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Saturday - Divers .. sighted Moray Eels, an enormous Batfish, brightly coloured Parrotfish and a massive Bull ray
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date: 10/1/2009
Author:Jess Howard
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CONDITIONS
Weather: Strong wind and showers | Air Temp: 26ºC | Wind: South East 25-30 knots | Water Temp: 27ºC | Water Visibility: 20 metres | Sea State: Choppy
ISLAND LIFE
Critter Encounters:
With a nice cool change sweeping through in the form of heavy rain, many lay awake until the early hours of the morning listening to the soothing sound of rain dripping through the trees and on the roofs. The rain continued stopping briefly in the morning, for a calm snorkel, before picking up again late morning.
On the Glassbottom boats, guests were keen to jump in for a snorkel as the seawater was much warmer than the rainwater, so jumping in felt like jumping into a bath. What a great feeling! The turtles LOVED the rain, surfacing often to feel it on their heads, giving everyone on the boat a good look at them. On the third snorkel boat at Coral Gardens, excited squeals (through snorkels) of “SHARK SHARK” were heard as guests gazed at the white-tip reef shark that swam beneath them.
Divers at Maori Wrasse Bommie in the morning sighted Moray Eels, an enormous Batfish, brightly coloured Parrotfish and a massive Bull ray, happily resting on the bottom. At the Three Pyramids in the afternoon, divers found Maori Wrasse, a Shovelnose Ray, an enormous school of Trevally, and an Octopus that changed colours constantly whilst being watched by the fascinated divers.
The afternoon reefwalk, due to howling wind and forceful rain was held indoors as a discussion on different creatures that may be encountered on the reef flat. Insightful questions had everyone enjoying their indoor imaginative reefwalk. A rainy fish feeding found people almost wetter than the fish, but giggling as the fish tickled their legs as they nibbled on their food.
The turtle trek began rather early as a Green turtle made her way right up onto the eastern deck trying to lay her eggs on the hard wooden ground. Failing this, she made her way under the wooden railing along the beach until she decided to head back down to the water. At 8 o’clock, guests followed their guide down towards Coral Gardens in search of nesting turtles and little baby hatchlings. Just before hitting the boatshed, we found one! She was still digging when found so we observed quietly until she finished digging. After about ten minutes of complete silence and no movement, it was determined that she was nesting! Everyone gathered around to see the eggs fall lightly into their hole. After another hour, the big Green turtle was making her way back towards the water, hopefully to have a rest after her exhausting journey.
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Turtle eggs - Jess Howard
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