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Sunday - epaulette sharks spotted
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date: 14/12/2008
Author:Nick Brennan
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CONDITIONS
Weather: Cloudy and Humid | Air Temp: 28.5 °C | Wind: NW 10/15 knots | Water Temp: 25 °C | Water Visibility: ~ 10m | Sea State: Choppy
ISLAND LIFE
Critter Encounters:
It was another amazing day on our spectacular coral cay. The snorkellers had a great day on the reef. One of the guests came up from the water and said, “It really is a different world under there isn’t it! The coral was beautiful, and so many different fish!”
At fish feeding we had all of our usual colourful fishy friends show up for an afternoon snack, and we also had a very special visitor drop by to see what all the fuss was about. First spotted by one of the guests, a gold and brown Mooray Eel slipped through the back of the fish feeding pool giving everyone quite a thrill and allowed for some magnificent photos.
The guided reef walkers had an awesome afternoon among the shallow pools of the lagoon. They saw two epaulette sharks on their adventure. One was relaxing under the shade of a coral outcrop and the other busy foraging for food out in an open pool. Guests also had an up close experience with the placid and beautiful dolabella sea hare, as well as finding some New Caledonian sea-stars with incredible patterns on them.
The divers saw some lazy leopard sharks having a break in a nice sandy clearing and swum through some massive schools of fusiliers that were enjoying the abundance of plankton in the water.
In the evening, Jess and Nick led guests on a night stalk to see the nocturnal life of Lady Elliot Island. On the journey they encountered some cheeky mutton birds putting on a show, wailing their signature song to find their partners. It was a remarkably clear night and while the guests were crossing the runway everyone stopped in awe as a shooting star trailed through the sky. Over at the lighthouse a green turtle was nesting on the beach. Later in the night some of the guests returned to lighthouse beach and, following turtle nesting guidelines, observed the awesome spectacle of a turtle laying her eggs.
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epaulette shark - Laura Smith
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