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Nexus - Lizard Island, Australia



We've just enjoyed two days at Lizard Island, on the northern Great Barrier Reef, where Captain Cook named it for its local fauna. The goana's are plentiful, and the reefs and fish are spectacular due to the fact that no river tributary empties out from the mainland near here. We met the staff and students at the Lizard Island Research Station, including a Penn State Graduate Student who was studying the effects of increased acidity on reef organisms, and another who was discovering that the little fish that clean larger fish can remember the peculiar requirements of over 100 client fish! We ran our tender around the island to find the reefs that were spared the cyclone that swept through here earlier this year and did major damage. We were rewarded with a spectacular reef just south west of the research station and 80M offshore, and another between the two small islands that were spared. They had an abundance of very live hard and soft corals, beautiful fish, and giant clams, some more than a meter wide! Yesterday we climbed Cooks Lookout, where there is a spectacular view of the Great Barrier Reef and surrounding lagoons. This is a wonderful place to stop and spend a few days inside the reef. Today we will sail out to the Great Barrier Reef, which is only 10 miles away, and try to find the Cod Hole at the north end of Ribbon Reef 10, where there are giant fish you can snorkel with and feed. We plan to spend the day there, then set off north toward Cape York and make our way over the top to Seisa, where we will rest a day before sailing for Darwin.

Russ and Laurie on NEXUS at Lizard Island, Australia

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