Our very last day in Cairns started with a heavy downpour of rain! By the time we arrived at quayside the rain had eased and as we boarded the SEASTAR, our boat for the day, it stopped.
Once all 35 passengers were on board we set off for Michalmus Cay which is a large sand bar on the reef and offer shelter to a huge bay which makes it ideal for snorkelling. The sand bar also provides a nesting site for thousands of birds.
As we arrived down-wind of the Cay it was the smell of the birds that hit us first but we soon got used to it. I birded whilst everyone else went either under-water or floated on the surface.
Eighty percent of the birds were Brown (Common) Noddy, Sooty Terns numbers followed them, then Lesser Crested Terns came next. Also breeding were Brown Boobys in small numbers with a few Ruddy Turnstones, Silver Gulls and the odd Bridled Tern.
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| Brown Noddy in the foreground and Sooty Terns at the background |
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| a closer view of the Brown Noddy |
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| even closer |
After an hour of snorkelling we set off for the outer reef at a place called Hastings Reef. More snorkelling and a glass bottomed boat revealed an extraordinary variety of fish and we saw a couple of Green Turtles.
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| (Greater) Crested Tern with Lesser Created Terns |
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| Bridled Tern |
We never had an underwater camera but you can imagine the vibrant colour on display and reef itself is a beauty to behold, an array of unbelievable colour, shapes and textures, it was truly mind blowing and a must-do if you ever come this way.
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| the coral picture I got! Taken from the glass-bottomed boat |
We highly recommend the Company we used - SEASTAR - they were excellent in every and we only had 35 tourists on board, most other boats have up to 200!
THIS FINALISES OUR TRIP TO CAIRNS, WE HAVE HAD A FANTASTIC TRIP, LOVED EVERY MINUTE AND WOULD RETURN IN A FLASH.
MY BIRD LIST NOW EXCEEDS 250 SPECIES, I HOPE TO REACH 300 BEFORE I LEAVE ON THE 8TH NOVEMBER. BRISBANE HERE WE COME!
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