What a fascinating place Huon Reef is. We have seen dozens of gigantic sea-turtles here – swimming by the boat, sunning themselves in the shallow water by shore, lumbering up onto the beach, digging big holes in the sand with their flippers in order to nest. It’s hard to know how many turtles are here -but it must be in the hundreds. They are immense – anywhere from 200 to 500 pounds. Many of them are mating in the water and we watch the strange coupled pairs floating by us (for incredibly long periods of time) – often with a lonely male following the couple hoping for a chance to push off the other male and do what nature is telling him to do. Then there are the seabirds – thousands of boobies flying, sitting on their eggs, watching over their chicks, and watching us as we walk down the beach watching them. Other birds are here too – frigates and terns and others we don’t recognize. We see and hear them as they make their strange call from the railings of our boat and make the term “poop deck” very appropriate. The beach is also filled with innumerable crabs, all scuttling around, with the smaller ones crawling around in a multitude of beautiful shells. Big clusters of them are found under the hunks of driftwood on the beach. Then in the tidal pools there are lots of small and very beautiful black tipped sharks. We are having a great time – pure National Geographic type experience. It is also great to be here with Lynn and Mike (Wombat of Sydney). They love walking along the beach with us for hours just watching all the wonders of the island, picking up shells, taking photos, and marveling at the beauty of the place. It is also great to be here with another boat – it is just so far away from civilization….hundreds of miles away from any inhabited island.
Nice place…..we’ll stay here at least a few more days before heading further south and west..en route to Australia.
P.S. The photo is of me and one of the turtles here on Huon Island. He is mid-sized compared to some of the giants we have seen here. (I am the one in the pink shirt)
L.
Nice place…..we’ll stay here at least a few more days before heading further south and west..en route to Australia.
P.S. The photo is of me and one of the turtles here on Huon Island. He is mid-sized compared to some of the giants we have seen here. (I am the one in the pink shirt)
L.
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