We timed the tide to allow the boat to be sitting high and dry on the beach in the morning so we could load it safely with gear and the quads. Thankfully we woke up to a beautiful day and loaded up the boat before waiting for the tide to wash underneath and float the boat. Once this happened around 9am we were off. We cruised along nicely and spent some time surveying the mainland beaches for turtle nesting and spotting wildlife, such as Jabirus. At one stage we stopped to have a cast at some tuna schools which were hitting bait fish at the surface – unfortunately they were submerging quickly and proved tough to keep up with, so we moved on with our dreams of fresh sashimi passing by..
After a good, smooth run Scott pulled the boat up in Seisia mid-morning. The weather Gods had smiled. Seisia is now a very sleepy little outpost now the tourist season is over and no 4wds are heading up Cape York due to the beginning of the wet season.
Brett and I went out to do a routine check for turtles nesting last night. As we headed around the northern part of Crab Island we noticed a croc up on the beach. It seemed hesitant to leave but as we drove closer on the quad it ran back to the water. When we got up to his tracks we looked up the beach to find a dead pelican on the ground. (For a side note the Australian Pelican is much larger than its relative seen in America. This massive bird has a wingspan of 2.3-2.5 metres). Of course we had to have a closer look. We found that the 3.5 metre croc went up the beach about 55 metres to the point where the attack occurred. What a commotion it must have been, there were scuffle marks in the sand, blood, and feathers. So when we saw the croc he was dragging the pelican down the beach but dropped it in order to get to the water before we arrived. He dragged the pelican about 30 metres before he reluctantly dropped it. We saw bite marks on the pelicans back and neck. Either the croc snuck up and attacked the pelican or a group of pelicans landed near the croc and startled him which caused the attack. Whichever way the attack occurred the poor pelican was in the wrong place at the wrong time. This morning we saw the pelican still on the beach in the same spot, so we must have startled the croc enough for him to drop the pelican and not return. You never know what you are going to find on Crab Island that’s for sure.
As we were going along the beach we stopped in astonishment when we saw a huge starfish washed up onshore. It was purple and orange in color and by far the biggest one I have ever seen. It was heavy too when I picked it up.
Our final transmitter was attached with much relief. Due to the tides (a falling tide all night), the turtles have been reluctant to nest and we have had a couple quiet nights. With time running out we were starting to wonder if we would get the last transmitters on. Luckily we had a couple of girls come up to nest near camp and we maneged to deploy the last 2 transmitters. The final transmitter was on Nora the Nomad, otherwise known as ‘Bloody Nora’ for her feisty character. Nora was keen to bite anything that came near her and proved a handful. She was also quite a picky girl having wandered over 100m along the beach and dug several body pits. We got her as she was returning to the water without actually laying, so we expect her to nest again in the next few nights.
We attached our 4th satellite transmitter to a girl we named Kel-Sea. She was quite a large turtle, by far the biggest we have put a satellite tag on. It took a fare bit of effort to hold her up and attach the harness, but in the end we did it quickly and had her on her way within 30 minutes. As of yesterday afternoon she was sitting just 3 kilometres off Crab Island’s south west corner.
We had our first “near miss” last night whilst out on the beach.
When we go out we take both quads. Brett and Kelsey (B & K) ride up front with the spotlight and follow the same track to count the turtles that cross over since our last look. I follow about 50m behind generally minding my own business and keeping an eye out for,…… whatever!! No light on my bike other than the head spots we wear.
Whilst heading along the beach last night the crocs seemed concentrated in one particular area of the beach waiting for the hatchlings to emerge. I didn’t see it up ahead, however a croc was further up the beach than normal, which B & K had seen in the spotlight.
As we were cruising along the beach, often slowing to have a closer look at the crocs as they sat “just” in the water, heads out, we sort of forgot about the one on the beach, assuming it had headed to the water as they normally do.
We slowed to check a smallish croc, and I let B & K get ahead as normal. As I was starting to get a bit of speed up, I caught one red eye about 10m away to my right moving like Carl Lewis towards the water about 2 foot off the ground. It was a very healthy 4.2m croc. We were both moving at the same pace and were on a collision course of which I am not sure what the outcome to would have been.
At the same time B & K seemed to have realised that he hadn’t seen the croc and spun the bike and the spotlight around. This startled the croc a bit, and pushed straight towards me. It startled me too because for the first time I realised how big this bloody thing was through the back drop of the spotlight.
At this point everything moved in slow motion. I was now between the croc and the water, with my exit route fairly limited with the big blue ocean, and number of reptile neighbours, about 5m to my left. The pan or the fire? Hmmmm, might just sit on the fence for a minute!!!!
I sat tight, and thankfully our rather large friend decided to perform a “Benji Marshal” sidestep with about 3m to spare, and crashed into the water like a belly flop champion from the 15m board!!
All of this took about 10 seconds, however it seemed longer. I reckon he is the luckiest croc on the island. He just didn’t know who he was messing with. GRRRR!! Oh wombats grunt! GRUNT!!
Since we had some extra time on our hands last night this is what happened…
While doing our daily track count we stopped up north to have a fish. We looked out and saw a big dark shape moving offshore. Then a grey snout stuck out of the water for a breath. That is when we knew it was a dugong…which I named Chubby. He was a huge male, probably weighing over half a ton. Did you know they are actually related to elephants? How neat is that! Back in May the boys found a dugong skull and you can see the trunk like shape of its snout. They also walk on the ocean floor eating sea grass. In America we get the Manatee which is very similar to the dugong, but it has a different tail. I hope we get to see Chubby again.
It was so sad to find another turtle who had gotten herself lost in the middle of the island. She was unable to find the water again and as a result died from the heat. Poor girl. She looked like she hadn’t been there too long either maybe a week. If only we could have found her alive to help her out.
Hello World, Alby here (hello Jack its Dad!!). Today was time to explore the island a bit. We held off getting any more trackers on last night until we were sure that Sarah J was operational, and Steve (aka Brett) was receiving signals from the heavens.
I have found a new habit of having a coffee on Billy’s Bluff every morning watching the tides and the goings on in the water and in the air around the island. Today was a glorious day without wind and really showed the beauty of Crab Island. We spent a lot of time fishing and checking the inland interior of the island. Its funny how you get used to the crocs being around. You never forget they are there though and one of us now seem to automatically watch the water/beach whenever the others are close by the water. That was a bit hard though when Brett decided that he wanted to get some underwater footage of one of our little mates and went wading chest high to capture, how would you say, unique footage!! (Not sure it will make this blog but worth a look... crazy bastard!!)
We have found a great swimming hole (minus the crocs!) which we seem to migrate to mid morning to avoid the heat. Did I say it was hot, damn hot!!!!. Hit above 50oC again today, and the breeze disappeared so we felt it a little more. It is consistently 40oC+ in our living room.
Last night we attached the first satellite transmitter to a female flatback sea turtle named “Sarah J”. She was named by Scott’s son and my nephew Jack (the J in the name represents Jack)!! We were very excited as we watched her make her way down the beach and into the ocean and saw the orange light blink to say it was sending signals to the satellite.
Soon we will find where she migrates to, which could be possibly up to 3000km away and may cross international borders, and Sarah J will (hopefully) provide the first information on what feeding grounds supply the largest flatback sea turtle rookery in the World.
We are seeing hundreds of Spangled Drongos passing over Crab Island and out to sea. They are currently migrating from New Guinea south to mainland Australia to breed for the summer.
The time on the island has been great. Even better when we went fishing I caught my first ever barra, 2 in fact. Brett was very helpful and decided that he might catch the bait. He was trying to catch a feed, but he is a lot smaller than me and can survive on scraps.!!!! I felt guilty and had to share and they tasted great straight off the fire with lemon and herbs.
The fishing is a bit unnerving as we fish up amongst the mangroves about 50m from a croc slide at the mouth of the mangrove creek (you can see the slide just over Brett’s shoulders in the photo). You certainly have to be on your toes and conscious of where you are. As we were about to throw a line in Brett decided he might tell a story about coming face to face with a “huge” croc not far from where we were fishing. His timing is always impeccable!!!
Hello Jack. Today is my (Scott’s) birthday and I must say I don’t think I have experienced so many new things in the one day. Today was hot, damn hot. It hit 50oC (122oF) at 11.50am this morning. The hottest day for sure I have experienced. It was still 44oC in the shade in the living room. The list of firsts is long, so I wont put a story around them but I will list them:- I have patented a POO swing, strapped a GPS to a flatback, played flatback rodeo, seen a clutch of hatchlings emerge, played darts with shells (Kelsey won), speared a soft mud crab, swam in croc water and watched the sun go down on Billy’s bluff.
Kelsey and Brett have been wonderful today. Kelsey wrapped my present in the Cairns Post Newspaper with a story about a croc, and made me pudding in a can (another first), iced with vanilla custard. I appreciated the thought they put into it, as I also had candles that said “Happy Bday”. (the pudding was too small to say birthday).
As I tap away I have experienced another first. The temperature has just hit 54oC (130oF).
Today we were so lucky and had the chance to see a Buff Breasted Paradise Kingfisher. This type of kingfisher is really rare to see, especially out here on an island. They tend to inhabit rainforests in north Queensland during the summer. So this one must be migrating from Papua New Guinea, and made a stop here on Crab Island. The vibrant colors (blue and gold feathers, with an orange beak) and characteristic long white tail are so remarkable to see.
Once we recuperated from the trip we headed out to see what was happening on the beach. First we counted 319 tracks left over the past few nights. This told us that the sea turtles were still coming out to lay eggs in large numbers. Due to the tides the sea turtles were back to nesting early in the south and late in the north. Brett and I were able to show Scott the whole process in the daylight...females laying eggs, hatchlings emerging, and hatchlings being attacked by predators. We then had Scott checking for tags on nesting turtles; when he found a tag return it was an amazing feeling. That means this turtle, with tag K96432 had come up most likely for a third lay in her nesting season after we had tagged her originally nesting in September. It was nice to share our love for the turtles with Scott, who seemed very interested and excited about the whole experience.
Later once we fuelled up on delicious Vietnamese spring rolls, we headed out to check some tags. We saw many sea turtles. Also, our initial impression was that there were fewer crocs. There were still quite a few about, but not so many. I look forward to going out tonight to see how many female turtles and crocodiles are about. We are still left to wonder when the Flatback’s peak nesting season will start to decline.
Yesterday we arrived to Crab Island after a fairly easy boat ride. Greg Bethune lent us one of his long boats. This allowed us to pack in a lot of gear. In the boat we had 2 quad bikes, 3 people, 5 nally bins with food and research equipment, 120 litres of fuel, 100 litres of water, our cloths, and a cooler/esky. By the time we got organized and packed it was about 11 am when we left. The wind didn’t pick up too much which was nice. We did get wet, but it was all worth it. Brett drove the hour it took to get to Crab Island.
Then Brett, Scott, and I (Kelsey) went to work setting up our camp. This time was a bit easier than last since we knew where to put tarps, tents, etc. Finally our lovely island home was back to normal. It was such a great feeling to be back here on Crab Island.
After spending so much time here I care so much about the island and the wildlife found here. So when I stepped onto the island again and sea turtles were in sight I knew I was back doing something I love.
