Vlasoff Reef and Michaelmas Cay

The outer reef at high tide is mostly under water, so at anchor here you feel like you are floating way out in the Coral Sea.  When we arrived, on low tide, on the last day of the school holidays, the tiny sand islet was covered with people, umbrellas, gazebos and surrounded by boats.  Then a jetski started hooning around the snorkelers, through the coral and destroying the serenity.  And it was a bloke with two children!!

Sunday crowds on Vlasoff Reef

After the crowds retreated back to Cairns we could enjoy our sundowners on the foredeck, watching the tide slowly cover the reef again.  The coral looks good here and so many fish!

Next morning we sailed up to Michaelmas Cay and kayaked into the beach to see the nesting birds.  

Tight groups of Sooty Terns were sitting on eggs next to groups of Black Noddies, interspersed with Brown Boobies, one with a fluffy white chick, more than half the size of the parent.  Nest is a term to use loosely here as they are really just scrapes in the sand and coral, with the odd stick thrown in.

Brown Booby and chick

Nesting Noddies with one egg

Real estate is at a premium!

A pair of Masked Boobies landed on the northern end of the beach, while a lone Ruddy Turnstone flew back and forth from the shoreline to the chaos of the noisy nesting area.   Meanwhile a few menacing Greater Frigate-birds circled up high then returned to land on the few remaining sticks and branches on the sand island.

Snorkelling around the reef we saw colourful corals and even more colourful fish, although the biggest fish seemed to be enjoying the shadow of our hulls: batfish, trevally, maori wrasse and black-tipped reef sharks.