The Great Barrier Reef is comprised of over 2,500 reefs and a number of island groups. We normally see very few, if any, vessels up north. You will see a relatively small selection of reefs in a day, or even a week. You won't be able to help but wonder at the skill and tenacity of the early explorers, from the earliest indigenous people of the coast, to the more recent voyages of James Cook, Flinders, Baur, King, Stokes, Blackwood and MacGillivray.