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Saturday - reef fish identification presentation
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date: 6/9/2008
Author:Laura Smith
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CONDITIONS
Weather: Fine and sunny | Air Temp: 21.4°C | Wind Speed / Direction: SW/S 10-15 knots, increasing 15/20 knots in the morning | Water Temp: 22°C | Water Visibility: ~ 15 m | Sea State: Choppy in the morning, but calmed in the afternoon.
ISLAND LIFE
Critter Encounters:
Last night many guests attended a reef fish identification presentation in the education center. With around 1500 fish species to be found on the Great Barrier Reef, questions such as “what fish was that?” coupled with colourful descriptions are commonplace in conversation on Lady Elliot Island. After the glass bottom/snorkel boat tour today, some guests were keenly reeling off the fish species they had learnt to identify the evening before.
At this time of year, white-capped noddies perch like island sentinels in nearly every tree by night. Their vivacious chatter sets the evening ambiance until dawn, when they depart again en masse. They are not yet to be seen in large numbers during the day, but every dusk they fly in over the ocean to roost another night on Lady Elliot. Watching this spectacle from the water, floating 50 metres from the shore while these birds dart erratically just above your head in their thousands – well, there’s no experience quite like it.
“Love is in the air!” says dive instructor Kym Fiora. As the sea turtle breeding season approaches, adult males are exhibiting aggressive behaviour towards each other as they compete for the attention of females. Snorkellers and SCUBA divers alike have reported watching these turtle tussles with fascination. SCUBA divers have also reported manta rays once again in exceptionally high abundances: “we lost count at 30… It’s MANTAstic!” - quote-unquote ever-witty dive instructor Kym. One diver excitedly told of a very special encounter with a manta ray on this morning’s dive: while diving over a coral bommie, a shadow was cast over him. Seeing his buddy frantically signing him to look up, he turned his eyes to the surface, and “a huge manta was right here!” (he gestured just above his head). Watching with awe, the manta calmly glided away, seemingly completely unbothered by the divers’ presence. Many SCUBA divers arrived on the island today, and the boat Reef Lady was full this afternoon.
Guests were fairly thankful today that the Island Tucker Tour was scheduled after lunch, as Octopus Bush leaf and Aloe Vera flesh don’t quite cut it for settling a hungry stomach. All the same, guests delighted in trying these and other exotic morsels. It was fascinating to learn about the many nutritional and medicinal properties of the vegetation here on Lady Elliot Island, as well as some invaluable survival techniques in the case of shipwreck on a deserted island.
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White Cap Noddie - Wayne Fox
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