Welcome back to Lady Elliot Island, a coral quay on The Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia. The Barrier Reef, as everyone knows, is the mighty reef down which Nemo’s dad swam to find his little son. We flew here from Perth
Out on the Lagoon: But what do you really want to see at a coral lagoon? The coral, of course. The glass bottomed boats leave from the beach at the end of the runway that runs through the middle of the island (see aerial viewing pic below)
Almost all the trees you see here have been planted in the past 30 years during the patient restoration process – it had been stripped down for the guano in the years before that.
Those buildings marked in this photo are cabins of the Eco Resort. See how close they are to the sea. We stayed in one of those. They are not fancy because this is a low-impact eco resort. Our glass bottomed boat took us further out to just above the main reef where the water gets more blue and you can see the whole island from here.
Out and out we went. In the deeper water above the reef we went snorkelling with the boat crew keeping on eye on us so we felt quite safe. The staff on Lady Elliot Island must have the best job in Australia, in the world.
We saw all kinds of fish and a huge groper, beach sharks, a manta ray and more.
THE REEF WALK. The staff members of the Eco-restort at Lady Elliot Island lead the groups out at low tide. Of course, the first thing they tell you about is safety. If you scrape against the coral you will get a nasty cut and likely an infection. We put on our reef walking shoes. These are thick soled plastic slip-on shoes to protect your feet.
The protective gear for the rest of the body simply consisted of a pole to lean on, like one of those poles that nordic walkers use. We walked in the sandy bits that you can see in the pictures, staying clear of the coral. Staying upright while clutching a camera in one hand and a pole in the other was tricky to do especially when the tide turned and the water started surging.
There are all kinds of creatures, many best seen during the reef walk at low tide. We took these pictures with an ordinary camera aiming down at the water. The water was clear, as you can see, although later in our walk it got murky as the tide came back in.
The coral is not easy to see in the deeper water especially as the swell builds, and from the boat itself this is about all you can make out (below). The startling blues of the starfish are clearly visible though.
And coral of many kinds: ‘brains’, spiky ones, and some like manicured shrubs and huge ‘brocolii’ like creatures.
Once back on shore we saw this little fella. He was just turtling along right among the people on the beach! It is after all, a turtle’s home, not a peoples’ home.
” I’m just a turtle,
Turtling along,
A happy green turtle,
Burbling a song…”
We settled on a deck chair as evening fell. Would the big female loggerhead turtles clamber up this very beach in the night? Yes, they did! But that’s for another post.
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That looks like an awesome trip, Mark (et al)! Though I will admit that relaxing on the glass bottom boat while fish, scuba divers, and overhead clouds float by, would be the perfect speed for me!
Lisa
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