 |
|
Ranger John shared his extensive knowledge on turtles
|
date: 20/3/2009
Author:Nick Brennan
|
Weather: Overcast | Air Temp: 28.3°C | Wind: SE 20/30 knots | Water Temp: 27°C | Water Visibility: ~ 10 m | Sea State: Chop
The glass bottom boat was beautiful today with a great diversity of fish seen out over second reef. The parrot fish were busy chomping away on the reef below blowing guests away with their spectacular colours. One guest said that they looked like a rainbow paddle pop giving everyone a laugh. The guide dove down and picked up a prickly red sea cucumber for guests to have a look at and picked some of the rubble off its underside to show everybody the tiny tube feet that they use for locomotion. After the guide had finished talking about the sea cucumber it was put back where it was found because they move only about 1-2 feet a day, so they have probably taken a long time to get there and they are probably really happy where they are!
In the evening Ranger John shared his extensive knowledge on turtles with some very excited guests. After some great showing some amazing photos and answering some great questions Ranger John took guests out to release some turtle hatchlings he had found while processing some nests during the day. All up there were about 40 hatchlings that were a mixture of green and loggerhead turtles allowing guests the opportunity to get photos with both species before they were released down the beach. After the spectacular hatchling release John continued on around the island looking for a nesting turtle which he believed was unsuccessful last night so should be up tonight. Unfortunately the nature of Mother Nature is to never do what we quite expect and the nesting turtle didn’t show up so John took the guests to the front of the resort and processed a nest he had been keeping an eye on. He found that the nest was very successful with 128 hatched eggs and only 3 unfertilized eggs. This gave people a chance to feel the texture of an egg with some guests identifying it with a ping pong ball. It was great of John to come out and give us such a thrilling night and put an exclamation mark on an already brilliant day.
|
|
Ranger John - Jenni Fox
|
click to download flash player