The wind has picked up (25knots with gusts of 35 knots), small waves up to 0.5m, foam and white caps are rolling across the lagoon. After breakfast we all relaxed playing a few board games waiting for the tide to drop. With a lower tide, the rollers will not be able to come over the top of the reef.
At low tide in the afternoon, we ventured out to Lady Musgrave Island. The channel in is extremely tight with many small bommies and the last part just before the beach is rock and sharp dead coral which required Daddy to cut the engine, jump out and pull the inflatable tender in to the beach. We pulled the tender up on the beach and Nicholas and Jasmine help set the anchor high up on the beach with large lumps of dead dried coral rocks helping to weigh it down.
As we walked away from the tender we spotted 2 turtles 5m off the beach swimming along the edge of the beach. Lady Musgrave is a small island about 1km long (East-West) and perhaps 700m wide (Nth-South) surrounded by a lagoon which is perhaps 1.4km long (East-West) and perhaps 1km wide (North - South). The coral reef that surrounds the lagoon and joins the island at the Western edge, varies in width and is approx. 100-150m wide. At low water tide, the top of the reef is exposed and at high water, waves break on the outer edge but then roll (with reduced power) into the lagoon. The island is snuggled on the Western end of the reefring with the lagoon to the East. The island has a camping site for visitors at the North Western end, a few short walking trails through the reasonably dense trees and foliage and some basic toilets. The island is made of sand and broken down coral that has built up over many years.
The island is used by turtles for nesting, particularly the Western end.
We walked in an anti-clockwise direction around the island starting from the landing site on the Eastern end.
We saw lots of sea shells and different types of coral that made up the island. We met a lovely lady who was apparently a volunteer guide who was camping on the island. She showed us a few of the signs that had been erected on the island with details on the turtles that nest (there are several types including Green and Loggerhead). The island is also a home to what seems like millions of birds. The tops of the trees are covered with different sea birds.
Daddy asked how the entrance was made into the lagoon. This is the only island in the whole Barrier Reef with a safe deep passage into a protected lagoon with an island.
The lady said there is much debate on how it was made, but no-one is certain. One interesting theory is that the Japanese used explosive to make the small entrance during the second world war. There was apparently a small retreat on the island that was closed and abandoned in the early 1940's.
The lady said they had seen small turtles hatching each of the past 3 nights and suggested we come back then.
Daddy was lucky to get the birds to give him their special gift (poo) on his back and shoulder. We beat a hasty retreat back to the beach and continued on our walk around the island.
We saw a number of small sand crabs and on the Southern side, saw lots of rocks made up of fosselised corals that formed the foundations of the island and existing reef. Daddy showed everyone a number of small clams in the shallows and we gently touched the outer lips and watched them snap shut. As they shut, as they were just under the water, water squrted up over Daddy which everyone thought was funny.
Back to the tender and back to our yacht.
We returned back to the island after a short wait through even larger waves and strong winds at night. It was a bit of a challenge getting to the beach, however with the higher tide (and larger waves) the water was higher up the beach and after cutting the engine close to shore, Daddy waded the tender in with water up to his chest. The wind was howling and everyone was wet and a bit cold.
We walked around the beach with some torches but unfortunately we were unable to see any baby turtles that night. As we walked back slowly on the Northern edge of the island (protected as the wind was from the South East), we saw small and large fish cruising along the edge, we saw what looked like a small reef shark (about 2 foot long), a turtle on the Northern edge and another three turtles on the beach edge near the tender. The small sand crabs, about the size of a 20 cent piece with a few as large as a squash ball, were in large numbers all along the beach. The funny little things would freeze in the torch lights and we had difficulty not stepping on them.
We got back to the boat, after being drenched in the wind and waves, for a quick shower, dinner and bed.