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Friday - guests spotted a huge female loggerhead
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date: 2/1/2009
Author:Nick Brennan
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CONDITIONS
Weather: Overcast, showers | Air Temp: 28.1°C | Wind: NW/NE 15-20knots | Water Temp: 26°C | Water Visibility: ~ 20m | Sea State: Choppy
ISLAND LIFE
Critter Encounters:
It was an awesome day in the water here at Lady Elliot with great stories right across the board.
The Glass bottom boats were lucky to encounter a large grey reef shark out at second reef. Some of the guests said they were scared at first but soon realised that the gentle beast meant no harm and were awed by the spectacle of a shark going about it’s daily business. Green sea turtles were seen all over the reef today. Each guest came back aboard the boat with a story about their own unique experience with a turtle and one guest described the experience as “Absolutely magical”.
The scuba divers were very impressed by two massive bull rays that were resting on the sandy bottom and later in the dive some eagle rays swooped in with their elegant style much to everyone’s excitement.
The Snorkel Safari was taken around to the southern side of the Island where the visibility was perfect and the water temperature was nothing short of magnificent. This set the scene for an epic snorkel. Not long after getting in, guests spotted a huge female loggerhead that was resting in a hole after coming ashore the night before to lay her eggs. Guests were mesmerized by the electric blue colouring of the blue tang that were seen schooling in large numbers across the shallow reef and an emperor angelfish was seen at a cleaner station getting the full treatment by a cleaner wrasse. The reef then opened out into an incredible valley that was inhabited by numerous brightly coloured fish, and of particular note was a large boxfish seen hiding under a coral overhang. Further along the reef the guide spotted an octopus that was hiding itself in a crevice with only its eyes showing. It put on an incredible display of camouflage changing its colour rapidly from snow white to a deep rose blood red colour. Then just to top things off two graceful white tip reef sharks circled around each other making a spectacular conclusion to what was a very memorable snorkel.
In the evening after a well earned big dinner, guests kicked back to play some reef bingo with Shay before heading off to bed with the gentle patter of rain on their roofs.
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Sunset - Wayne Fox
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