Hello all, a big blog for you all to read full of photos and incoming videos on the blog so keep checking back for more!!!
After a night of rain we were up at 6:30 as today we had a very very special trip ahead of us. We put down a very wet tent in record time. We were done and ready to leave our campsite/hostel combo to go to the airport. Today we had a scenic flight to Lady Elliot Island where we would spend 2 days and 1 night. It is an Eco Island Resort on the Great Barrier Reef. To get there we had to take 14 seater light aircraft to the island where we could snorkel the reef to our hearts content! Sounded perfect when we booked it and emptied our bank account!!! We waited nervously in the Airport hoping it would be everything that we expected it would be. We stole some airport wifi and were checked in and on our way! We got the back seats in the plane which we thought was pretty cool because we had so many windows to look out of!
After a night of rain we were up at 6:30 as today we had a very very special trip ahead of us. We put down a very wet tent in record time. We were done and ready to leave our campsite/hostel combo to go to the airport. Today we had a scenic flight to Lady Elliot Island where we would spend 2 days and 1 night. It is an Eco Island Resort on the Great Barrier Reef. To get there we had to take 14 seater light aircraft to the island where we could snorkel the reef to our hearts content! Sounded perfect when we booked it and emptied our bank account!!! We waited nervously in the Airport hoping it would be everything that we expected it would be. We stole some airport wifi and were checked in and on our way! We got the back seats in the plane which we thought was pretty cool because we had so many windows to look out of!
Within minutes of sitting down we were taxiing down the runway and were in the sky. As our first time in a light aircraft Laura was pretty nervous but enjoyed it once we were in the air. We had a stop to pick up 2 more people at Bunderburge airport which meant we had a lovely scenic flight over Australia which was pretty cool. We landed nicely, refueled & set off again with our new passengers.
By a long margin we were the youngest & the only backpackers the flight. Regardless we enjoyed our flight which now took us out over the deep blue sea with dappled turquoise patches that stretched out as far as our eyes could see. When we saw the island and the reef surrounding it we were in awe somehow feeling even more excited than we were before.
After an extremely bumpy landing down the grass runway strip we departed the plane much to Laura's excitement as her tummy didn't agree with the last portion of the flight! We were greeted by Matt who was the assistant manager (we never met the actual manager so assumed he was away possibly?) we were shown around the island and given a lovely fruity cocktail. We didn't waste a moment as our room wasn't yet ready we were given a locker for our stuff and were in the dive shop getting fitted for snorkeling gear. Once that was all done we had a 10 minute walk to the reefs edge where they advised that we should start. The island has very strong currents and you can start snorkeling in once place and the current will take you to the next entry exit point without having to put too much effort into it. We waddled out past the shallows and were off. We spent a good 2 hours on our first snorkel looking at the coral and fish.
It was all pretty relaxed until Laura spotted a turtle! She was then like a 5 year old after many blue smarties! We were able to swim with it for a long time and it was very curious coming up to look at us and then came up towards Laura put a fin out and let her stoke it's shell! At this point Laura's mask had started to fill up with water but luckily Myles caught the moment on the gopro camera! ( we have lots of underwater footage for you to watch soon ) with this we carried on for a little while longer & started to feel exhausted as we were swimming against the current to stay still to watch the turtle. With this Myles did a good job at helping tow Laura into the shore where we weren't to sure what just happened! We were both very excited and decided in that moment alone it was worth the money we had paid to come here.
We headed back and found out where our room was & in the process Myles got pooped on by a bird. I forgot to mention how many thousands of birds there were on the island about 9000 (we think it was more so took a low estimate) being an Eco resort it has green status all around the waters and had a 2 nautical mile radius around the island which made it a no take zone protecting the animals in the reef & encouraging more & bigger animals such as rays and dolphins to come in. As a part of the it's also a bird sanctuary and they were literally EVERYWHERE!
Our room was basically a glorified tent with beds in it. They had lovely towel sculptures on the bed and complimentary ear plugs for the birds.. We dismissed this and carried on for lunch.
By a long margin we were the youngest & the only backpackers the flight. Regardless we enjoyed our flight which now took us out over the deep blue sea with dappled turquoise patches that stretched out as far as our eyes could see. When we saw the island and the reef surrounding it we were in awe somehow feeling even more excited than we were before.
After an extremely bumpy landing down the grass runway strip we departed the plane much to Laura's excitement as her tummy didn't agree with the last portion of the flight! We were greeted by Matt who was the assistant manager (we never met the actual manager so assumed he was away possibly?) we were shown around the island and given a lovely fruity cocktail. We didn't waste a moment as our room wasn't yet ready we were given a locker for our stuff and were in the dive shop getting fitted for snorkeling gear. Once that was all done we had a 10 minute walk to the reefs edge where they advised that we should start. The island has very strong currents and you can start snorkeling in once place and the current will take you to the next entry exit point without having to put too much effort into it. We waddled out past the shallows and were off. We spent a good 2 hours on our first snorkel looking at the coral and fish.It was all pretty relaxed until Laura spotted a turtle! She was then like a 5 year old after many blue smarties! We were able to swim with it for a long time and it was very curious coming up to look at us and then came up towards Laura put a fin out and let her stoke it's shell! At this point Laura's mask had started to fill up with water but luckily Myles caught the moment on the gopro camera! ( we have lots of underwater footage for you to watch soon ) with this we carried on for a little while longer & started to feel exhausted as we were swimming against the current to stay still to watch the turtle. With this Myles did a good job at helping tow Laura into the shore where we weren't to sure what just happened! We were both very excited and decided in that moment alone it was worth the money we had paid to come here.
We headed back and found out where our room was & in the process Myles got pooped on by a bird. I forgot to mention how many thousands of birds there were on the island about 9000 (we think it was more so took a low estimate) being an Eco resort it has green status all around the waters and had a 2 nautical mile radius around the island which made it a no take zone protecting the animals in the reef & encouraging more & bigger animals such as rays and dolphins to come in. As a part of the it's also a bird sanctuary and they were literally EVERYWHERE!
Our room was basically a glorified tent with beds in it. They had lovely towel sculptures on the bed and complimentary ear plugs for the birds.. We dismissed this and carried on for lunch.
A grumpy Myles in tow we went to check out what was for lunch, this is when bird number 2 used him for target practice. A quick detour to the bathrooms and we were good. We found out lunch wasn't included in our package but could pay $22 each for a buffet lunch. There was no way we could eat enough to warrant paying that much even though it did look lovely. So we settled for some yummy chips which came with a garlic mayonnaise dip which Myles loved! After being up since 6 we felt pretty tired and after wondering down the beach & looking at our footage had a quick power nap before our next activity started. It was a fish feeding in the shallows next to our hut. We were there a little early & so were the fish! They knew what was coming and were swimming all around our feet! One even nipped Laura's leg in anticipation! Once the staff member arrived the fish went crazy!
It was really interesting and we found out about the types of fish in the coral garden area of the island. During this time we saw a black finned shark in the distance and Myles decided we were going snorkeling again to see it! Once the fish feeding was over we had to wait an hour till the tide came in enough to snorkel again. Soon as it was in enough we threw our gear on and got ourselves in the water. We were then followed by lots of other people which was a shame as it makes it more awkward. We swam out deeper and found turtles number 2 & 3. Again great excitement swimming alongside them & turtle number 3 was resting on the seabed which was interesting to see!
We checked out a new load of fish we hadn't seen the other side of the island & the same black sea cucumber we had seen EVERYWHERE. They were very boring. On our way out Laura saw a barracuda fish and Myles was sent off to try and get a picture.. It then swum at him and that was the end of that!
We checked out a new load of fish we hadn't seen the other side of the island & the same black sea cucumber we had seen EVERYWHERE. They were very boring. On our way out Laura saw a barracuda fish and Myles was sent off to try and get a picture.. It then swum at him and that was the end of that!
Whilst waiting Laura got a bit close to another fishes home and it darted at her mask making her jump! (Sorry mr fish), with that we were off!
We had an orientation meeting with Matt after this so headed there a bit early. We had a great chat with him about looking for hatchlings that evening & then had our orientation which we felt we should have had at the beginning as it was really just a video nagging about not touching the coral etc. Positive was that there were nibbles & spring rolls, followed by dinner! Perfect timing. We rolled up to the buffet to find pork the king of meats, BBQ ribs, dauphinoise potatoes & much more. We filled our tummies & Laura had lots of chocolate cake for pudding! After this we were feeling very very full! We waddled down onto the beach with our cameras and waited.. We walked up and down the beach 3 times and then stopped for a good half hour to watch the stars. We had never not even in Fiji seen stars like this!
That was when we realised we didn't pack Myles' tripod.. Again a very grumpy Myles but got a few shots. Getting cold and no signs of turtles from people walking down the beach we decided to do one last walk if not bingo was on the cards! We wondered down and saw & heard nothing until Laura heard shuffling.. Quickly the torch was turned on only to find a bright orange crab.. Bugger :/
That was when we realised we didn't pack Myles' tripod.. Again a very grumpy Myles but got a few shots. Getting cold and no signs of turtles from people walking down the beach we decided to do one last walk if not bingo was on the cards! We wondered down and saw & heard nothing until Laura heard shuffling.. Quickly the torch was turned on only to find a bright orange crab.. Bugger :/
Feeling a bit sorry for ourselves we carried on to the beach when Myles heard something and low and behold a baby turtle was just below our feet!
Very excited we took photos and videos of it heading down the beach & called over the family next to us who had been waiting & looking too! Myles and I went and found the nest whilst the family had their light in the water to give the turtles something to aim for. The turtles head straight for any type of light and as there was no moon we were worried they would head for the restaurant. We then went and told a staff member that they were hatching as we had been told to do. What we didn't expect was for her to announce it. The most unexpected part was as they were playing bingo no one got up until she said she would stop the game!! We were shocked and walked off regardless if people wanted to come. We power walked back to the beach where there were already more people & watched the hatchlings as they now got into the sea and swum off! Laura filmed them in the water on the gopro whilst Myles headed up to the nest. (Check out the video Gallery for this!)
Very excited we took photos and videos of it heading down the beach & called over the family next to us who had been waiting & looking too! Myles and I went and found the nest whilst the family had their light in the water to give the turtles something to aim for. The turtles head straight for any type of light and as there was no moon we were worried they would head for the restaurant. We then went and told a staff member that they were hatching as we had been told to do. What we didn't expect was for her to announce it. The most unexpected part was as they were playing bingo no one got up until she said she would stop the game!! We were shocked and walked off regardless if people wanted to come. We power walked back to the beach where there were already more people & watched the hatchlings as they now got into the sea and swum off! Laura filmed them in the water on the gopro whilst Myles headed up to the nest. (Check out the video Gallery for this!)
10 points if you can guess when the eggs were laid!?
We watched until we were down to the last turtle on the beach and then headed off for bed. It was truly magical and couldn't quite believe that we had just seen it! Before bed we plugged the gopro into the laptop and had a look at some of the photos and videos of the evening! Considering how dark it was & our only light was others torches they came out pretty well!
Again these will be on the blog ASAP!
After this we curled up into bed & realised the birds hadn't gone to sleep yet.. Laura made use of the earplugs and went off to sleep. We were then awoken later in the night to more bird noise! The earplugs had fallen out & Myles now needed some too! We couldn't believe the noise in the middle of the night! They either don't sleep or sleep talk! The noise was crazy.. Around 5:15 I was poked by Myles and asked if I wanted to go watch the sunrise. I agreed and we headed out to the beach. No signs of turtles up the beach so we waited for the sun to rise. We were greeted with a beautiful sunrise & some adult turtles in the sea in front of us!
We waited for 2 hours for them to come up onto the beach, at one point the did and then got dragged back out by the tide. We weren't sure if they were looking to lay or not! We gave up after 2 and a half hours and had breakfast. We came back and they were still in the surf popping their heads up to look for us! Very cheeky, we now know how David Attenborough feels! With that we put suncream on checked out of our room and joined the turtles in the sea. We had a beautiful hour in the water with them seeing another 3 & swimming around with them. After this we dried off and went to a fish identification presentation which was pretty interesting and filled time right up until it was time for our boat trip! Today we had a snorkel safari around the reef. We boarded and within seconds we saw a HUGE manta ray. We were a bit disappointed with this because we weren't allowed out of the boat to swim at this point which was a bit sad & meant we couldn't get any photos either :(
We waited for 2 hours for them to come up onto the beach, at one point the did and then got dragged back out by the tide. We weren't sure if they were looking to lay or not! We gave up after 2 and a half hours and had breakfast. We came back and they were still in the surf popping their heads up to look for us! Very cheeky, we now know how David Attenborough feels! With that we put suncream on checked out of our room and joined the turtles in the sea. We had a beautiful hour in the water with them seeing another 3 & swimming around with them. After this we dried off and went to a fish identification presentation which was pretty interesting and filled time right up until it was time for our boat trip! Today we had a snorkel safari around the reef. We boarded and within seconds we saw a HUGE manta ray. We were a bit disappointed with this because we weren't allowed out of the boat to swim at this point which was a bit sad & meant we couldn't get any photos either :(
We jumped in the water further down and had a great snorkel in the deeper water & got some good photos and videos but didn't see anything too spectacular which was a shame.
After this we were pretty tired and relaxed around the resort played some pool, hung out on the beach and had a spot of lunch. We couldn't do a lot as the tide was now out making it impossible to snorkel. Which was a shame. 4 o'clock came and it was our time to leave the island. We were very sad to be leaving but the trip was 100% worth it for the beautiful experience we had.
We are so glad that we decided to visit Lady Elliot Island and would recommend it to anyone! Because we have had such a beautiful experience of the reef we are now not heading up to cairns as we couldn't get a better experience than that from talking to a lot of people.
So who knows what we are going to do from here!
So much love for you all back home, sorry if this makes you grumpy! We did tell you all to come here with us!!
No comments:
Post a Comment