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A tiny Indian seastar was also seen

date: 22/7/2009
Author:Nick Brennan

Weather: Mostly sunny
Air Temp: 21.3ºC
Wind: NE 5-10 knots
Water Temp: 21ºC
Water Visibility: 20m
Sea State: Calm

It was another day of perfection in paradise with very light winds and a good amount of sunshine.

The glass bottom boat enjoyed the calm conditions going for a steam around the western side of the island to see the wildlife. The Manta rays were absolutely spectacular traveling in a feeding train along a well developed current line. These enormous animals eat plankton - the smallest creatures in the ocean. The Manta Rays like to gather where the current pools all the plankton, hence the small area where they were all congregating today. When the glass bottom boat moored up to let get guests go snorkeling the fusiliers were teamed under the boat their shiny bodies reflecting the sunlight off as amazing colours. A large coral trout parked itself up under a coral ledge and stared out menacingly at the passing fish, its beautiful maroon colour with blue spots also dazzling guests.

The afternoon saw superb conditions for the guided reefwalk with crystal clear water and not even a breeze to ruffle the surface. Guests thought the branching coral formations were so pretty and thought that they looked like a garden. Coral is actually an animal that has a microscopic algae living in its tissue called zooxanthellae. It provides the coral with up to 90% of its energy and is the reason coral still behaves a lot like a plant because the corals are competing for sunlight. The waste products of both creatures (ie the carbon dioxide from the animal and oxygen from the algae) are both utilised by the other and mean both is dependant on the other. One guest couldn’t believe how perfect the friendship is and found the whole experience an eye opener into the complexity of the reef system. The group saw the tiny bright blue cleaner wrasse doing its trademark advertising dance. They laughed that some fish on the reef come to the cleaning stations many times a day just because it feels nice! A tiny Indian seastar was also seen in the middle of the sandy path. It was no bigger than three centimeters across and had perfect miniature features.

In the evening guests gathered in the dining room for a colossal game of reef bingo. It seemed half of the resort was involved and ended in lots of laughter. It was a great atmosphere and a fun finish to the day.

Manta - Jess