Your October Lady Elliot Island E-Newsletter No Images? Click here 'TOP 10 DESTINATIONS' | TURTLE SEASON | 'WILD AUSTRALIA' RAY MEARS VOTE FOR LADY ELLIOT ISLANDExperience Oz is once again running their annual ‘Australia’s Top 10 Destinations to Experience in 2017’ competition which is open to public voting! If you believe that Lady Elliot Island is a Top Island Destination in Australia, please click the link below to vote. Thank you from the Southern Great Barrier Reef! TURTLE SEASONTurtle season is fast approaching, we are seeing plenty of action in the waters surrounding Lady Elliot Island. We currently have a number of rooms still available between the 12th – 20th January 2018, so get in quick to witness to magic of turtle season on the Southern Great Barrier Reef! Lady Elliot Island is home to three species of sea turtles and two of those species, Loggerhead and Green Sea Turtles use the island as their nesting site. Both of these species are listed as endangered, therefore it’s important that we do everything we can to protect them. During turtle nesting season our team record a lot of data about nesting information. This data is then submitted to the Queensland Turtle Conservation Project, contributing to learning more about and being able to protect these beautiful animals! Information recorded includes, number of tracks counted on the beach every day from nesting turtles, species of turtles coming up on the beach, laid nests and number of hatchlings. The 2016/17 season was a bumper season with an above average number of nests and tracks. Below is a summary of our 2016/17 season: Total number of tracks counted: 1,340 (Green: 1,151 & Loggerhead: 189) Total number of successful nest laid: 89 (Green: 81 & Loggerhead: 8) Total number of turtles seen on beach: 162 (Green: 142 & Loggerhead: 20) Total number of hatchlings seen: 1,031 Photo Credit: Jeremy Somerville WHAT A WHALE OF A TIME!We say goodbye to whale season on Lady Elliot Island and what an incredible season it was with encounters both above and below the water! Check out this pod of 13 Humpback Whales engaged in a heat run captured by Chief Pilot, Peter Gash of Seair Pacific on their way from Lady Elliot Island to Coolangatta, Gold Coast over the spoil grounds in Moreton Bay. Photo Credit: Julie Gash 'WILD AUSTRALIA' WITH RAY MEARSLady Elliot Island and the Fraser Coast Region is featured in Season 1, Episode 1 of Ray Mears most recent 'Reef' documentary which aired recently on ITV1 in the UK. If you missed it you can watch it on Netflix, or check it out below! THE CHARACTERS OF THE GREAT BARRIER REEFThe Epaulette Shark is a species of long tailed carpet shark. The common name of this shark comes from the very large, white-margined black spot behind each pectoral fin, which is reminiscent of military epaulettes. Epaulette sharks have nocturnal habits and frequent shallow waters. This shark has evolved to cope with the severe night time oxygen depletion (hypoxia) in isolated tidal pools by increasing the blood supply to its brain and selectively shutting down non-essential neural functions. Keep an eye out for Epaulette sharks in the shallows of the Lady Elliot Island Lagoon! Photo credit: Blaisesea
BECOME A CITIZEN OF THE GREAT BARRIER REEFOften it feels like the challenges that face our Reef and planet are too big to tackle. The kind of change required is immense, but it is only when we act on mass that we can make this kind of change. If enough of use get involved, we can show what is possible for the reef and the planet. The Citizens of the GBR are in search of 5,000 citizens to launch to the world in November. “The actions of people across the planet will define the future of the Great Barrier Reef” – Andy Ridley, Founder of Earth Hour & CEO Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef Photo Credit: Michael Smith – Into the Wild Photography |