Birthday Barrier Reef..

Apologies for the delay in posting this but we have been without phone and internet for the last 24 hours. Absolutely no complaint though as compared to those in the southern half of Queensland who are suffering their worst floods on record [for the second time in three years they are experiencing 1 in 100 year flood events] we have got off incredibly lightly over the last week or so.

Sunday being the 27th Jan is obviously the most important day of the year so we decided to celebrate in style and headed off too...

one of the many island chains on the Great Barrier Reef. We were not a very big party in fact there were just 15 guests and about eight crew - great!
The trip started off with a short cruise down the river

after the on board safety briefing everyone went outside to enjoy the view and practice the OK signs

It wasn't too long before we got our first glimpse of our destination

we were aiming for the left hand of the group of islands.

As we got close to shore they took us off the big boat

and decanted us into the little boat to get us ashore

and then we were on the beach of Normamby Island

It is an idyllic desert island with unspoilt sandy beaches

They start the day off with a guided walk around the island with the on board marine biologist - in our case we had two Zigrin and a Japanese speaking gentlemen who took the four Japanese tourist round.
We walked the whole way round the island - even in the heat it did not take too long

The seas were alive and even from the shore you could see shoals of fish dashing around.
There were a couple of Green Sea turtles hanging around although this was the best I could do..

although for the Black-tipped Reef Shark I didn't manage to get anything at all - and we all missed the Eagle Ray that the four Japanese saw!
The bird life was interesting as well with big flocks of Great Frigatebirds and a few Lesser Frigatebirds pushed in by the recent storms.

We didn't have a waterproof camera so there are no shots of anything underwater but although at times the visibility was not too good following the recent storms but it got better during the day and was still pretty good.
We were taken on a guided snorkel in the morning with an hours free time before lunch

and what a great lunch it was - heaps of really tasty food which we all pigged out on! Some of the local wildlife came and joined in as well, such as this Varied Honeyeater

After lunch we would normally have been given the option of going out in their semi submersible but it slipped its moorings in the gales and was not operating!!

Before too long it was time to head back through a few vicious squally showers

When you are far from shore anything is used as a safe haven

this bit of flotsam has a Bridled Tern hitching a lift.

The day was a great success and we will try and get to the outer reef next time!