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Wednesday - stack of mating turtles in lagoon
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date: 24/9/2008
Author:Jenni Fox
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CONDITIONS
Weather: Another stunning day | Air Temp: 25.7°C | Wind: S/SW 5 -10 knots | Water Temp: 22°C | Water Visibility: ~30 meters | Sea State: Calm
ISLAND LIFE
Critter Encounters:
The turtles are the talk of the town today - While out glass bottom boating Laura thought she had spotted a snorkeller that was a little far out, so swam out to make sure they were OK. As she neared her destination closer inspection revealed that the object was in fact a “stack” of 3 male turtles trying to mate with 1 female turtle!!!!
As the top two males really weren’t having much luck they got quite excited as Laura approached as they thought another female turtle had come to join the gathering. Laura was happily snapping off a few pictures until she realized that their attention had been distracted and they were now looking at her with a glint in their eyes! As the males rapidly approached, Laura went into a straight vertical position in the water to look as un-turtle-like as possible and repeated to herself “I am not a turtle”, “I am not a turtle!”
The unlucky boys got the hint and happily went back to their business…Our turtles will be mating for the next two months until the females begin their nesting in mid November.
Special Events / Activities:
It was another magical day on the reef flat today, with around 20 of our guests coming out to discover “what all those black things are out there”. As everyone carefully stepped around the obstacle course of sea cucumbers, they were able to explore right out to the outer rim and look at the waterfalls created as the lagoon water flowed down to the low tide level of the ocean.
Our youngest guest on the reefwalk (4yr old George) discovered a sea star in his favourite colour – ORANGE and when we turned it over found its fluorescent orange stomach out feeding.
The diving today was awesome – dropping in at Lighthouse Bommies where the divers met up with some manta rays hanging out at a cleaning station – where the tiny cleaner wrasse swim inside the mantas mouths to pick off parasites!
During the day they also had encounters with Leopard Sharks, Humpheaded Maori Wrasse, Eagle Rays, Moray Eels, huge schools of Big-Eye Trevally swimming round in circles – all while being serenaded by the male humpback whales passing by on their homeward journey.
Just another regular day ….. on a coral cay ….. in paradise today!
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Turtle stack - Laura Smith
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