Stretching north from the QLD-NSW border, the coastline slowly transforms from fine sandy beaches and high surf to placid seas and mangroves. We hadn’t yet crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, but the days were getting already becoming warmer and longer. We stopped at one of the last surf outposts at The Town of 1770 before the Great Barrier Reef tames the swells of the South Pacific Ocean. The peculiarly named Town of 1770 is hardly a town at all, consisting of little more than a collection of holiday homes and one modest shopping center. It gets its name from the its history as the second landing site in Australia by Captain Cook and the crew of the Endeavor on May of 1770, but these days its most well known as the jumping off point for Lady Musgrave Island. Lady Musgrave is the second southernmost island to be a part of the Great Barrier Reef chain of islands and is one of the few true coral cays in the whole reef system.
The island lies 60km offshore and on the particular day we elected to go there were some large residual swells from a recently passed storm. What started out as an exciting roller coaster ride quickly became a torturous and unpleasant hour and a half trip out to the island. I won’t tell you who, but at least one of us didn’t keep their breakfast. It was with great relief to almost all on board when we finally laid anchor in the safety island’s lagoon from which we would be snorkeling. It all proved to be worthwhile however, as the sea life was put on display almost immediately by one of the crew throwing some bait into the water. Suddenly a flurry of fish of all sizes and colors shot to the surface of the water to devour the delicious fishie morsels!
Shortly thereafter we were loaded onboard a smaller boat and carted off the do a short walking tour of the island itself. The small quarter of a square kilometer island supports a small forest of Pisonia trees and is a breeding destination for thousands of birds in season. Luckily for us this was not that season, as the guide informed us the when occupied the very ground we were walking would be colored white with you know what. If you aren’t familiar with what a coral kay is, the island’s beach might not be what you expect. The island is made up entirely of dead and broken bits of coral and the sediments that have built up on its shores over time and the beach reflects this. We were also informed by our guide that the reason snorkeling was not allowed from the beach (on our tour anyways) was because of the presence of a small venomous snail called the Cone Snail. Some varieties of these snails can deliver a sting powerful enough to be fatal and their shells blend in with the coral bits along the beach. Needless to say - collecting shells is not recommended.
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| The island "sand" |
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| The Pisonia forest |
From here we took a brief glass-bottomed boat tour around the lagoon. We were able to spot loads of fish and different types of coral, but best of all was a group of sea turtles! As we drifted over there were at least 4 of them collected around one bowl shaped coral structure and to our delight the guide informed us that we would be allowed to snorkel there when the time came to get into the water. You can imagine then that when that time DID come, everyone on the tour made a B line directly for that structure and we were surely a part of that exodus. The turtles didn’t seem to mind though, and Kayleigh and I were able to get fairly close to the group. As luck would have it, one of the turtles came out of the bowl to grab a breath of air and I followed it and watched as it lazily drifted and “flew” through the water. By some fluke, most of the rest of the tour group had moved on to other sections of the reef and what an amazing experience it was as the turtle and I floated together there, suspended in that moment. I managed to get some pretty good video using our new GoPro, but you’ll have to wait until the next home videos to catch a glimpse :p.
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| This shot through the glass bottomed boat will have to hold you over until you see the video :p |
I should note here, that the visibility in the water was surprisingly fantastic despite the wind rushing over the surface of the water. You easily see some 34-40 feet. Once we’d finished snorkeling the sun did finally come out and Oh-My-God how blue the water was. It shined like I’ve never seen water shine before and practically begged for another inviting dip into the fairyland below.
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| Bliss |
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