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Saturday - female green turtle on the shore
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date: 4/10/2008
Author:Shay Young
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CONDITIONS
Weather: Sunny | Air Temp: 25°C | Wind: NE winds 10/15 knots | Water Temp: 23°C | Water Visibility: 15m | Sea State: Calm
ISLAND LIFE
Critter Encounters:
The morning started with guests opening their eyes to a glorious warm sunrise; the sun was up the birds were chirping it surely was time to start the day! There was a surprise this morning however with a female green turtle on the shore near the lighthouse; trying to seek refuge from the persistent males this gave a good opportunity for early rising guests to see the female before she headed back to the ocean for another day of frolicking in our surrounding seas.
While the white cap noddies awoke and headed out to sea, first activity of the morning for our guests was to venture out around the island to look at the vegetation and find out just what tucker we could derive from these precious resources. The main components for survival include food, water and shelter so this was surely the first items on the list with food properties found in the pandanus, pisonia, coconut and native hibiscus trees. The octopus bush and casuarinas also unveiled some medicinal properties for toothaches and stomach aches.
The glass bottom boat and snorkel trips were full of excitement today with the boat skimming over calm, crystal like waters to the reef on the western side; Second Reef was the choice of the day with the boat mooring up to allow guests a chance to experience the marine creatures first hand. Our guests were able to see green turtles mating out on the reef, which certainly is a highlight during this active turtle season. However; after further investigation we found there is definitely a story to this mating female, as she was the exact turtle that was on the beach this morning, and was very easy to identify as she had a shark bite to her front right flipper. I guess she couldn’t avoid those males after all!
The island discovery and fish feeding tours had guests identifying the various fish species that decided today was a good day for a bit of food; the diamond scale mullets and sergeant majors are always a favourite, entaintaining guests with there inquisitive natures.
Divers today headed out to the blowhole in the morning, with a mild current running the divers descended down into the big blue to sight many turtles, along the drop off on the eastern side of the island.
For variety the afternoon dive explored the western reef starting at Anchor Bommie and drifting north to Spiders Ledge; with encounters with a shovelnose ray and whales seen breaching near Second Reef upon surfacing. The highlight was however the mantas frolicking near the surface; with 4 in a row looping about one another, the mantas have been elusive of late so this was a highlight and caused a great amount of excitement to all involved.
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Pandanus - Wayne Fox
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