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reef walk guests loved the blue linkia sea stars
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date: 30/1/2009
Author:Nick Brennan
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Weather: Warm and cloudy | Air Temp: 28.6°C | Wind: SE 20/30 knots | Water Temp: 27°C | Water Visibility: ~ 10m | Sea State: Chop
What another great day at Lady Elliot Island. It was a day full of discoveries and exciting experiences.
On the guided reef walk guests loved the blue linkia sea stars. They saw some hiding in crevices with only a few limbs showing and they also saw some really big specimens in the middle of the sandy paths. The guests came across a sea star with three legs that had probably had an unfortunate encounter with a predator and were fascinated to learn of their ability to re-generate broken limbs. They also saw an abalone that had crept out of it’s hiding place to forage on the reef under the overcast sky. Abalones are usually nocturnal creatures so it was a great thrill for the guests to have seen this during the day. They also couldn’t believe how fast it moved when it saw the group!
On the glass bottom boat guests were interested to learn about coral bleaching as it is becoming more and more prevalent across the world. They were also fascinated by the big eyed trevally that were forming their characteristic tornado-like schools, and of course the turtles were around being their usually friendly and curious selves. It was great fun with everyone getting off the boat with huge smiles.
On the turtle trek everybody got to see some loggerhead turtle hatchlings. Jess had found a nest that had been washed away with the tide exposing a lot of the nest. To her surprise there were a lot of hatchlings there so she collected them to be released for the night time. Everybody got some fantastic photos as they made their way down to the water and watched them take a few little breathes before disappearing out into the deep blue.
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Reef Rangers - Jess Howard
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