Whitsunday Sailboat Cruise - Ragamuffin II - Day 2 ...
We went back to Luncheon Bay to allow a couple of our people to link up with a scuba diving boat and make a dive. Meanwhile we did some snorkeling. This was the home of "Elvis", the friendly bump headed Murray Wraisse. He was huge and very funny looking! I had seen one in the Melbourne acquarium and thought it was the funniest fish I'd ever seen. It made me laugh. Elvis would come within a foot or so. You could reach out and touch him but were asked not to because if he was touched too much he would get sick. He was probably 4 feet long and 14" high. He was very curious and would come face to face with you. He had his own entourage of follower fish as well.
The other impressive creatures in this area were giant clams. These were gigantic as well! One was about 4-feet across. Others were much smaller and wedged into the coral. Their "lips" were the most incredible colors, irridescent blues and greens!
Later we took the dingy over to Manta Ray Bay and saw another Murray Wraisse called "Wally". He was friendly and we were the only ones around this time, so it was an even better experience.
I talked with Matt quite a bit. His life was all about the sea. He been involved in sea sports and sailing as an occupation since he was 21. His next goal was to purchase a sailboat and subcontract to one of the Whitsunday operators for proving the cruises. Hope it all works out for him!
Before coming to Australia I been informed and terrified by the presence of deadly box jellyfish during certain months of the year. We were just at the end of the season. There poison is very deadly, but I found out that most people don't receive enough of it to die. The poison is injected by very tiny stinger cells. By wearing a thin suit of clothing, like nylon stockings are made of, you can generally prevent the stingers from penetrating deep enough to inject the poison. We all wore "stinger" suits when we went snorkeling. The thing is, they just cover you legs, arms, torso, and chest. Your neck, bottom of your feet and face are exposed. Seems kind of risky to me but it appears that statistically they turn out to be very effective. Matt has never seen anyone stung by a stinger, but had another captain has three people stung who developed severe symptons. One was in intensive care for three days. The three people were not wearing stinger suits while three others diving with them wore suits and had not stings. I think ever since Matt always wears, and recommends others wear, stinger suits. The major issue with stinger suits is there's no way to look fashionable in a stinger suit! Then again, I don't think people who are stung look very trender either!
We made our way over to one of the beaches off of Whitsunday Island and moored the night there. We saw a few lone squids, but no major action like the night before. We had a fun evening on deck drinking beers and telling stories.
We went back to Luncheon Bay to allow a couple of our people to link up with a scuba diving boat and make a dive. Meanwhile we did some snorkeling. This was the home of "Elvis", the friendly bump headed Murray Wraisse. He was huge and very funny looking! I had seen one in the Melbourne acquarium and thought it was the funniest fish I'd ever seen. It made me laugh. Elvis would come within a foot or so. You could reach out and touch him but were asked not to because if he was touched too much he would get sick. He was probably 4 feet long and 14" high. He was very curious and would come face to face with you. He had his own entourage of follower fish as well.
The other impressive creatures in this area were giant clams. These were gigantic as well! One was about 4-feet across. Others were much smaller and wedged into the coral. Their "lips" were the most incredible colors, irridescent blues and greens!
Later we took the dingy over to Manta Ray Bay and saw another Murray Wraisse called "Wally". He was friendly and we were the only ones around this time, so it was an even better experience.
I talked with Matt quite a bit. His life was all about the sea. He been involved in sea sports and sailing as an occupation since he was 21. His next goal was to purchase a sailboat and subcontract to one of the Whitsunday operators for proving the cruises. Hope it all works out for him!
Before coming to Australia I been informed and terrified by the presence of deadly box jellyfish during certain months of the year. We were just at the end of the season. There poison is very deadly, but I found out that most people don't receive enough of it to die. The poison is injected by very tiny stinger cells. By wearing a thin suit of clothing, like nylon stockings are made of, you can generally prevent the stingers from penetrating deep enough to inject the poison. We all wore "stinger" suits when we went snorkeling. The thing is, they just cover you legs, arms, torso, and chest. Your neck, bottom of your feet and face are exposed. Seems kind of risky to me but it appears that statistically they turn out to be very effective. Matt has never seen anyone stung by a stinger, but had another captain has three people stung who developed severe symptons. One was in intensive care for three days. The three people were not wearing stinger suits while three others diving with them wore suits and had not stings. I think ever since Matt always wears, and recommends others wear, stinger suits. The major issue with stinger suits is there's no way to look fashionable in a stinger suit! Then again, I don't think people who are stung look very trender either!
We made our way over to one of the beaches off of Whitsunday Island and moored the night there. We saw a few lone squids, but no major action like the night before. We had a fun evening on deck drinking beers and telling stories.
posted by Chris at 10:00 PM
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