Innumerable coral islets and continental islands are sprinkled over the narrow corridor separating the coasts of Queensland, in northeastern Australia, from the Great Barrier Reef about 20 miles (30 km) offshore. Ten thousand years ago, before sea level had risen after the last ice age, the continental islands of today were still hills bordering the continental Australian plateau. Among them, Whitsunday Island, 43 square miles (109 km2) in area, is the largest of the 74 islands that make up the archipelago of the same name, baptized by British navigator James Cook, who discovered the islands in 1770 on Whitsunday (the Sunday of Pentecost). As seen here on Whitehaven beach, the islands’ shoreline is marked by the exceptional whiteness of its sand, made up of coral sediment. This site is part of Great Barrier Marine Park, which receives more than 2 million visitors each year. Tourism, tightly regulated, has only a slight impact on this sensitive site, unlike the repeated, unexplain

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