth, and we must only look at our reef on Norfolk Island to know its truth. We, as custodians, have not been caring enough for it and now that carelessness is coming home to roost.

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In Environmental degradation Tags corals, coral reef, environment, ecosystems, alagae, pollution, Norfolk Island, Coral disease, water quality
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#LittleFig, my puppa, following me in for a swim at Cemetery Bay, the island’s dog beach.

Penis fencing flatworms

November 2, 2021

Here’s a quick round up of what has been happening on Norfolk Island’s reef in the last couple of weeks. There is always so much going on. Read on to find out about the mating habits of flatworms, and see a busy bluestreak cleaner wrasse hard at work cleaning his wide variety of customers.

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Tags flatworms, Coral disease, Emily Bay, pollution, cleaner wrasse
Full moon rising over our home on Norfolk Island, #DownArthurs

Full moon rising over our home on Norfolk Island, #DownArthurs

September full moon on Norfolk Island

September 21, 2021

The full moon last night brought us some beautiful, settled weather, right on cue, which meant I was able to get out into Slaughter Bay for the first time in ages. Click here to read what was happening in the coral reef lagoons of Norfolk Island.

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Tags Coral disease, corals, coral reef, Lady Musgrave blenny
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Featured
Celebrating Biodiversity Month on Norfolk Island
Sep 7, 2025
Celebrating Biodiversity Month on Norfolk Island
Sep 7, 2025

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.

Sep 7, 2025
The fate of a coral colony when it succumbs to white syndrome – four years on
Aug 24, 2025
The fate of a coral colony when it succumbs to white syndrome – four years on
Aug 24, 2025

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.

Aug 24, 2025
The Candy-Striped Cleaner Keeping the Reef Healthy
Aug 17, 2025
The Candy-Striped Cleaner Keeping the Reef Healthy
Aug 17, 2025

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.

Aug 17, 2025
Biomimicry: How a Boxfish Caught Mercedes Benz’s Eye
Aug 10, 2025
Biomimicry: How a Boxfish Caught Mercedes Benz’s Eye
Aug 10, 2025

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.

Aug 10, 2025
Patchwork Corals: How Colonies Fuse to Form Living Mosaics
Aug 3, 2025
Patchwork Corals: How Colonies Fuse to Form Living Mosaics
Aug 3, 2025

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.

Aug 3, 2025
Reef relief
Jul 28, 2025
Reef relief
Jul 28, 2025

Today, 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.

Jul 28, 2025
Emily Bay's big 'brain' coral
Jul 20, 2025
Emily Bay's big 'brain' coral
Jul 20, 2025

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.

Jul 20, 2025
Biodiversity matters
Jul 14, 2025
Biodiversity matters
Jul 14, 2025

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.

Jul 14, 2025
Poop power
Jun 17, 2025
Poop power
Jun 17, 2025

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.

Jun 17, 2025
Glimpses of recovery: what the reef could be if we let it
Jun 13, 2025
Glimpses of recovery: what the reef could be if we let it
Jun 13, 2025

Day 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.

Jun 13, 2025

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