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Thursday - birdwatchers delight
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date: 20/11/2008
Author:Jess Howard
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CONDITIONS
Weather: Sunny and HOT | Air Temp: 29ºC | Wind: North westerly 15/20 knots | Water Temp: 24ºC | Water Visibility: ~15 metres | Sea State: Choppy
ISLAND LIFE
Critter Encounters:
Sunrise at 4:54am started the day early with walks around the island and early snorkels on the western side.
Already hot by 8am, guests cooled themselves off in the lagoon with an exciting reefwalk, finding all sorts of creatures. Among them were four Blue linckia seastars, a pincushion seastar, and the back end of a Starry Moray eel. A carefully disguised Decorator Urchin was nibbling on algae, partly exposed out of the water, and the strikingly Red Pencil Slate Urchin was easy to locate today, as it was partly out of its crevice. Playful clams managed to cool people down even more, by cheekily spitting water as someone’s shadow passed over the clam.
Divers at Second Reef this morning were lucky enough to be surrounded by Leopard sharks, reef sharks, and whaler sharks. Nothing to be concerned about, but what a thrilling experience!
Three glassbottom boats went out today due to the beautiful sunny hot weather. Green turtles were EVERYWHERE, reportedly four pairs of mating turtles all in one “frame of view”. Guests reported finding a Black-tip reef shark whilst snorkeling. Beginner snorkelers took on the choppy conditions and were greatly rewarded, finding schools and schools of big-eye Trevally. Exclamations of “WOW,” “AWESOME,” and “Look at this” made the glassbottom boat a wonderful experience for both advanced, beginner and non snorkelers today.
Birdwatchers took an epic trip to the northern end of the airstrip finding all sorts of winged wonders along the way. First off we found the numerous white-capped Noddies all building their nests, rebuilding their nests or smooching on a branch. Ruddy turnstones and Golden plovers kept to themselves, but the magnificent Tropic birds looked gorgeous, all spread out and panting. Zulu, again was sitting right at the edge of his nest by himself, whereas one of Damien’s parents were sitting with him again. Little Johnno had his wings completely spread out and was trying to find some cool shade to hide from the sweltering sun.
Island Discoverers dodged the hot sun this afternoon as they journeyed around the eastern side learning about how Lady Elliot came to be. Relieved to cool off, we dipped into the lagoon for fish feeding, where the Flagtails, golden-lined Rabbitfish and the Diamond-scaled sea mullet grazed past legs and nibbled on fish food.
A sunset time of 6pm gave staff and guests enough time to skip across to the western side, to watch the view, enjoy some champagne, or a late afternoon snorkel. A perfect end to an awesome day!
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Blue linckia - Jess Howard
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