Holiday within Holiday

Lauri and I, a Finnish young couple travelled around Australian East Coast for three months last year. We made our first day trip to LEI beginning of December 2008 and returned for five days to celebrate the New Year there as we could not stand the idea of "this was it" after the initial visit. During the first daytrip we were already - as skydiving enthusiasts - fascinated by the cute Brittany Islander "skyride" as well as the friendly atmosphere and unbelievable underwater views, so easily accessible for snorkeling from the beach. That time the birds were mating and nesting, love-lorn looks and sounds everywhere! Even happier we were returning later on to find the baby birds born and sun shine even brighter on coral sands and formations.

There are probably no words in the world to describe how snorkeling feels at Elliot Island. Well, there´s the romantic part of doing it together, hand in hand ;) But then there is the variety... Variety of meetings with sharks, suspicious looking flocks and schools of fish, shark-hiding monsters, live corals, anemone fish, playful turtles and last but not least majestic manta rays. We really got to see it all! After each snorkeling we thought that we´ve surely seen everything now and it will get to be more "ordinary" from now on, but each new time brought something amazing, yet again. Drift snorkel from/to boat was also fantastic and took us to totally new sites like shark pool - with eight sharks at the bottom. Lauri also had his first ever diving exprerience in LEI and encouraged by the professional teaching and relatively independent first dive he will surely continue for PADI certi in the future!

In our eco hut we catered (flies!) for our own little fella, tiny lizard who was too hasty to hunt his own flies yet. And sipping some wine and studying brochures describing the experienced flora and fauna more in detail sealed our typical day. Nature is not just close, but you are part of it in LEI! Lady Elliot is forever inscribed into our thoughts and memories. LEI, for us, was a holiday within our Australian holiday. LEI for us is a paradise and leaving there made me shed some tears. Luckily we can return! Thank you for the excellent staff for enabling this! no birds, Sini & Lauri

PS. greetings from your previous lighthouse keeper. He´s hiring kayaks down in Hastings Point and still recalls his times at LEI with a smile!