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Published: January 17th 2009
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Lady Elliot Island
View from the plane It was unavoidable. A necessary stop on the path of the journey. The Great Barrier Reef, hard to avoid at over 2300km long. Karen, Matt and I decided to stay relatively close to Brisbane and head for Lady Elliot Island (LEI). LEI is the southernmost island on the reef and is only a short 30 minute hopper flight from Hervey Bay. Long flights looming in the future lead me to opt for the closer of the options. Turns out we got lucky as a cyclone hit up north causing massive flooding and trouble - very little diving and snorkeling were had up in Cairns. This was just the start of our good fortune on LEI.
Arriving at LEI airport with a bump along the sewage grown grass and coral runway, the resort welcomed us. The "resort" we were staying at was basically a tent with a house frame. Karen called it camp for grown ups and that seemed suitable minus the numerous small children popping up everywhere. Aside from the glorified tents, the island was everything I want in an island; small, isolated and full of wildlife. In the case of LEI it was birds and turtles galore. Both were
Green Sea Turtle
Laying some eggs in breeding or egg laying/hatching season.
The island is supposed to have the best visibility in the reef due to its isolation and ecological protection (6 out of 7 even though I am not sure what that means). Due to the turbulent waters the visibility wasn't that great (then again anything over 3 feet is better than my home waters in Tampa Bay), maybe 10-30 feet. The convenience of the dive and snorkeling sights being right along the island made it real easy to go in and out all day. The resort would not however let you grab a tank and go from the beach, so we opted to snorkel the majority of our time on the island. Needless to say the snorkeling was as good as the diving. All along the reef we were beginning to notice that we were outnumbered by sea turtles.
Apparently all sea turtles are endangered or threatened. LEI made it difficult to tell if the loggerhead and green sea turtles were in trouble. One night the three of use were out numbered on the beach by green sea turtles going up the beach to lay their eggs. It was pretty amazing to
Eggs
Ping Pong anyone? see, but man are turtles slow. We went turtle hunting one night and found ourselves waiting for the turtle to crawl up the beach. Turtles are creatures of habit. Female turtles return to their birth sight every year to lay eggs. They storm the beach and proceed to head inland to lay thier ping pong ball looking eggs. Once the female turtle arrives at what she thinks will be the highest possible tide line, the mama turtle begins to dig. We waited for her to dig her spot only to have her find the hole unsuitable and then pick another one. Three hours later we still had nothing. How the turtle has survived as a species is beyond me, too slow to get away and do anything as it lays eggs. In fact while they are laying their eggs, it is believed that they female turtles enter a trancelike state. In the water though, it is easy to see how turtles have survived as they are quite agile in the water.
Underwater it was a regular traffic jam in and around the reef. Turtles were swimming idly by or taking siestas under reef edges. It was amazing to see.
Mary Poppins?
Somethings are better left unexplained. Manta Rays were not to be ignored, as they provided flowing spade shaped shadows (I would guess 7-8 ft wingspans) and even did three ray fly by formations. And of course sharks showed up, and thanks to a stifling wind and rolling waves, the high pitched scream emanating from my snorkel went unheard as a black reef tip swam by with a sea snake in it's mouth. Pretty amazing stuff.
All in all it was an excellent way to end my Australia sojourn. I even managed to be the only one who avoided the bird poop which is quite common on this ecological preserve. Not a bad week. And for desert, we lucked into a spoonful of sugar in Maryborough, Queensland. Maryboroug sits along the Mary River and it had a strange statue commemorating Mary Poppins. Mary Poppins was written by P.L. Travers who is from Maryborough. A pleasant suprise to an incredible Australian experience.
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Josh Wallace
non-member comment
Great trip
It looks like you are having a great time so far and even got a photo op with a nice bronze goddess. I hope you gave Mary a squeeze for me.