 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Product Search |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||
|
 |
|
| Porpoise leaping through the anchorage! |
Tern Island
Walking the beach on the lagoon side at tiny Ile Manon was really upsetting to the resident terns. What a racket those birds can make! These terns would squawk and squeal and flap around just over our heads. We realized that their agitation was probably because they had nests on the beach. Yes, on the beach. These birds don't build nests in trees. The eggs are deposited directly onto the ground, and are so well camouflaged that we had to look very carefully while walking anywhere above the high tide mark. We saw about a dozen nests, usually with 2 eggs; the eggs blended in perfectly with the coral rubble on which they were laying. What we couldn't understand was that most of the nests were directly on top of a sand and rubble ledge, with the eggs little more than a foot from the tide washed edge. Surely Mother Nature would be smart enough to give these birds an inkling that the ledge, the eggs, and any chicks that hatched would go tumbling into the sea at the next series of full moon high tides?
We came back to the anchorage several times over the next few days to check on the terns and their eggs, and we found a few hatchlings. If anything, the chicks were even more difficult to see. And they would lie perfectly still in the nest. After the full moon high tide, we figured the colony had been wiped out, for we could see that the ledge had been totally washed over. But we did see a tiny chick in place about a meter back, and a silly ball of feathery fluff staggering across the pebbles in the shade of some low scrub. So we had hope there were survivors.
 |
|
| Tern egg and newly hatched chick. |
A week later we walked out along the sand spit at one end of that beach. The terns again set up their hue and cry. This we really couldn't figure, because no way would they lay eggs out on a spit that was washed over by every tide. The answer -- an adolescent tern had run to the water's edge. He couldn't fly away from us. The waves washed in and swept him around the shallow surf. Terns don't swim. We retreated up the beach and hoped that the adult terns would help sort him out and get him to dry land.
Turtles
It wasn't unusual to see turtles swimming by the boat. They would pop to the surface to take great gulps of air. They usually did this 3 or 4 times, then back down they'd go again. And usually we spotted turtles along the inner reefs when snorkeling.
One day we were taking a walk along a beach on the windward side of an island. Al spotted a newly hatched baby turtle making tracks for the water's edge as fast as those little flippers would go. Then here came another baby turtle down the beach! We were fascinated to watch them hit the water and swim instantly. So cute -- three strokes with the flippers, head up to breathe, three more strokes, head up again. We followed their tracks back up the beach and into the bushes, but never did find the sandy nest.
 |
|
| Beth looks at a gang of hermits crabs eating at the core of a sago palm log. |
Low Tide Reef Walking
Our favorite reef walking was on the coral flats by Ile Fouquet in Peros Banhos. There were always interesting things to see and poke at. There were blue starfish - yes, blue! Moray eels would slip from under the rocks at your feet to scurry to the next safe haven. Multiple varieties of sea urchins crouched in communal holes: some had long black spines, others had short red spines, and some had thick blunt shafts that could hardly even be called spines. Sponges clung to coral encrusted rocks. A whole field of cup shaped sponges lay uncovered: some had money cowries in the cup.
What had once probably been a whole garden of corals in different shapes and colors was starting to regenerate. The Fisheries agents said that the El Nino high water temperatures had decimated the corals 5 years ago. Five years isn't very long to see much improvement in coral structures, but we think that even in the 2 years between our visits we could see a change for the better, whether imagined or not. Low tides gave us clumps of lavender, lime green, pink, peach, and yellow. The mottled paisley patterns had me calling it the "Laura Ashley" designer reef.
Adding to the color were the fleshly lips of the giant clams -- often in bright fluorescent blue and green, or bright purple. These clams were wedged into the coral clumps. Exposed at low water, they would squirt the unwary person that poked at them.
Tiny Octopus
One afternoon I happened to see a gelatin looking thing in the head. We've had trouble before with ingesting jellyfish into the head through the pump at times. I got a little cup and scooped the lump out only to discover that it was a baby octopus! Hate to think of that little guy's travels from the hull inlet through the pump and into the head! The minute I touched its body it turned brown. We put it into a bucket and it turned bright orange. We photographed it, then turned it loose on top of a reef and crossed our fingers for its survival.
Porpoise
What spirit lifting creatures they are! We love to see them swishing alongside the boat and playing chase games across our bow when we are sailing. However, it can be a little unnerving to have them come alongside at night -- a whoosh of air as they exhale, announcing their presence and giving the on watch person a bit of a fright! Then a phosphorous trail of bubbles the only clue as to who came to visit and where they had been.
A large group of porpoise lived inside the lagoon at Peros Banhos. We would see them feeding and splashing out where the small skipjack tunas were schooling. A few times they put on a real show for us, leaping and spinning in joyful passes through the boats and around the anchorage. The turquoise waters of the lagoon made a fantastic background for their aquatic antics!
Hermit Crabs
 |
|
| A red hermit crab strolls the beach. |
They were on the beaches everywhere! There seemed to be several different types too. Most of them were red, or reddish orange, and the smallest ones were pink or coral colors with striped legs. Wonderful to see them dragging their cumbersome shells along the beach, up and over obstacles, making beautiful lacy patterns in the sand with their tracks. Sometimes we would find whole colonies attacking some piece of detritus washed ashore with the tide. They were always so busy! Yet I swear they were taking "naps" when we would find bunches of immobile crabs perched upon driftwood or hanging from the stems and branches of plants up in the shade under the palms.
There were also giant hermit crabs, a dark brownish purple in color, that had many of the features we saw in the coconut crabs living in the undergrowth of the islands. For a while we all thought they were just young coconut crabs, especially since they were too big for shells and used a coconut shell for their home. Later we got a chance to pull a coconut crab out of its den and examine its structure; we found a baby coconut crab in the same nest. That, plus a careful look at the tail section of the giant hermits showed that the large hermits were indeed a different species.
Coconut crabs are good to eat, in fact considered a delicacy. In Chagos they are on the protected species list, as are crabs of any sort, so we left them alone.
P.S. We are now doing some touring in the States. One of our quests is a replacement engine for SUNFLOWER. We are looking for a rebuilt (or rebuildable) Volvo MD-17C. Can anyone help?
|
|||||||||||||||
|
Powered By
|
