Michaelmas Cay

A cay is a small, low-elevation, sandy island on the surface of a coral reef. Michaelmas Cay has little vegetation, but is a nesting site for thousands of sea birds. Thousands of birds within camera range was an irresistible attraction for Bill.

Check-in was at the Reef Fleet Terminal, a large hall where the various cruise companies invite you to join their excursions. From there, we had to walk to the big catamaran, Ocean Spirit, in pouring rain. Most of the way we enjoyed the protection of a covered walkway, but we were still pretty wet by the time we got on board. The passenger cabin contained an industrial strength air conditioning unit that blasted dry and very cold air at us. Bill blames it for the runny nose he subsequently developed.

Fortunately the trip quickly left the rain behind, and we had brilliant sunshine for our 4 hours at the cay.

Eve decided she would not go snorkelling. Bill chose to go solo. He reckoned that he would see much more than with a guided group. The boat provided flippers and a lycra suit. The largest size they carry is just a little tight on Bill.

One of the more colourful corals

There were lots of small fish, but few of them came close enough for a decent photo

More nice corals

A giant clam inviting me to put an arm or leg in to see what would happen.  No, I didn't try it!

Back on shore there was a rectangle of beach marked out with rope. Visitors must stay within it, so the birds have free use of the other 99% of the cay. Bill shed his flippers and unzipped the lycra suit.

Puzzlement. The first few bird pics didn't look right. It seems that some moisture got into the lens during the wet bird-watching in the botanic gardens. Fortunately, the hot sun warmed the equipment and the fogginess disappeared. It has not returned!

A Brown Booby - a species of gannet.  Eve has warned me against saying I spent my holiday photographing Brown Boobies.  It could give quite the wrong impression.

A Common Noddy - a species of tern.  This one was within the humans-allowed area and did not move.  Was it sitting on an egg, perhaps?

A Brown Booby with its chick.  We saw only two, well-grown chicks.  They must have hatched late in the last breeding season.

A Great Frigatbird

Lots and lots of Sooty Terns

The Silver Gull must be Australia's commonest seabird.  We only saw a couple of them on the cay.  This one is surrounded by terns of various species.

Portrait of a Brown Booby

Our best picture of a Common Noddy.  It is carrying a small piece of coral in its beak, probably for a nest.

Surfeited with birds we took the last shuttle back out to Ocean Spirit for lunch.

Ocean Spirit with the little boat that shuttles passengers to and from the island.

It was then we discovered that Bill's front, exposed by unzipping his suit, and the tops of his feet were sunburned. Ouch.

Our afternoon activity was a trip on a 'semi-submersible', i.e. a vessel where the passengers sit below the water level to view the corals and the fishes. There is also a commentary to identify what we are looking at. We took photographs by placing the cameras against the window. The results were very disappointing, though.

Some coral

Soft coral

A fish with a yellow tail

The trip back to Cairns was sunshine all the way.