For those of you coming from my blog about my time in Sydney, welcome. To those who know nothing about it, it might be worth a read: https://sites.google.com/view/sams-blog-for-australia/home 29th of May. Today I traveled from Gladstone to Heron Island. The ferry was about two hours long and it was really calm waters, which I have heard is unusual. I was kind of hoping to see someone vom just to be like, "yeah, I don't get sea sick, I don't even take Dramamine!" Anyways, the ferry was smooth and we arrived at Heron Island without anybody getting sick. First impressions of Heron, seems really big at first and then as you walk around a couple times, it feels just right. When I say just right, I mean it isn't too big of an island that you get lost but it isn't too small where you can go tip to tip in five minutes so it gets boring. There are tons of birds, all over the place. This has lead to the title of today's post. The birds non-stop yell, no joke it will become a way of life and it will be weird when I leave Heron to not be constantly hearing it. We got settled in our rooms which are bunk style like the hostels but they gave us four rooms, two for the ladies and two for the guys. As a group of 13 students, this isn't horrible but the rooms are pretty dang big. Like 8 beds big. I guess four of the guys really want to hear each other snore and took one room so me and another guy took the other room. I am pretty down for two guys having a huge room and six other beds to pile our stuff on so I didn't complain. After unpacking, we met as a class for lunch and then after lunch I went on a walk with a classmate along the beach. We happened to see some chitons and some guitar sharks which are pretty bizarre. The walk ended when we had to return to the research station for a lecture on safety and rules around the island. We decided during the lecture that we wanted to get right into the ocean and do a snorkel session. We got our gear (including wet suits, it does get a bit chilly in the water even though we have a giant lagoon), buddied up, and got snorkeling. There are tons of fish. So many different kinds of fish! My highlights during this snorkel were two eels and a moon wrasse (look them up, they are sweet). There are over 50 species of fish and coral all around Heron so I won't name everything, but I will be naming some of my top picks that you can look up and be like, "oh yeah, bet that is cool in the water." Some other things to name that are swimming around out there are parrot fish, whitetail dascyllus, long finned goby, spanish flag snappers, and of course turtles! There are three kinds around Heron Island. There are the green turtles, the hawksbill, and the loggerhead. While on the dock, I also saw a black tipped reef shark and a spotted eagle ray. The day wound down by watching the sunset off the deck and dinner. Since Heron Island is in the tropics, the sun moves a bit quicker and the sunset from the sun touching the horizon to gone happened in a couple of minutes. Some of you may be like, "doesn't that always happen?" No, it doesn't. Watch the sunset and you will be like, "wow, it takes its sweet time going down." After the sunset, there was a bit of resting before heading to dinner which our local chef, Pat, is amazing at making. That concludes my first day on Heron and I honestly think I will enjoy being on the island more than in the water. Seeing all I can (birds, land features, and things on the beach) and wandering around is one of my favorite things to do. I love looking out over the water and seeing all sorts of stuff and the fish being natural out in the water. Don't get me wrong, snorkeling is cool but I am more of a breathe air instead of salt water kind of guy and inhaling salt water comes with every snorkel session.
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About MeI am the guy whose name is on the top there. I am a student who graduated with a BA from USU this year and finally gave in to Dr. Atwood's pestering to go on her Heron Island Class for coral reefs. People often call me really sassy and unhappy. What they don't know is that my resting face is angry, but I am usually pretty happy. ArchivesCategories |