Lady Musgrave Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Felicity Cousteau getting ready to explore the depths

Our original plan had been to go further north and to visit the great barrier reef from Cairns. Once that was off the cards Crystal looked for the southernmost place where we could still get to the reef and found Lady Musgrave Island. The day before, we had a day off in Burnett Heads where our neighbours were horses and from where we visited the Mon Repos turtle centre which was a good warm-up for seeing them in the wild.

Chatting with the neighbours at our place in Burnett Heads

Research scientist practicing safety in the workplace and considering this giant loggerhead

Felicity studying some blood samples

It is winter but even for winter it has been really cold, 5 degrees cooler than normal and with a brisk wind. The last couple of nights have been 7° and with windchill it felt like 4° when we lined up for our boat at 6:45 in the morning. Luckily we could be inside for the crossing to the reef which took just over two hours. And once the sun was up if you could find a sheltered place on the deck it was really lovely there too. The swell was up which made for a rolling crossing but it all added to the joy of being on the open ocean.

We moored against the tour company's pontoon anchored just off the reef. First stop was to take the glass bottom boat to the island with a friendly biologist and to take a walk around the island. We learned about the white-capped noddy terns who fertilize the trees not only with their guano but also with their dead and decomposing selves, victims either of old age or of the sticky flower traps on the trees. We also learned that the island is entirely made of coral. It was a really nice walk through the forest. We got to see the small campsite before walking back along the beach to the boat. We had brought several campers over and took one solitary adventurer back home with us.  On the way back to the pontoon we spent time looking at turtles and coral and fish through the glass bottom boat.

On the glass bottom boat. In the shade and exposed to the wind it really felt cold!

The island and the gigantic surrounding reef

One of those invaluable terns

Another regular visitor to the island

The lush Pisonia trees, often hundreds of years old

The reef exposed at low tide

Pieces of coral on the beach

Leaving behind the campers

A green turtle seen through the glass bottom. We also saw them at the "cleaning stations" where fish were diligently picking parasites and other unwelcome visitors in exchange for a free meal

After lunch on the pontoon we got kitted out with wetsuits and snorkeling gear and went for a closer view of the reef. All four of us got to see green turtles. My overwhelming memory from this trip will be floating a couple of metres above a green turtle that must’ve been between 75 cm and a metre long. I was struck by the calm peaceful swimming strokes of the turtle as well as the beautiful shape of its shell and its distinctive wise looking head.

Ready to go

Blue water, glorious sunshine, and a chilly wind

Around 2:30pm we all got back on the catamaran and headed off to return to Burnett Heads, leaving behind the school group to stay on for a few days to do their diving course. Good life. Once again, if you could find a spot that was out of the wind and had a bit of sun on it, it was really beautiful sitting on the deck enjoying the cloudless sky and the endless ocean horizon. I think I’m aware that this is one of our last visits to the ocean as well as one of our closest encounters. We have tracked the Pacific along the coast of Chile, through Los Angeles, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and now Australia again. We are about to fly to Vancouver. I think I am almost guilty of taking all this ocean time for granted and I know I will miss it once we are back in landlocked Ottawa.

Leaving the school group who will live on the pontoon for the next few days of their dive course 

Heading home, leaving Lady Musgrave Island behind us 

The moon rising over the island

On the drive onwards towards Glenwood on the way to Brisbane for the next day's flight to Sydney, we stopped for dinner at Harry's Thai and had a discussion about how we could use flashcards to train a turtle not to eat plastic!