How many times can you say Wow under water? Answer……only once if you don’t want to drown yourself! 😁
What a fabulous day. We’ll worth getting up at 3 am for. We have discovered just how dark it is here. Firstly, had to go back to the hut for a torch to find the car. Then , getting out on the open road. Everything looks so different……If you could see it! 😀 Trying not to knock down kangaroos who love to rearrange the front of your vehicle . Black as a black thing on a black night. It was almost tangible and very eerie . Still, we made it to the dock in good time to catch the boat at 7am. 
We were welcomed aboard the ‘Main Event’ by the crew and settled down into comfy leather seats in the almost empty cruiser . It normally holds around 135, but today there were only 37 of us and 6 crew. After setting off and getting aquainted with the boat we all had breakfast at 8.30am which consisted of scones, fruity muffins and a selection of prepared fresh fruits and some well needed (deserved) coffee.
It took 2 hours to get out to Lady Musgrave island, so we had plenty of time to move around and get some photos from the top deck before we were split into two groups. The first group, Turtles, of which we were part, made our first steps onto the coral island with a guided tour from our onboard marine biologist , Chelsea.
We then got to do a bit of spotting over the reef in the glass bottomed boat. The second group, Dolphins, did their snorkeling first and when we got back they went onto the island and did the same as us. After lunch we had the whole afternoon to go snorkeling.
It was surreal. Swimming along looking at the different corals, then wham, engulfed in a cloud of fishes! Looking down, deep into the water and seeing a massive turtle sitting on the reef having itself cleaned by other specialist fish. Watching the clown fish scrabble about in the anenomies for food, then seeing enormous parrot fish in shades of green and yellow. There were also the ‘other’ fish, the ones you couldn’t put a name to but we’re beautiful anyway, the blues and silver, yellows, greens and browns and the fish swimming way, way below that you knew were large but had no colour you could see. Some people reported seeing a few reef sharks too. Glad in a way that I didn’t. Although they are harmless if I wasn’t already wet, I might have wet myself! 😨 As it was I got a little paranoid about a very large fish chasing off its competitors. What if it decided to chase me off too!
But no harm done; the current pushed me a little too close to the reef a few times, but I managed to move away without damaging it. The water was warm and calm, the sun was shining and I was in paradise. Even now I can’t believe we were actually there. Stunning.
The island itself is amazing in its own way too. Completely made of coral from the sea bed up and never connected to any land source, ever. It is 35 acres in total, with nearly 3000 acres of coral reef surrounding it. It is home to a very large colony of black noddy terns, 40,000 of them! They nest in the Pisonia trees that grow there. Very quick growing trees which have sticky seeds which stick to the birds. The birds were amazing. They have very poor eyesight so they flew very close to you. The males fly around looking for leaves for the females to build nests with, he presents these to her, if she’s not satisfied she drops the leaf and he has to go find another one. The place is full of flying birds and falling leaves!
The beach was incredible too. All coral in differing states from whole to crushed like sand. And turtle tracks. Green and hawksbill turtles, and some loggerheads, lay their eggs here, as long as they don’t get disturbed. If they are disturbed, or can’t find a nesting sight within about 2 to 3 days, they dump all their eggs in the sea and start over. It’s such a massive effort for them to get up the beach and back into the sea again. Considering it takes them between 30-50 years to prepare for their first breeding migration……..time is not on their side.
What a fab day we had! The crew of the Main Event are to be commended, both for their people skills and attention to detail. To have their own marine biologist aboard and several diving instructors means you know you are getting good information and that your diving/snorkeling experience is going to be safe and second to none. If any of you out there are planning a trip, do please book with this boat and organisation.
After the 2 hour trip back from the island we docked at 5pm. Sadly we left the deck with a handshake from all the crew. I offered my services as a window cleaner in exchange for another trip…….The answer wasn’t a no, it was, well we do need some help! However, we don’t have the time. As our visit here draws to an end soon and our trip back to Blighty looms on the horizon, we will NEVER forget our experience of today and all the days we’ve had so far. Even just to think of us swimming along that reef brings tears to my eyes.
I’m afraid you will have to wait for the video until we get home. No software here to process it. 😊
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