This morning I woke up to screeching birds right outside. Finally when I got out of bed I made my way over to the relaxing bar, which was closed. ;( Luckily there was some open seating outside where I could relax. When Mom came back we got ready and headed towards our scuba dive. Mom was walking and while she was walking she saw a huge green turtle covering up her nest and then making her way back into the water.
Today’s scuba wasn't all that, even though it was in the Great Barrier Reef. The reason was because the visibility was not very good, huge current, and my goggles were fogged because I didn't prepare or use them correctly. But we did see some bright colored coral. After Scuba diving we went snorkeling in the warm bright blue water off the jetty. As soon as we got into the water we were surrounded by thousands of fish that were circling us and swimming with us. While we were snorkeling we saw tons of coral and we even swam out to the shipwreck. Coming back was challenge though because the tide was low and we were to close to the coral. Once we were finished we had lunch and then I took a big long nap in the lounge on the couch for a couple hours while my mom went for another round of scuba diving and a reef walk.
When I woke up I did some homework and when I finished we had gone on a walk around the beach looking for hatchlings. On our walk we ran into our waiter Luke and his friend Amy who works at the hotel as well. While we were with Luke and Amy we came across a hatchling! The hatchling was getting eaten by a seagull but luckily Luke saved it in time before he got eaten and injured. We were able to pickup the baby turtle and then watch him waddle down the beach trying to make it to the shore. Once he got to the rocks Luke gave him some help over the reef to protect him from sharks. Continuing the walk we came across some baby shovel-nose shark rays which were just along the water’s edge which we could play with. Towards the end of the walk we came across some more baby hatchlings and a big mamma turtle coming to lay eggs. We were able to see the big Green turtle not only push herself up the beach but also see her start digging her nest in the sand. While she was digging it she produced waves of sand from her flippers. Female turtles lay their eggs up till around 90s years old. They come back to the same beach each time to lay their eggs. They lay around 125 eggs which are the size of a ping pong ball, which is named a clutch. The whole process takes a couple hours. First by making it’s way up to the beach. 2nd digging a whole to hide herself and then to dig a hole for the eggs. 3rd laying the eggs. Fourth covering the eggs and 5th making her way back to the water.
Back at home base we got dinner at the bar and went to bed. We had a good time with Luke and Amy. He was able to spot many things and was good to be around.
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