#Factor50

Snorkel firmly placed on my face and stinger suit baggily hanging from my body I hop into the cold water again for snorkel number two.
I put my face in the water and allowed my breathing through my snorkel to equalise. I was soon shaken from my calm breathing as a tiny jelly fish with a neon purple glow floated past me! I knew it was unlikely to sting me but I've seen Finding Nemo and wasn't taking any chances!

Two minutes in and we hear the shout of a fellow snorkeler, "turtle, turtle, turtle!" She pointed to where the turtle was under the water allowing me to race to the area. I followed her finger and submerged my face again. Right beneath me floated a turtle, I worried as I realised I was on top of him and he might feel trapped with me blocking his gateway to air so I swam a bit further out to admire him from a bigger distance. Soon after, he decided that we were cramping his style and he swam off.

The reef there was even more beautiful than the one we had seen previously. The corals were bigger and more vibrant, we also saw more fish. Again I heard it, "turtle, turtle, turtle!" This time I was really close to the girl and only had to swim ten paces before the turtle came into view. Being one of the first ones there I had more time to enjoy watching the turtle uninterrupted by arms and legs kicking beside me. He was truly incredible, much bigger than the first one and just as cute! He chomped uninterested in us on the coral as go pros snapped their shots of him.

After he moved on, I was desperate to see a shark but they very rarely are spotted in those reefs. "Shark, shark!" I knew as I was swimming that I had probably missed it as sharks are much quicker than their turtle neighbours. Sure enough, he was gone. This happened a further two times before we had to give up and board the speed boat to take us back to the Avatar.

Whilst waiting for the next snorkel destination a little head popped up out of the water, not too far from the boat a huge loggerhead turtle had come up for air. We could see his size in the water and watched him dipping in and out of the sea until he vanished from sight.

We had our last snorkel about an hour later and everyone felt slightly less enthusiastic as we were enjoying the now warm and dry wetsuits heating us up. This time we were swimming in deeper water with less variety of fish but much bigger beasts. The crew threw bread out of the speed boat to attract the fish to the surface and they excitedly bobbed on the water's surface and fought each other over the soggy bread. Every now and again a huge fish would barge through the crowd and take a bite.

Unfortunately with bread comes birds and it wasn't long before sea gulls were swarming above the water to get their share of the food. It was at this point that I decided to look at the fish slightly further away. The biggest was a black fish that Chelsea was desperately pointing at to help me to see him (she had tried to show me one before but I missed it completely). She needn't have bothered because his huge body glided past me followed by some blue fish with bright yellow tails.

Having seen the species that area had to offer, we slowly made our way back to the boat and warmed ourselves with a hot cup of tea overlooking the horizon.

We finished the day with a sundowner on a nearby beach. The sun went down over the water as we drank our cups of warm goon and watched the sun setting over what had been a pretty perfect day.

juliemegan

97 chapters

16 Apr 2020

#TurtleDude

October 22, 2017

|

Whitsundays

Snorkel firmly placed on my face and stinger suit baggily hanging from my body I hop into the cold water again for snorkel number two.
I put my face in the water and allowed my breathing through my snorkel to equalise. I was soon shaken from my calm breathing as a tiny jelly fish with a neon purple glow floated past me! I knew it was unlikely to sting me but I've seen Finding Nemo and wasn't taking any chances!

Two minutes in and we hear the shout of a fellow snorkeler, "turtle, turtle, turtle!" She pointed to where the turtle was under the water allowing me to race to the area. I followed her finger and submerged my face again. Right beneath me floated a turtle, I worried as I realised I was on top of him and he might feel trapped with me blocking his gateway to air so I swam a bit further out to admire him from a bigger distance. Soon after, he decided that we were cramping his style and he swam off.

The reef there was even more beautiful than the one we had seen previously. The corals were bigger and more vibrant, we also saw more fish. Again I heard it, "turtle, turtle, turtle!" This time I was really close to the girl and only had to swim ten paces before the turtle came into view. Being one of the first ones there I had more time to enjoy watching the turtle uninterrupted by arms and legs kicking beside me. He was truly incredible, much bigger than the first one and just as cute! He chomped uninterested in us on the coral as go pros snapped their shots of him.

After he moved on, I was desperate to see a shark but they very rarely are spotted in those reefs. "Shark, shark!" I knew as I was swimming that I had probably missed it as sharks are much quicker than their turtle neighbours. Sure enough, he was gone. This happened a further two times before we had to give up and board the speed boat to take us back to the Avatar.

Whilst waiting for the next snorkel destination a little head popped up out of the water, not too far from the boat a huge loggerhead turtle had come up for air. We could see his size in the water and watched him dipping in and out of the sea until he vanished from sight.

We had our last snorkel about an hour later and everyone felt slightly less enthusiastic as we were enjoying the now warm and dry wetsuits heating us up. This time we were swimming in deeper water with less variety of fish but much bigger beasts. The crew threw bread out of the speed boat to attract the fish to the surface and they excitedly bobbed on the water's surface and fought each other over the soggy bread. Every now and again a huge fish would barge through the crowd and take a bite.

Unfortunately with bread comes birds and it wasn't long before sea gulls were swarming above the water to get their share of the food. It was at this point that I decided to look at the fish slightly further away. The biggest was a black fish that Chelsea was desperately pointing at to help me to see him (she had tried to show me one before but I missed it completely). She needn't have bothered because his huge body glided past me followed by some blue fish with bright yellow tails.

Having seen the species that area had to offer, we slowly made our way back to the boat and warmed ourselves with a hot cup of tea overlooking the horizon.

We finished the day with a sundowner on a nearby beach. The sun went down over the water as we drank our cups of warm goon and watched the sun setting over what had been a pretty perfect day.



1.

#Thearrival

2.

#TheGreatSearchForaWinery

3.

#TheGreatOceanRoad&theKoala

4.

#TheGreatOceanRoadAndTheLittleTinHouse

5.

#TheGreatOceanRoad

6.

#NedKellyTheGreatBandit

7.

#HomeSweetHome

8.

#MeetingtheEnglish

9.

#BondiBeach

10.

#BonditoCoogee

11.

#AnAmericanSundowner

12.

#ManlyJazzFestival

13.

#BusingittoByron

14.

#Nimbin

15.

#ArtsNcraftsandtheLighthouse

16.

#DolphinKayaking

17.

#Surfer'sParadise

18.

#TheBoatTripThatWentWrong

19.

#TheUnfortunateCuddle

20.

#TheFree$50NoosaTrip

21.

#AheartBreakingText

22.

#RowRowRowYourBoat

23.

#ThroughTheThunder

24.

#WhenTheHeavensOpenedOnFraserIsland

25.

#LakeMckenzie&TheRayofSun

26.

#OnBoardTheAvatar

27.

#WhiteHavenBeach

28.

#TurtleDude

29.

#MagneticIslandFortWalk

30.

#BreakfastWithKoalas

31.

#TheSandyNude

32.

#FeedingTheRockWallabies

33.

#RaftingThroughtheRocks

34.

#Scubadobado

35.

#TheOldestRainForestInAustralia

36.

#DrowningInTheSurf

37.

#SandSharkDay

38.

#NewtownFestival

39.

#TheDeathRipDay

40.

#TheBabyandtheBay

41.

#TheVinesandtheWinesofMudgee

42.

#NotSurfing!FallingWithStyle

43.

#BrokenFeetandSadFarewells

44.

#LightsandLyrics

45.

#I’mTheCaptainNow

46.

ChristmasByTheBeach

47.

#OutWithABang!

48.

#TheFlightToQueenstown

49.

#DrivingThroughTheMountains

50.

#TheRealityOfTravel

51.

#Anexperienceofalifetime

52.

#PenguinBeach

53.

#Dunedin

54.

#MagnificentMilfordSound/Lake/Fiord

55.

#TheChildrenOfQueenstown

56.

#AucklandAdventures

57.

#MeettheHakacast

58.

#Boning

59.

#CatheralCoveAndTheSilverShovels

60.

#WhatHappenedToThePavolva

61.

#WhenSatanReturnedHome

62.

#casuallyclimbingavolcano

63.

#WeFoundThePavlova

64.

#TheDay

65.

#IslandsWithMilly

66.

#TheDayThatWouldn’tHaveBeen

67.

#MelbourneTakeTwo

68.

BeachHuts&PenguinButts

69.

#What'sWithMeatInACake?

70.

#TooManyFlowers

71.

#PhillipIslandandThePenguinParade

72.

#Surfschooltaketwo!

73.

#Pigeons

74.

#TragicDinnersOfanEnglishman

75.

#MeetBecky

76.

#TheBlueMountains

77.

#FindingTasmania

78.

#TheOldRailwayRun

79.

#Jump

80.

#CradleMountain

81.

#TheBetterSheffield

82.

#WhatHoneyFarm?

83.

#LittleDevils

84.

#WinesAndWineglassBay

85.

#I'mDoneWithSteepGradients

86.

#AHistoryLessonWithMissManning

87.

#TreasonAndTip

88.

#TheTailOfTheWhale

89.

#Watermelon

90.

#TheGinger&TheGaggleofGays

91.

#Stevethroughthetrees

92.

#NannyDotsBigMistake

93.

#BirthdayBonanza

94.

#AlllThheWnes

95.

#Megan'sMeringue

96.

#SorryNotSorry

97.

#TheDeparture

Share your travel adventures like this!

Create your own travel blog in one step

Share with friends and family to follow your journey

Easy set up, no technical knowledge needed and unlimited storage!

Contact:
download from App storedownload from Google play

© 2025 Travel Diaries. All rights reserved.