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Published: April 13th 2011
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On Thursday morning, we were on the top deck to watch the sunrise, but found we were in a little bay, and the sun would be rising behind a high point behind us. Next best thing, we snapped a picture of the ´Devil´s Crown´ which is the crater of a very very old volcano. The centre of the crater is about two meters underwater, and the steep sides go down about 20 meters to the ocean floor. The whole thing is covered in coral and sea creatures, so it is a pretty cool place to snorkel or dive. More on that later.
As on the previous morning, we found ourselves moored near five other boats (mooring schedules are assigned to boats by the National Park) in a snug bay. After breakfast, we again went to shore for a guided hike, first to a lagoon that is home to a very small population of a subspecies of flamingo that is trying to make a comeback in the area. Despite the fact that we could see two of the remaining 40 individuals of this subspecies, the fact is that it was hard to get excited about two blurry pink dots on the
far side of a smelly, shallow lake.
On our hike back to the landing spot, we found a very small eel which had been washed up on the sand and was finding its way back to the water. Abbey gave it a little help back to the water.
Another 20 minute hike across a narrow part of the island brought us to the nicest beach we´ve ever seen. We found out that the very soft sand is not a product of erosion, but of the waste from ocean fish eating coral. The result is a very soft calcium sand. On this beach, we found two tracks where sea turtles had dragged themselves out of the water to dig nests and lay their eggs the previous night. The process takes hours. About 1.5 percent of the eggs will survive to be small turtles, then survive the beach crossing to the ocean and predators there to become adults. We didn´t swim here, but could just see adult turtles hanging out in the shallow water, waiting for nightfall to lay their eggs. Before leaving the beach, I snapped a photo of a small crab, one of hundreds we had seen on
the trip. They are constantly climbing on the rocks right at the waterline, and can jump up to a foot to a better spot on the rocks.
Following the hike, we again had snacks on the boat and went by dinghy to snorkel around and through the Devils Crown. This was spectacular. We saw hundreds of ocean fish, a sea turtle very deep down, and a six foot shark from about 15 feet. Like most of the creatures we saw, the shark paid us little attention. Again, Abbey was excellent snorkeling with no assistance.
Following another yummy lunch onboard, we moved to Post Office bay. In the 1790´s a homesick whaler working in the Pacific came up with a plan for improving communications with home. (In his case, England) Mail to home was placed in a barrel on this island, and any ship passing by would check the mail barrel to see if they could carry a message home for somebody. Ships leaving home port would also carry letters to the post office for crew of any other ships in the area. It was South America´s first post office, and it was the internet of it´s time. Before
the post office was set up, it took an average of five years to get news from family back home. This shortened that to six months. The post office is still in operation, handling mostly post cards. We mailed three when we visited, but sadly there were none in the barrel to be delivered to Manitoba. The system appears remarkably efficient. Very few of the cards in the barrel were older than a week. Several members of our group took postcards to deliver to Sydney, the UK, California, and Switzerland.
At the Post Office, the crews of the boats that are anchored nearby get together for an afternoon long soccer game, in the heat of the day, and with most players barefoot. It was an intense game. Later, as crews passed while ferrying passengers on the dinghies, you could see them teasing each other or gloating using smiles and gestures. Our captain proudly held up two fingers with a big smile when we passed another boat, so I think he had a two goal game. Not bad work with no shoes.
Most of us took the opportunity to go for another snorkel off the beach, which was nice,
but I was a little nervous after watching a good sized stingray ghost past me in knee deep water. Aparently they are harmless unless you step on them.
It rained for parts of this day, but it had no real impact, except perhaps to make the snorkeling off the beach a little cloudy. After the post office, we were underway for our last island, and hoped to spot whales. The joke was that this should be easy with Norwegians onboard. But it wasn´t to be. We had dinner and played cards (a game we decided to call 'Small Head'😉 on the bar deck under the roof to stay out of the steady rain.
After dark, we entered the last harbour and drove past a huge private sailing yacht (but didn´t get it´s name), anchored, visited town and turned in for our last night onboard.
Stay tuned for episode four.
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Juanita
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Fabulous
What a great day you had on Turtle Beach. Love your Super poses! I don't know how to start a new paragraph, so be patient with my run-on sentences. The best comment I have heard about the election was today from a University prof. He said that Canadians are sleep-walking through this one.All the best.