Beveridge reef is a spot that very few people ever have the opportunity to visit. It is a large coral reef lagoon in the middle of the ocean, far from any land. At high tide, the whole thing is covered with water, so it’s as if you’re anchored in a shallow pool in the middle of the ocean. With no land, there are no buildings, no plants, no dry sand, no airstrip, no docking spot. The only people that can visit this spot are those on boats that can anchor, and with sufficiently shallow draft to enter the lagoon.

For the first few days we were the only boat there. It was surreal, probably the most remote and isolated experience of the entire trip so far. On the last day one other vessel came in and anchored far away (the lagoon is quite large).

The fish and sharks in the passage were ridiculous. Jon dove the pass while we snorkeled over him, and he was swimming with dozens (hundreds?) of sharks that didn’t stay very far away from him. Karen and I, floating above him, watched a shark approach his back to within about 6 feet, but he was turned away and didn’t see it. That was a bit unnerving. Later we heard that a month or two earlier someone was mauled by a shark in that very passage. Nowhere else have the sharks ever been an issue and this was the first story we had heard about shark troubles.

We spent a fair bit of time snorkeling the lagoon. The keel cleared the sand by less than a foot at low tide. There was a wreck up on one side of the reef that we snorkeled to and messed about in, though it was fairly modern and just junky, rather than some sort of archaeological adventure.

The water was as clear as anywhere we’ve been, visibility to 100 ft easily, maybe twice that.

Karen spotted some whales out in the ocean across the reef from where we were anchored, too far to get a good look but still super cool.