Ewan helped Johnston with his ÔRapid Assessment Monitoring SheetÕ
MacGillivray Reef is a very pretty reef with large gullies and complex
topography
Lizard Island Research Station beach and research boats.
Ann Hoggett giving a tour of the station
Marina and Ewan have a close look at the parasite tanks!
The boys saying a sad farewell to Paul
View from Cooks Look Ð with the Pelican looking tiny!!
Gillian
Goby and Katrina Goudkamp
We woke up at the Òcrack of dawnÓ to do some work with Sandy the photographer. It was very still and quiet, the water was like a lake and the sun slowly rose on the horizon - what a beautiful start to the day! We came back and had some yummy breakfast, that Jane had prepared, so that we had lots of fuel for our busy day. We went to our last Òmid shelfÓ site Ô MacGillivray Reef, which is north-west of Lizard Island. Today we had Pedar and Ewan help us in the water Ð which was great. Pedar was my buddy and he kept all the details of the video transect. Ewan helped Johnston with his ÔRapid Assessment Monitoring SheetÕ.
MacGillivray Reef is a very pretty reef with large gullies and complex topography. It is quite sandy below 9m Ð but has very high coral cover in shallower waters. We returned to the Pelican to enter some data, and plan our visit to Lizard Island Research station.
After lunch we went across the aqua waters of Lizard Island lagoon, between all the research boats and landed on the beach. Ann, the Director of Lizard Island, took us all for a tour of the facilities which was very interesting. It has nearly been ten years since I was last at Lizard Island Ð but it was just as I remembered it Ð a fantastic place. We had to say good bye to Paul today as he had to go back to the office. Half of us returned to the Pelican and on the way back we saw a little shark in the shallow water. The others climbed to the top of Cooks Look Ð What a view!!!
The walk was hot and steep, but it was all worth it when we reached the top. The view was amazing. Along the walking track we saw Kapok trees. The cotton like seeds from these trees were used to make pillows in the olden days. Along the walk we also noticed some native Lasiandra, which has pretty pink flowers. From the top of the look out we could see the coral reef where we had dived in the morning.