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Sunday - moray eels and sea turtles both spotted
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date: 4/1/2009
Author:Shay Young
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CONDITIONS
Weather: Overcast with squally showers | Air Temp: 31°C | Wind: SE winds 20/30 knots | Water Temp: 26°C | Water Visibility: ~10m | Sea State: Big swell, choppy
ISLAND LIFE
Critter Encounters:
Today started with some light rain falling over the lagoon as the sun rose from behind the clouds, allowing rays of sunshine to pierce through and light up the reef.
The glass bottom boats headed out in choppy conditions through the Coral Gardens keyway and out towards Second Reef; a school of around 20 squid were sighted by many snorkellers. They were in awe of the rapid colour changes these bizarre creatures can make. Turtles dominated the water experience today with juvenile green turtles spotted everywhere coming up for that valuable air before disappearing back into the depths for a sleep; black-napped terns were also sighted out on the ocean having a feed skimming the surface for small baitfish.
The island discovery tour had people discovering the bird life on the island. The white-capped noddies were the main focus with many of the young birds found on the ground establishing their new surroundings as the high winds blew them out of their nests within the trees.
Fish feeding began in the fish pool with an extremely high tide; this had guests practically swimming with the fish that came along for some food. The moon wrasse were the main fish to show, with “Nigel” our resident silver drummer also showing up for a bit of food before swimming off to join back up with his school of fishy friends for the evening.
The divers headed to the Severence wreck for a morning dive and swam with hawksbill, loggerhead and green sea turtles; the afternoon dive headed to Anchor Bommie with moray eels and sea turtles both spotted. A large green sea turtle fascinated divers as a guitarfish swam right on past, a large shark also passed by in the distance, too far away to be positively identified, thought to be a grey reef shark.
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bridled tern - Shay Young
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