Beautiful Triton Bay

When we look out the window in the morning we can see a number of small tropical Islands. This is a remote place and very beautiful. Fortunately the day is clear and sunny, we are again blessed by the weather gods. Two adventures await us today. Our first is a snorkel on one of the remote beaches in this tiny bay. We can see numerous beaches from the ship, but the naturalists will scout for the best beach, I think the best beach with the fewest jellyfish. This time we do take our fins just to make sure that if we have to swim a long way we can get back easily. The naturalists have set up an umbrella area with water. We are warned that there will be some jellyfish, they are quite easy to see from the beach. It's funny watching people and the jellyfish. A number of people are standing in the water trying to shoo / move the jellyfish away because they don't like them, but there are hundreds of them and that's not something the jellyfish are likely to take any notice of.

The best place to snorkel is out near one of the small rocky outcrops which is where I head. The swimming is easy, the water is very calm and warm. There are a lot of jellyfish and as I'm swimming they're bumping into me and I'm not sure if it's another snorkeler who has nudged me or a jellyfish. A couple of people are stung but I'm wearing long sleeves and pants so, there's no risk for me. The snorkeling is good, I see a lot of unusual coral and many very tiny fish. As I move over one of the coral outcrops, it appears quite brown and then much to my surprise it moves and what I'm looking at is a school of tiny brown fish amongst the coral. We have had a lecture on the sounds under the water, I listen really carefully. I have often heard this strange crackling sound as I'm snorkeling and thought it was just something in my ears or the water, but that is the sound of tiny shrimp munching on the coral. Today I also hear a tapping sound and that is very likely to be damsel fish tapping to scare a predator or me away. I try to breathe really slowly and listen hard. It's great when something that you have been told about like this you actually get to experience. Although the snorkeling is really good and I'm enjoying seeing the fish and the coral. There are too many people in this spot and I feel my legs starting to cramp so I go back to the beach.

In the afternoon we have a 2-hour zodiac ride around the different rocky outcrops. Although it is quite hot, even in a zodiac that's moving, it's still pleasant because there's a breeze. A guide points out a number of features as we are quietly moving through the water. There is a handprint made with a red mineral of some kind believed to date back thousands of years. It's on the side of a rocky outcrop over the water, the water must have been much higher then. We see numerous birds including a number of Blyth's hornbill, lorikeets, herons, cormorants and can hear sulphur-crested cockatoos. There are jellyfish all around us and someone sees a squid in the water, I missed it I'm too busy looking at a hornbill. The vegetation is also really interesting, there are a lot of pitcher plants with quite large flowers, also giant cycads, trees that have a symbiotic relationship with ants who nest in the tree, very tall palms and a few orchids. There is one plant with a white flower that is square. It's amazing to think that plants can grow in this environment, it looks so lush and yet yet they are growing primarily on rock . Pictures just can't really capture the full beauty of this place

Part way through our water journey it starts to rain. No one is bothered given we're all quite hot. The rain offers some relief from the heat. It passes quickly and we are dry in no time. As we are heading back, we see a stationary zodiac in the water, which seems a bit strange until we see the bar manager and a couple of staff in the zodiac. It turns out they are there is to offer us champagne in proper glasses, not even plastic ones, in this stunning location. It is quite magnificent, isolated and we see no other people except those on other zodiacs. There are no houses and only a few small boats. It appears as a pristine wilderness, no rubbish anywhere. Quite a contrast to Agat.Baca lagi