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Saturday - Shovelnose ray seen on glassbottom boat tour
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date: 6/12/2008
Author:Shay Young
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CONDITIONS
Weather: Sunny | Air Temp: 29°C | Wind: N/NE winds 10/15 knots | Water Temp: 26°C | Water Visibility: 20m | Sea State: slight chop
ISLAND LIFE
Critter Encounters:
Today was a day of great diversity in the animal world.
Sunrise in the lagoon found a large female green sea turtle in the shallows. Having a well earned rest after coming ashore last night to nest. The turtle only had to wait a short while before the Lagoon filled up enough for her to swim free back out to the depths.
The island tucker tour was the first tour to kick off the day with guests heading out around the island in search for vegetation and species that would enable them to survive if ever stranded on an island; many of the guests deciding that turtles would be the best option for this time of year with all their nests. The mutton birds were also of interest with all agreeing that this could make for a good feed tasting just like mutton. There was also a little surprise with another little red tailed tropic bird discovered, now named Delta after one of the caravan planes LMD.
The glass bottom boats headed out from the Lighthouse towards Second Reef. One manta ray was spotted; the mantas have been a rare sighting in the last week with the whole boat in awe as this amazing creature glided past feeding. A giant stingray also lay on the bottom at Sandy Seconds ever so motionless sensing all movements around and picking up the vibrations in the sand; a shovelnose ray and a massive leopard shark were also spotted swimming off over the reef crest.
The island discovery tour saw the guests head out and take a look at some of the vegetation and bird species of the island. The tropic birds and their chicks once again took the spotlight with all guests in amazement at the beautiful little fluffy chicks hiding in their little corner of vegetation with mum or dad sitting by, checking the little ones don’t wander too far from the nest. The beach rock was of interest to all involved with the rock only forming due to the birds on the island. The guano produced by the bird’s on the island is very rich in phosphate which when it rains runs down to the ocean; the ocean is already too rich in nutrients and has to reject the phosphates leaving them behind to bind with the coral skeletons and sediment on the beach thus forming beach rock.
The divers ventured around the island today heading to the blowhole on the eastern side in the morning and to 3 Pyramids in the afternoon. The sharks were the headliners for the divers with lots of different specie spotted including white tips, black tips but mainly grey whalers; eagle rays were also sighted with amazing spotted rays and even eagle rays with no spots. The eagle rays appear to have a complex social structure and are usually sighted in waters shallower than 60m.
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Shovelnose Ray - Shay Young
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