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a variety of stingrays today including the bull ray and cowtail ray
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date: 10/7/2009
Author:Nick Brennan
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Weather: Sunny and windy
Air Temp: 20.3ºC
Wind: SE 20-30 knots
Water Temp: 21ºC
Water Visibility: 10m
Sea State: Rough
Boy did it get windy today. While the eastern side of the island copped a battering, the western side offered protection from the wind and a great opportunity to explore the Great Barrier Reef.
The glass bottom boat ventured out to second reef where they saw beautiful coral formations and an abundance of brightly coloured reef fish that call it home. The parrotfish attracted the most attention with its vivid hues of purples, blues and greens looking absolutely spectacular. Some juvenile green turtles also popped by for a visit with their shell no bigger than a dinner plate. They were very cute and guests could hardly believe that they grow as big as 300kg! It raised the question “How old do turtles get?” The guide explained that there has been no conclusive studies due to the fact scientists have never found a turtle that has died as a result of old age, however it is believed they could live for as long as 200years! Wow that’s a long time. When everybody jumped back up onto the boat they were lucky to see a gigantic humpback whale hoist its whole body out of the water and make the mother of all splashes as it come back down. It was a truly wild sight that had people rubbing their eyes in disbelief.
The divers saw a variety of stingrays today including the bull ray and cowtail ray. The bull ray is actually the species that was responsible for the death of television star and conservation icon Steve Irwin giving them a somewhat unsavory reputation. What happened to Steve Irwin was a very unfortunate and tragic accident because stingrays are in fact not aggressive and are a lot of the time very timid. Our divers were not scared of these often misunderstood creatures and were rapt to watch them slip through the water like a magic carpet. They also saw another creature of considerable notoriety; the stonefish. This creature is a slow swimming ambush predator that relies on camouflage to catch its prey so it is often very hard to see. It poses a threat to humans because it has thirteen venomous spines along its dorsal ridge that if stood on, cause excruciating pain. Luckily everybody on the island wears covered footwear when we walk in the water so we never have a problem with it. Our divers thought it was fantastic to be able to observe this strange piece of evolution and made for some interesting photos where it is very hard to spot the stonefish amongst the coral. Other great discoveries were a yellow and black nudibranch, an olive sea snake, a hermit crab in a tun shell and a box fish with psychedelic coloration. It was a dive that was chock full of action.
In the evening guests came along to a presentation on humpback whales. They loved to learn more about these beautiful mammals that we are so lucky to have
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breach- A Jones
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