 |
|
a very large loggerhead turtle
|
date: 29/4/2009
Author:Nick Brennan
|
Weather: Sunny
Air Temperature:
Wind Speed / Direction: SE 10-15 knots
Water Temperature: 25°C
Water Visibility: 20m
Sea State: Calm
Spectacular conditions greeted guests again this morning making it well worth the effort for early bird snorkellers. The Manta’s were on the run again with the changing tide with loads of these graceful creatures out at the Lighthouse bombies hanging around for the Glass Bottom Boats until lunchtime. At second reef snorkellers observed a trumpet fish in its yellow form. This incredible creature has the ability to change its colour to black whilst feeding making it much harder for its prey to recognize it, whereby it often hides behind other large fish like the coral trout or flowery cod and makes an ambush attack. Guests thought this was fascinating and took lots of underwater photos of it. Also out at second reef guests had the opportunity to see a very large loggerhead turtle. It turned out to be Frank a resident male of the area and he was pretty happy just having a snooze under a coral ledge making it super easy for everybody to have a look.
The divers enjoyed very nice conditions with great visibility and lots of large marine creatures. Some sharks were seen up around the severance wreck including the leopard spot, black tip and white tip reef sharks. The soft corals all over the wreck made for some very colourful photos and the reef fish as always appeared stunning.
During the day one of the guides discovered some lost little turtle hatchling so she collected them up to be released later that evening. Guests came down to the Coral Gardens and watched the little turtles begin their lifecycle at sea under a breathtaking sunset. They were astounded at how quickly they can make their way down the beach and laughed as they took their first few breaths in the water. Guests will have some incredible memories of this occasion to keep with them for the rest of their lives.
After dinner some curious guests came to the Dangerous Marine Creatures presentation. It was fantastic to hear some Crown of Thorns sea star anecdotes, particularly some great stories by a man from Vanuatu. It was a great information sharing session that brought everybody together and only re-affirmed our love for the ocean.
|
|
Trumpet fish and coral trout - Jess Howard
|
click to download flash player