Today we took a sailboat out to the reef to do some snorkeling. The first stop was Michaelmas Cay, a famous island in the middle of the reef that is a bird sanctuary, has a beautiful white sand beach, and calm snorkeling just off the shore. We had a relaxing day floating on the waves finding cool things too look at. Among the things we saw in the water: a 3-foot black tip reef shark, two turtles, lots of parrotfish, an oriental sweetlips fish at a cleaning station, a small stingray and some medium sized jellyfish. Unlike the white-tip reef shark that we yesterday which have thin needle-like teeth and narrow jaws (for eating small fish whole), the black-tips have serrated teeth and wider jaws (for biting chunks out of larger animals...like people), so we gave it plenty of room even though it was so small. The sweetlips fish is cool looking, it has a mouth like Mick Jagger's. After Reef Teach, we knew when we saw the parrotfish to listen...because it has a parrot-like mouth that chomps down on the hard reef, making an interesting audible noise. When we saw the jellyfish though, we took that as our cue to exit the water. Stings are no fun, and much harder to avoid than a shark... Tomorrow, we have a free day, and are looking forward to doing some shopping in Cairns and relaxing by the pool and beach. Good on you, mate.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Michaelmas Cay
Today we took a sailboat out to the reef to do some snorkeling. The first stop was Michaelmas Cay, a famous island in the middle of the reef that is a bird sanctuary, has a beautiful white sand beach, and calm snorkeling just off the shore. We had a relaxing day floating on the waves finding cool things too look at. Among the things we saw in the water: a 3-foot black tip reef shark, two turtles, lots of parrotfish, an oriental sweetlips fish at a cleaning station, a small stingray and some medium sized jellyfish. Unlike the white-tip reef shark that we yesterday which have thin needle-like teeth and narrow jaws (for eating small fish whole), the black-tips have serrated teeth and wider jaws (for biting chunks out of larger animals...like people), so we gave it plenty of room even though it was so small. The sweetlips fish is cool looking, it has a mouth like Mick Jagger's. After Reef Teach, we knew when we saw the parrotfish to listen...because it has a parrot-like mouth that chomps down on the hard reef, making an interesting audible noise. When we saw the jellyfish though, we took that as our cue to exit the water. Stings are no fun, and much harder to avoid than a shark... Tomorrow, we have a free day, and are looking forward to doing some shopping in Cairns and relaxing by the pool and beach. Good on you, mate.
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8 comments:
Those are serious fins, Carrie! Yeah, stay away from the sharks.
Mrs. Lorna Wall (Rob's mom living in Australia) compliments your blog. Hi to Lorna!!
I am impressed by your fish knowledge! Jelly fish and sharks- 2 types to avoid. Very smart! Carrie, my what big fins you have. Since John's are even bigget they might not have fit into the picture. We stayed at your digs on Saturday and Sunday. All is well there. I even rasked the lawn! Skylar's party was fun and she enjoyed every minute of it. Be safe -have fun.
Tank
Hi, kids,
I hope you are finding time to wash your underwear. You know what mothers always say. Take care on your scuba trip.
Love, Mom
John, you are putting our sabbatical blog to shame! How sad that you're finding it easier to get online halfway across the world than we did in our own country. Sigh.
Looking forward to your report of the liveaboard dive trip! John (my John) did this when he was down under and it was the highlight of his trip.
Testing...testing...do u READ me? How come the blog page 'paused' on 12/16 for 4 days now?..R u guys OK , r u swimming in the 'blackout' zone? or just my co. firewall problem.
Carrie looked Pro in wet suit. Incidentally, jelly fish is a delicate APPERTIZER in Dim-Sum (cantonese restaurant). Did Barbara try it last time (~2 yrs ago) when we ate together?
G'day to Mrs. Wall. Sorry we've been absent on the blog for a few days, we have been on the outer reefs and far away from any cell towers. Several posts coming.
Thanks for raking the leaves on the lawn, hope it wasn't too much effort!
Jenna: We're just happy that everybody is still reading our blog, it keeps us motivated to continue posting. :)
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