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green turtles stole the show
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date: 18/8/2009
Author:Nick Brennan
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Weather: Sunny
Air Temp: șC
Wind: South East 20- 25 knots
Water Temp: 21șC
Water Visibility: 20m ~
Sea State: Moderate
The wind changed direction today and picked up to be pretty strong but it did little to affect the visibility or the snorkelling conditions on the western side of the island.
Second reef was teaming with the larger carnivorous fish when the glass bottom boat came out. The big eyed trevally were out in phenomenal numbers as were some impressive mackerel with beautiful iridescent colouration, some amazing giant trevally and a few enormous chevron barracuda that were sitting in a trench. One of the guests thought that they were sensational and also quite scary given that they were very much larger than him. The green turtles however stole the show putting on a display of cute behavior that had guests melting at the sight. It was a great trip with everybody rapt by the outstanding wildlife.
The divers went out to the severance ship wreck and had a tremendous time. They saw the Mantas including one very small individual that would have only been a metre wide. Very little is known about Manta ray biology but judging from our records and recent observation it seems that this might be the time of year that they give birth. We know that when a Manta is born it come our furled up like a cigar and unravels to be about a metre so this indicates that the ones we are seeing are as small as they get. The divers also saw a couple of leopard sharks dozing on the bottom, some barracuda and a school of batfish.
In the evening guests came along to the dangerous marine creatures presentation in the Education Centre. It was great fun with lots of discussion and in the end everybody realised that the most dangerous thing we come into contact with is the sun. Skin cancer kills more people every year than any marine creature so slip slop slap! The most dangerous animal on the reef is in fact the coral due to the fact that it has a sharp internal skeleton covered with a delicate layer of tissue. This means that when people bump into the coral they get a scratch or graze with coral tissue inside that can get infected unless treated. So watch out for that coral!
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