The Curious Cuttlefish
It's funny how some of the smallest creatures in the ocean can be the most fascinating!!
On a day not long after a short period of close to cyclonic conditions on Lady Elliot I was taking a small group of 3 guests on a day trip to the island from the Gold Coast. Finally a beautiful bluebird day had graced us, spirits were sky high and I couldn"t help but think that this day was going to be one of lady Elliot’s finest.
The scenic flight up passed with my talking up the recent day where my guests & I had a swim with the islands’ resident manta rays, turtles & a couple of playful common dolphins. Also managed to score a couple of Humpback whales surfacing about 5 yards away from the glass bottom boat we were in (thanks Sharon for having the boat in the right places at the right time) so of course I was making all these promises I had absolutely no power what so ever as to whether I could keep them or not
I should have known better!!
Unfortunately no dolphin or manta ray sightings that day but we did manage to have a swim with a very curious Hawksbill turtle.
The end of hour snorkel out at Coral Gardens had come and Sharon was waving us back to the boat when one of my three guests, John from Atlanta, mentioned to me that there was a school of squid near the boat.
"Cool, that’s something you don’t see everyday” was my reply and as you can see by the video the squid turned out to be a school of cuttlefish that swam in to see what all the commotion was all about. I have never seen cuttlefish so curious into what we were doing!! The biggest one swam right beside me for what seemed to be an eternity. These guys in my opinion are some of the most interesting creatures in the ocean. The colours and patterns that they create through there skin are mesmerizing to say the least. You can see why they are such awesome predators.
So a big thanks you to those cuttlefish out at Coral Gardens that day. They really came to my rescue on this day that I talked up so much. It just goes to show you that there is always something on Lady Elliot Island, big or small that is going to make you stop and go “wow”!
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