Also grew up in (far north) Qld in 80s and 90s. Spent much of my childhood camping on islands and snorkelling fringing reefs where my (clouded) memories are pre

Also grew up in (far north) Qld in 80s and 90s. Spent much of my childhood camping on islands and snorkelling fringing reefs where my (clouded) memories are pretty great. Like most, attended state schools ... but we never visited the reef, and it was rarely, if ever, mentioned. Returned a few years ago to work in reef conservation. You should keep in mind that the sites zoned/selected for tourism make up less than 1% of the reef and tend to be chosen because of their natural beauty and resilience. You are not visiting a randomly selected site (not to mention that you tend to swim in an area the size of a couple of 50m pools, the reef is about the same size as Italy, as long as the west coast of the US .. or QLD). Unless you're talking a bed of dead coral (which could easily be caused by a storm) most signs of stress in the ecosystem are unrecognisable to the average eye. Much of the reef, including many of the tourist sites, have already been heavily affected by the mass bleaching events (most recently in 2019/2020). Many of the reefs recovered, some of them didn't and the boats visiting them stopped doing so. I have personally seen pristine reefs and decimated ones within a few kms of each other. It is a nuanced story. The main issue is that the heating events - that lead up to the bleaching - are occuring more frequently. Bleaching isn't the only outcome here. E.g. many species' reproductive cycles are effected by temperature. Add to this other effects of climate change, such as acidification (which doesn't just take a toll on corals but also hugely important sea grass populations). Plus seperate anthropogenic stressors, such as nutrient runoff which can lead to uncontrollable outbreaks of coral eating starfish. Absolutely agree that technology is a vital component, but without a major and rapid ideological shift (in Aus at least) the distopia painted by Ove, et al may be closer than you think. If you're interested, we collected ~14k images from across the reef between Oct and Dec last year. You can have a look (and help us analyse them) here: greatreefcensus.org/analysis