Location: 1770, Queensland
Weather: Light onshore breeze increasing to a blustery one with loads of sunshine! 27°c
Lady Musgrave Island, courtesy of Lady Musgrave Cruises- On a windy morning we left the pontoon at 1770 onboard the super sleek catamaran ‘Spirit of 1770′, wound our way down the waterway and out onto the open ocean with an immediate change in circumstances as white-caps and rolling swell became the order of the day. There were a fair few green faces around and every so often another passenger would run past me to the toilet! After an hour the distant sight of trees became visible on the horizon and Lady Musgrave came into view…
It’s a very different and beautiful location with a small sand-covered coral cay punctuated by pisonia and pandanas trees and surrounded by 2950 acres of fringing reef. The Lagoon which surrounds the island is a marine park in itself with an abundance of life underwater for the snorkellers and divers alike to explore. When I think of a tropical island paradise this is about as close as it gets – the colours of the water with the reef, sand and coral shining through appear as an artists palette as they flicker in the sunlight.
I’d heard some really good reports about the potential of seeing manta rays here and my mission for the trip is top spot one or two. I’ve dived a few different locations over the past few months and so far haven’t been lucky enough to spot one of these majestic flying spectacles!
Twenty minutes after we arrive Bre and I were kitted up and ready to get into the water, it’s our first dive together since back in August so a perfect chance to become our usual over-excited selves…we roll off into the calm, slightly-cooler-than-the-Whitsundays water.
Dropping to the bottom instantly throws up a new experience for Bre – a banded sea snake, success already! We keep the poisonous little creature at arms length as it winds its way amongst the coral searching out its next meal but it’s addictive watching it and I have to be pulled away to continue the dive.
We cruise the coral gardens feeling the effects of weightlessness as both of us seem to have now mastered our buoyancy control allowing us to skim the tops of the outcrops adjusting our depth with a simple inhale or exhale of breath. My fears and reservations about this exciting sport from a few months ago have gone….
Then all of a sudden there it is, just what I’ve come here to see…a Manta Ray slowly flapping past us around 20 metres away! This graceful, majestic flying fortresses of the deep must be around 4 metres across and comes equipped with its own wingmen; eight remoras slipstream the giant beast all waiting for the next tasty morsel to come their way, it looks like a well organised military fly-past as it disappears off into the distance fading away into the blue background.
I look across to Bre and we have a little hyper-active wiggle to each other powerless to express ourselves by speaking so instead adopting our usual “WOW did you see that!” pose.
As we climbed back onboard our dive boat it was another box ticked and an overwhelming success as far as spotting was concerned….this really only leaves dolphins, whales, dugongs, 15,000 odd nudibranch’s and a whole host of sharks to see over the next few months before I can say I’ve really tasted almost everything that the Great Barrier Reef has to offer! One step at a time Ben…
Once back at the pontoon there’s a whole array of food awaiting us and after nearly an hour under water it’s not a minute too soon…the slightly cooler waters of the reef down at this southerly point noticeable after being submersed for so long.
Lady Musgrave island is part of the Capricornia Cays National Park, as are Heron and Wilson islands which we stayed at a few months ago. It’s a coral cay which has been formed over thousands of years by the build up of sand and dead coral which eventually forms an island on which small trees and bushes establish.
We went ashore with one of the crew for a quick walkabout to see the huge number of Noddy terns and Shearwaters which call the island’s Pandanas and Pisonia trees home. It’s the run-up to nesting season and around 40,000 birds are arriving to make their very rickety nests in the trees ready to house their young at around the same time the baby turtles will be hatching on the beaches. During that time the island is closed to all campers and day-trippers to give the tiny little eco-system the best chance it has to produce lots of offspring.
With the wind picking we head back to the boat and after a quick cup of tea head back to mainland after another exciting, informative, educational day out on the reef!
End of day location: 1770, Queensland
Distance covered: 120kms over a very rough ocean
Lady Musgrave Island
Location: 1770, Queensland
Weather: Light onshore breeze increasing to a blustery one with loads of sunshine! 27°c
Lady Musgrave Island, courtesy of Lady Musgrave Cruises - On a windy morning we left the pontoon at 1770 onboard the super sleek catamaran ‘Spirit of 1770′, wound our way down the waterway and out onto the open ocean with an immediate change in circumstances as white-caps and rolling swell became the order of the day. There were a fair few green faces around and every so often another passenger would run past me to the toilet! After an hour the distant sight of trees became visible on the horizon and Lady Musgrave came into view…
It’s a very different and beautiful location with a small sand-covered coral cay punctuated by pisonia and pandanas trees and surrounded by 2950 acres of fringing reef. The Lagoon which surrounds the island is a marine park in itself with an abundance of life underwater for the snorkellers and divers alike to explore. When I think of a tropical island paradise this is about as close as it gets – the colours of the water with the reef, sand and coral shining through appear as an artists palette as they flicker in the sunlight.
I’d heard some really good reports about the potential of seeing manta rays here and my mission for the trip is top spot one or two. I’ve dived a few different locations over the past few months and so far haven’t been lucky enough to spot one of these majestic flying spectacles!
Twenty minutes after we arrive Bre and I were kitted up and ready to get into the water, it’s our first dive together since back in August so a perfect chance to become our usual over-excited selves…we roll off into the calm, slightly-cooler-than-the-Whitsundays water.
Dropping to the bottom instantly throws up a new experience for Bre – a banded sea snake, success already! We keep the poisonous little creature at arms length as it winds its way amongst the coral searching out its next meal but it’s addictive watching it and I have to be pulled away to continue the dive.
We cruise the coral gardens feeling the effects of weightlessness as both of us seem to have now mastered our buoyancy control allowing us to skim the tops of the outcrops adjusting our depth with a simple inhale or exhale of breath. My fears and reservations about this exciting sport from a few months ago have gone….
Then all of a sudden there it is, just what I’ve come here to see…a Manta Ray slowly flapping past us around 20 metres away! This graceful, majestic flying fortresses of the deep must be around 4 metres across and comes equipped with its own wingmen; eight remoras slipstream the giant beast all waiting for the next tasty morsel to come their way, it looks like a well organised military fly-past as it disappears off into the distance fading away into the blue background.
I look across to Bre and we have a little hyper-active wiggle to each other powerless to express ourselves by speaking so instead adopting our usual “WOW did you see that!” pose.
As we climbed back onboard our dive boat it was another box ticked and an overwhelming success as far as spotting was concerned….this really only leaves dolphins, whales, dugongs, 15,000 odd nudibranch’s and a whole host of sharks to see over the next few months before I can say I’ve really tasted almost everything that the Great Barrier Reef has to offer! One step at a time Ben…
Once back at the pontoon there’s a whole array of food awaiting us and after nearly an hour under water it’s not a minute too soon…the slightly cooler waters of the reef down at this southerly point noticeable after being submersed for so long.
Lady Musgrave island is part of the Capricornia Cays National Park, as are Heron and Wilson islands which we stayed at a few months ago. It’s a coral cay which has been formed over thousands of years by the build up of sand and dead coral which eventually forms an island on which small trees and bushes establish.
We went ashore with one of the crew for a quick walkabout to see the huge number of Noddy terns and Shearwaters which call the island’s Pandanas and Pisonia trees home. It’s the run-up to nesting season and around 40,000 birds are arriving to make their very rickety nests in the trees ready to house their young at around the same time the baby turtles will be hatching on the beaches. During that time the island is closed to all campers and day-trippers to give the tiny little eco-system the best chance it has to produce lots of offspring.
With the wind picking we head back to the boat and after a quick cup of tea head back to mainland after another exciting, informative, educational day out on the reef!
End of day location: 1770, Queensland
Distance covered: 120kms over a very rough ocean