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two Manta Rays in the middle of a courtship display
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date: 3/9/2009
Author:Nick Brennan
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Weather: Sunny
Air Temp: 24.8ºC
Wind: East/ South East 15-20 knots
Water Temp: 22ºC
Water Visibility: 30m+
Sea State: Calm as a lake
Wow - what a day out here at Lady Elliot Island, the sun was shining and wind was a favorable easterly and most importantly the wildlife was playing!
The glass bottom boat steamed out in lake like conditions to see two Manta Rays in the middle of a courtship display. They were mimicking each others movements swimming erratically, looping and carving tight arcs through the water. It was sensational to watch and it appeared in the end that the female wasn’t very interested in the male’s attention and put on the boosters to get away from him. Then a few hundred metres away three humpback whales surfaced and spouted a big spray. The glass bottom boat slowly approached them but they disappeared as quickly as they came. The glass bottom boat then went elsewhere to look at some shallow reef and the whales appeared again! They are enormous and are always very impressive.
The highlight of the boat however was two dolphins that came into second reef. The water was crystal clear and everybody on the boat was able to see this mother and a baby dolphin while they were snorkeling. It was incredibly special and the guide described it as probably the most exciting snorkel ever! The mother seemed to be teaching the younger dolphin how to hunt and they engaged in a lot of play like behaviour. The group watched them chase a mackerel at perhaps half their top speed and seemed to be giving it a really big fright just for their enjoyment. They then plowed through a school of big eyed trevally focusing on individual fish and pursuing them for short periods, again only at a fraction of their top speed indicating that this was for fun and not necessarily food. They did some leaps out of the water, approached snorkelers within about two metres and even ‘echo sounded’ a few people who could hear their clicking underwater. It was unbelievable and all the guest left with some glowing memories!
Reefwalkers wandered into the lagoon this afternoon for an AMAZING Reefwalk, finding a decorator urchin, who despite its name, was very naked with only a few bits of coral stuck to him. Also spotted was a Dolabella Sea hare, on top of a big boulder coral, almost completely out of the water. Not happy with being disturbed, it squirted out its purple ink as defense and a clear message to be put back down. On the walk back in, a Moray Eel was seen weaving its way around the coral. Standing on tippy toes, guests could just see the retreating backside of the eel as it made its way south. When it was thought that it was almost gone, it turned around for another circle around the coral, to give guests another look.
It was such a memorable day here at Lady Elliot Island. Come out and see the magic of the Great Barrier Reef it will blow you away!
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Dolphin - Jess
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