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Juvenile green turtles popped up .. around the boat
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date: 16/7/2009
Author:Nick Brennan
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Weather: Sunny
Air Temp: 18.9ºC
Wind: SW 15-20 knots
Water Temp: 21ºC
Water Visibility: ~15m
Sea State: Moderate
It was a great day of sunshine here at Lady Elliot Island with resort guests there to lap it up. A beautiful morning to enjoy a stroll around the island before meeting up for the glass bottom boat before lunch.
The glass bottom boat saw the full works of marine life today. Juvenile green turtles popped up left right and centre around the boat making everybody shriek with excitement. Some guests found it amazing that these turtles don’t become a reproductive adult until over thirty years of age and they may live as old as two hundred years! The majestic manta’s came past for a visit as well, their size impressed everybody on the boat. They were astounded to hear that the larger pelagic variety of Manta Rays can get to a whopping nine metres across!
In the afternoon guests came along to fish feeding to see a great variety of fish. The beautifully coloured moon wrasse received a lot of attention and made for some fantastic photo opportunities. Guests were interested that all of the moon wrasse actually start off as females and only become a male when they are the largest and strongest in the school. Guests laughed that the males sometimes get insecure and feel the need to boss the group around to assert its dominance. During this time they make their colours go very intense and let any females thinking about doing a sex change know that they are the boss.
In the evening guests came on a night stalk and learnt about the resident island ghost Susanna Mckee. They didn’t see Susanna but had a bit of a shiver at some of the ghost sightings around the lighthouse and the keepers cottages. It concluded a great day in and out of the water here at Lady Elliot.
Special Guests:
We had some very special guests on the island today. We welcomed the Scotts family back to Lady Elliot for the first time since they left the island forty years ago when they were the lighthouse keepers! It was great to hear their anecdotes of life when the island had no vegetation, about the construction of the air strip and their amazing stories about spear fishing. It certainly sounded like an interesting lifestyle.
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manta - J Howard
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