We managed to mostly sleep through the night, thanks to earplugs and the ceiling fans. We still got up pretty early and went to breakfast. After sufficient coffee and some food we grabbed our snorkel gear and headed to Shark Bay to see some fish. Maybe we should have thought a little bit more about the title "Shark Bay." I am not sure what I expected but it probably wasn't standing in knee deep water and having several three to four foot sharks circle my legs.

There are several breeds of sharks inhabiting the waters around Heron Island. They include black and white tipped reef sharks, lemon sharks, nurse sharks and epaulette sharks. I understand they are harmless but in the end they are still sharks. We got our gear on and got out there and believe it or not, it wasn’t the sharks that were bothering me it was the jellies. I am not a fan of jelly fish even when they are only a couple of inches in diameter. There wasn’t much coral or tropical fish in this bay. What there was was a lot of sharks and they circled just at the edge of our vision. I didn’t last too long at this spot.

We headed back towards the other end of the Island to another snorkeling spot called “The Gantry.” This turned out to have just as many sharks but it also had coral and other fun fish to see and no jellies. The water was so warm and the snorkeling was so good that I would actually forget all about the sharks. I would be watching some cool fish and out of nowhere a four foot shark would enter my view and saunter by. It was a little alarming every time. The tide went out and we reluctantly dragged ourselves out of the water and went to lunch.

After lunch we got to experience the reef in an entirely different way. Heron Island is surrounded by about 3/4 of a mile of shallow reef on all sides. When the tide is up it is about three meters deep. When the tide goes down the reef is about .3 meters deep. So we strapped on water shoes and grabbed some hiking sticks to help with balance and walked out into the ocean we were swimming in earlier. We walked out for around for an hour and half being careful not to step on coral, sea cucumbers or baby sharks. It was really cool to see the reef from this perspective and to visit all the spots we had been swimming through just a few short hours earlier.

At 4:30pm we went to the research center for a talk on turtles. There are Loggerhead and Green Turtles in this area. They weigh up to 500 pounds. Anywhere from 40 to 200 Female turtles per night come ashore during the evening high tide and lay eggs. They lay up to 120 eggs each. The eggs are roughly the size and shape of ping pong balls. They come out of the water at high tide and climb into the sand dunes and dig a hole, lay the eggs and bury their nests. The baby turtles all hatch at once underground and then dig out of the hole and race for the ocean together. This is called an explosion. They do this right at sunset each night. Only 1 in 1000 survives to adulthood. Before they even make it to the deep ocean they have to get past the flocks of seagulls, the pesky crabs and the feeding sharks. The sharks swim three to four feet off shore in 18 inches of water and eat them as they are coming into the water.

We missed the hatchlings tonight. Dinner took a little longer than expected but we did go for a walk along the beach at 9:30pm which was the evening high tide. We came across a three foot turtle digging her egg chamber. We sat on the dune about 5 feet from her and listened to her grunt and move sand. It is a new moon so the light is very low and we are not to disturb her with flashes and torches while she is digging. After a while we moved on and almost walked right into a beautiful girl climbing out of the sea and making her way to the dunes. I was exhausted and went to bed but Lesley and Eric stayed with her and managed to get some photos during the egg drop. While she is actually laying the eggs she goes into a trance and you can then use lights and flashes to observe.

Turtles are amazing. They make their way back to the spot where they are born and mate for several months. The female will take up to 15 partners and can store all the male sperm separately. She will force herself into ovulation and choose which mates sperm to use to fertilize her eggs. She then goes back to the beach where she was born and digs the nest. Six weeks later the explosion happens. The female turtle will lay eggs every few weeks for at least two months and sometimes for as many as seven months. They do not feed during this time and are exhausted by the end of their nesting season. It takes her three to four years to recover before she starts the process all over again.

Some mysterious thing happens to baby turtles during the explosion. They are somehow imprinted to remember where they were born. It happens in that short march from nest to ocean. If you pick up a baby turtle and place it in the ocean it will never be able to find its home again. Also there are always several sharks in 18 inches of water waiting for them. I don’t mind swimming with the sharks as long as I am not carrying their food source. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to some turtle hatchlings.