2020-03-10 – Lady Elliot Island

We were up early to catch a flight for a day trip to Lady Elliot Island.  We had good views of Hervey Bay, the marina and the long pier as we flew out.

Lady Elliot Island is the southernmost coral cay (small, low-elevation sandy island) in the Great Barrier Reef.  It is about 85 miles out at sea and is only about 110 acres large.  And it has a grassy runway right down the middle. 

Our pilot made a figure 8 loop around the island so that everyone in the little plane could get a good look at the island.  It was beautiful with the entire island ringed with reefs and a fringe of white, lacy surf.

After landing we were given a quick tour of the facilities and they went over the schedule as some of the reefs were closed due to the high surf…it is very windy.

There were tons of sea birds on the island, especially black (or white-capped) noddies.  They were so used to the tourists that you could walk right up to them to take pictures.  So we did.

We picked up beach shoes (for walking on the hard, chunky coral on the beaches) and fins and headed to the lagoon.  

It was a bit of an effort to get into the water because of the waves breaking on the beach.  Once we made it past the breakers it was pretty good snorkeling.  It was stated that the waters around the island are some of the clearest on the barrier reef.  However, the strong waves really kicked up sand so it was pretty murky. 

But, we saw lots of healthy looking coral,

blue starfish,

giant clams embedded in coral,

lots of fish,

sea cucumbers,

and Mary even saw a green sea turtle swim right by her.  Interesting fact, green sea turtles are brown.  They are called green turtles because they eat mostly sea grasses and consequently their fat is green.

After lunch we went to the other side of the island where we walked over the coral (in very shallow water)…

and caught a glass bottom boat ride out to the Coral Gardens for more snorkeling.  Great snorkeling with much clearer water.  There were tons of fish 

and beautiful coral.

We just had time to clean up a bit and change before the plane was ready to take us back to the mainland.  While we were waiting to board the plane another one came in for a landing.  Really stirred up the sea birds.

After taking off the pilot again did a figure 8 over the island.  The tide was now out so the island looked very different than in the morning.  The difference between high and low tide was around 6 - 7 feet.

The island has a very small resort and it might have been fun to have spent the night there so that we could have seen the baby turtles heading to the beach.  However, the one day was ok.