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Tuesday- our turtles hatchlings from nests that had emerged were due for release

date: 30/12/2008
Author:Shay Young

CONDITIONS

Weather: Sunny | Air Temp: 31°C | Wind: N/NE winds 10/15 knots | Water Temp: 26°C | Water Visibility: ~15m | Sea State: Calm

ISLAND LIFE

Critter Encounters:

Today was extremely hot with the humidity making for a great day to hide out in the water!

The glass bottom boats headed out to Second Reef with a very large green sea turtle sighted coming up for a breath of air before all the guests headed in to join this amazing creature in its’ underwater world. A large female green sea turtle was also sighted with 2 males trailing behind her, perhaps trying their chance to mate but not before they fought one another off, by biting each others neck.

Black blotched porcupine fish were also out and about possibly courting with the fish following one another between the coral crevices with the tailing porcupine fish biting the others tail; it was odd to see the porcupine fish as usually they will not come out from under the ledges during the day making an exciting site for some lucky guests.

The turtle talk was popular today with many guests showing up to learn about the lifecycle and ways of the sea turtles found around Lady Elliot; for many guests the information was quite a surprise especially the age of 30 to 50 until maturity and one in one thousand change of survival to maturity.

Fish feeding had a good turnout today with many of the moon wrasse darting in and around the guest’s legs; the mullet, sergeant majors, six bar wrasse were all around, and Nigel (our silver dummer) dropped in for a quick feed.

As the sun set over the Western side of the island there was another surprise for many of the guests gathered near coral gardens; not only were they given a spectacular sunset but also some of our turtles hatchlings from nests that had emerged were due for release down the beach. They raced off down the beach to spend there next 5 – 10 years out in the open ocean.

Green Hatchling - Photo by Tom Berry