There's a saying about love that goes: when you know, you know.
After her first visit to the Great Barrier Reef at 15, Master Reef Guides program manager Crystal Lacey knew it was love.
"My first visit to the Reef was on a family trip in the Whitsundays. I did my first scuba dive, and I saw there was a whole world underneath the surface of the water.
"It was a huge eye-opener - it's this alien world right off your doorstep that no one ever talks about.
"Once I came up I said, mum this is what I want to do."
Still just a teenager, Crystal would pack up her entire life in the small rural town of Meringindan, west of Brisbane, and drive to the famed heart of the Reef: Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays.
It was here that she would begin her career in tourism, becoming the youngest Scuba Schools International Dive Instructor in the southern hemisphere at just 17 years old.
Despite the fourteen-hour days, and the demanding and unpredictable nature of the work - Crystal says working in tourism on the Great Barrier Reef is everything it is cracked up to be.
"It's an incredibly rewarding industry because every day there's an opportunity to give and receive a little bit of magic," she said.
"But it's not just about what the Reef gives you. It's about taking that connection and that sense of wonder, and sharing it with someone else, creating a moment of magic that they'll carry with them long after they've left.
"And perhaps most importantly, it's an opportunity to shift someone's compass, to create a moment in time that changes their course, reveals a new understanding, releases a lifelong fear, or completely reshapes the way they see themselves and the world around them.
"That's the privilege of this industry: sometimes, without even realising it, we get to change lives."
And that, according to Crystal, is the essence of the Master Reef Guides program which she manages. But long before she joined the Reef Authority, and indeed long before anyone on the Reef knew what a Master Reef Guide was, Crystal received her yellow rashie.
"I was in the inaugural cohort of Master Reef Guides in 2018.
"No one really understood what this was going to become at the time."
The Master Reef Guides program was developed by the Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators (AMPTO), Tourism and Events Queensland and the Reef Authority to mentor and upskill selected tour guides in delivering immersive Reef experiences.
Today, the program has 166 guides. Together, they form a network of world-leading Reef guides and interpreters who share the latest science and management information about the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
"I don't think any of us in the first cohort felt worthy. But we knew it would be an incredible opportunity to learn from really pivotal staff at the Reef Authority and other important scientists and managers," Crystal said.
"After the first training school - when we went back, it took quite a while for people to understand what Master Reef Guides were and how it could transform a guest experience.
"But looking forward to today, we have a suite of different roles throughout the industry - from owner operators to frontline staff - covering all touchpoints of the guest experience.
"And because the remit is so broad, people can bring their own experience and expertise to the program."
So how did Crystal find herself on the other side of the fence, now managing the program?
Crystal knew her time on the frontline of marine tourism had an expiry date.
"When I started having children, my whole life changed in an instant and my priorities shifted.
"I felt the door of tourism closing in my face. I now had to find out what my identity was now as a mother, when my whole life was being on the water."
Crystal poured her love for tourism into her own venture as she began a tourism consulting business. While she was no longer out on the water, she could still make a difference to guests through working to enhance the offerings of tourism businesses across the Reef. Her talents were recognized, winning her a gold New Tourism Business and Young Achiever award at the Whitsunday Tourism Awards.
The work led her to a contract with the still relatively new Master Reef Guides program. As the program grew, the role developed into a full-time position which Crystal inevitably won.
It was a way for Crystal to pour her love back into the Reef.
"I don't think there was any other role that makes me sit at a desk 95% of the year that would still feed my fire like the Master Reef Guide program does because I can still give my passion to 166 Master Reef Guides throughout the whole length and breadth of the Marine Park across more than 50 High Standard Tourism Operators.
"I feel like it's more rewarding than just working for one operator now, because I get the ability to do it across the entire Great Barrier Reef.
"To be able to drive a program that sits directly underneath those core values that the Reef Authority have and being able to filter that through to the front line of tourism, touching the lives of millions of people - I think that's pretty special."
From working on individual reefs, to influencing the experiences of guests throughout the entire Marine Park, Crystal's career continues to echo that same love that brought her to the Reef all those years ago.
"I am so privileged I get to call this my job."
