Green Island

You recall how I mentioned you would need snorkelling equipment for this entry? Well, it was because this time, we are headed underwater. And not just any water. We're talking the warm tropical seas off the coast of Cairns, Queensland. The very first time Huguette and I explored the Great Barrier Reef was on 5th August 2022, and I think it is not inaccurate to say that it was a life-changing experience for both of us.

We departed Cairns early in the morning, and embarked on one of the big reef boats that operate these day trips (from memory, I believe the company was called Great Adventures). After a 40-minute-or-so boat ride, we arrived on tiny Green Island, which was to be our first stop of the day. There are fantastic snorkelling opportunities directly off the beach at Green Island, and we saw multitudes of colourful fish species in the tranquil, sunlit waters. One of the more common species that we encountered was the Lagoon Triggerfish (Rhinecanthus aculeatus), which we would see again on subsequent visits. Their proportions are quite odd, although it is their colouring that really stands out at first glance. I have noted that this species is seemingly solitary and does not normally gather in groups. Another lovely species found in the Green Island shallows is the Yellowspot Goatfish (Parupeneus indicus), which do tend to be observed in groups. The beautifully-named Vagabond Butterflyfish (Chaetodon vagabundus) is also found in this area, and I was lucky to capture a photo of it on this day. By 'photo', I mean I was able to extract frames from video footage, which I recorded with an underwater camera (we later bought a Hero 11 GoPro which is excellent at recording underwater, although it would be nice if it had a zoom feature).

Lagoon Triggerfish (Rhinecanthus aculeatus)


Yellowspot Goatfish (Parupeneus indicus)


Vagabond Butterflyfish (Chaetodon vagabundus)

I will make the most of this entry to also include observations from subsequent visits to this same site. Perhaps the most thrilling encounter I have ever had with wildlife anywhere took place here on 14th October 2022, when I came within just a couple of metres of a Blacktip Reef Shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus). I was snorkelling a fair distance away from the shore (although the water was still quite shallow), when I suddenly saw it approach me, its graceful body grazing the green seaweed, as it leisurely swam across the warm sandy seabed. Just when I thought it was coming for me, it turned direction slightly and I was blessed with an amazing, albeit brief, lateral view of this impressive creature. As soon as I had seen it approach, I had managed to hit record on the underwater camera, so I was able to extract a great photo from that video footage.

Blacktip Reef Shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus)

For a little bit of eye candy, look no further than the Bluespine Unicornfish (Naso unicornis), another denizen of the Green Island shallows. The juvenile of the Yellow Boxfish (Ostracion cubicum) is also very eye-catching, but quite small and timid; so I am pleased with the photo I obtained of it. I saw both of these also on 14th October 2022 at Green Island. It is difficult to select the very best photos of the 'Green Island sessions', because there are so many striking species I was fortunate to observe and photograph. That said, I cannot omit the inclusion of the Sixband Angelfish (Pomacanthus sexstriatus), a beautiful species that is frequently encountered on the reef; nor the Blue-tail Mullet (Crenimugil buchanani), due to the fact that mine is the only record on iNaturalist for this species on Green Island. Coincidentally, on 14th October 2022, we were joined on the reef with my Mum and her husband Ron, who were visiting from down south, and we had a great time.

Bluespine Unicornfish (Naso unicornis)


Yellow Boxfish (Ostracion cubicum)


Sixband Angelfish (Pomacanthus sexstriatus)


Blue-tail Mullet (Crenimugil buchanani)


Ron and I on the Green Island jetty, 14 October 2022


Mum, Huguette, me and Ron on Green Island

There is an as yet untold part of this story which I will save for a later chapter, but to give you a taste of it, it involves us going to a man-made reef 'pontoon' in an area containing many species of coral, and very big fish indeed...

The diversity of shapes, sizes and colours of the fish world soon had me buying field guides to marine fish, and to this day I still treasure the bulky but very complete Swainston's Fishes of Australia. What is all this fishy business doing in a book called The Butterfly Waltz: Volume I, you may be asking? And it's a good question, because I'm not really sure myself. But what I can say is that the natural world is so intricately interlinked - folded in over and into itself, like an exquisite piece of origami - that once a small part of it is explored and appreciated, so much more must, by necessity, follow.

G Thomas Doerig
16 December 2023
Cairns

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Dotted Bedsheet

Image
The night was muggy and warm as I parked the car on the side of a remote stretch of Woolgoolga Creek Road. The rainforest was dark around me as I switched the car engine off. Leaving the headlights on, I got out of the car and began setting up my very rudimentary system: a large pale bedsheet suspended in tension (attached to my tripod on one end with pegs, and to a nearby branch on the other end, also with pegs), and waited. My aim? To attract the nocturnal insects of the rainforest: in particular, moths. The setup was not ideal and looked a bit strange, as I didn't have the knowledge or equipment to set up a proper, more professional-looking system. However, it still worked wonders at attracting the small and mysterious inhabitants of the night; almost immediately, the bedsheet became dotted with insects of various sizes. I was most excited about the moths of course, and some were truly beautiful. The charming Side-lined Emerald ( Mixocera latilineata ) was a joy to behold, and ...
Read more

Turning The Page

Image
Time is a strange thing, isn't it? All you needed to do, dear reader, was turn the page; but since I wrote the last entry of The Butterfly Waltz , four months have passed for me. Four months to turn a page? Think about it. But I'm glad you're still here. My wife Huguette and I left the Coffs Coast and our small seaside town of Woolgoolga at the end of March 2022. We would be making the long drive up to Cairns from there, as Huguette had secured a job at the Pullman International Hotel, and I had also found full-time work as a reservations agent. Before we launch ourselves into the richness and beauty that characterises Far North Queensland however, there is one more entry I need to dedicate to Woolgoolga - or more specifically, to a road trip we did inland of Woolgoolga. One special destination that was included in this trip was Girraween National Park in south-east Queensland, located approximately three and a half hours' drive from Brisbane. This is where I photograph...
Read more

Fascination Renewed

Image
Birds were my entry point into the natural world. I remember being fascinated by birds as a child, and spending countless hours both in the field looking for them, and at home flicking through the bird guide and excitedly ticking each species off as a 'lifer'. This passion has lasted almost my whole life, and will continue to. However, over the past year or so, I have garnered an interest in the broader natural world at quite a surprising rate. I have allowed my inner child to resurface and be engulfed by fascination once more; fascination renewed. One cannot pinpoint exactly why one is interested in one thing over another thing. For me, what rapidly caught my eye were butterflies. During 2022, I started using iNaturalist to document my sightings of anything moving, big or small (mostly small), that wasn't a bird. It's a fantastic platform that allows anyone in the world to upload photos of any living thing. The algorithm will make a 'guess' as to what the organ...
Read more