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Sunday - Turtles mating around the island
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date: 2/11/2008
Author:Shay Young
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CONDITIONS
Weather: Sunny | Air Temp: 26°C | Wind: E/NE winds 10/15 knots | Water Temp: 24°C | Water Visibility: 20m | Sea State: Calm
ISLAND LIFE
Critter Encounters:
Today started with a glass bottom boat tour on the western side of the island, with Laura educating keen guests about the marine environment. Turtles dominated, with lots of mating seen all the way to second reef. One boat saw 3 sets of mating turtles!! It wasn’t all calm however as males were trying to fight with other males in order to have their chance to mate with the female.
The turtle talk saw guests learning about these fascinating creatures they are seeing everywhere in the water; with a few guests also telling of their amazing encounters with turtles fighting and mating on the reef.
The island discovery tour headed out to learn about the vegetation and birds. The red tailed tropic birds as always putting on a show for all the guests with the chicks growing larger and larger ready for their chance to fly off into the wild blue yonder.
Fish feeding was highly anticipated with many guests meeting at the fish pool for a bit of a show from our resident reef fish. The white barred triggerfish were a lot more confident today, joining in on the rush for food rather than their usual stand-off style.
The divers today headed out on the western side with a morning dive at the Severence Wreck and spending the afternoon off Second Reef drifting to Spiders Ledge. The dive was full of marine life with red bass, surgeonfish and big eyed trevally spotted; Octopus and moray eels were also seen moving ever so slyly along the bottom leaving nothing behind but a cloud of sediment. The sharks were out in full force with leopard sharks, bronze whalers and wobbegongs all sighted; however the most interesting creature captivating all the divers were the cuttlefish and their ever changing colours and designs. Cuttlefish will commonly change their colour in response to feeling threatened, excited or to camouflage with the surrounding objects such as coral or algae.
Special Guests:
Today we were lucky enough to have 35 Japanese guests join us on the island for a day trip, experiencing our awesome reef and marine life.
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turtles mating - Shay Young
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