Raine Island - Nature's Cradle on the Edge of the Coral Sea
Satellite Web Cast From Turtle Heaven and Hell
Journal Entry - 12-12 - 02 - Turtle Time
Up early again and it is beginning to wear us down. We were a bit late getting into position and missed the best light. Then the sun dropped behind high clouds way too early, 7:15, and ruined the light completely. But there were nice shots to be had down on the beach while the light lasted.
Back at the boat we went for a dive at coral gardens, Richard riding his underwater scooter, the man has more underwater toys, attached to his camera while I did it the old fashioned way. The intent was to capture the beauty and richness of the shallow coral beds in the clean clear water at mid-day light. Unfortunately because the visibility has been so bad it didn't work quite that way for me although Richard reports it went quite well. I did manage to make several nice shots of coral and several of fish but the idea of showing the richness of the coral bed didn't come across. The water was just too murky.
In the late afternoon Parks and Wildlife Service conservation officer, Ian bell, I earlier erroneously described him as a Parks and Wildlife Service ranger, went for a snorkel in the shallows next to the island looking for turtles to photograph. The visibility was very low due to some sort of algae bloom creating a tea colored layer in the water. Because of the low visibility, the high number of turtles around, and the known presence of large tiger sharks, sanity finally got the better of us and we retreated from the water to the island to wait for the zodiac inflatable to come back and pick us up.
Shortly after getting back to the boat and racing to get camera equipment ready it was time to head for the island for the sunset shoot. The first boat went over with Richard and two others, the next would be me and another. As they motored away everybody watched the most beautiful sunset we have yet had develop. Then SHE....Mother Nature reared her ugly head and drove that sun behind a huge thunder cloud. We later heard that all of the Cape York peninsula plain has been covered in low cloud cover preventing us from chartering a plane to shoot aerials of the islands. Hopefully we will be able to do so soon.
Although it my seem like a slow day, today has been all work and no relaxation. We are at the halfway point. Tomorrow at noon we motor back to Lockhart river on the coast to re-provision. We will drop off Dr. Seymour who will return to Cairns and his university duties. Just two weeks to Xmas. I'll be in New Zealand, taking a short break, resting up for the second expedition.
Check back tomorrow night!
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Photo Captions:
• Bobby roost.
• Sewtips tail.
• Mounting the scooter.
• Finished movie missile.
• Paul Sutherland.