Heron Island should be renamed Noddy Island

Black Noddies are everywhere. You try to walk along the path and they come flying at you!

Shipwreck in the harbor...tourist attraction or ghost hull?

So, I’m on Heron Island. This is a small island (takes about 30 minutes to walk all the way around) and there is my group (47 students) and the UC group with about the same number of people. It’s going to be a very small island. Let me tell you a little about the past couple of days. Wednesday night we left Brisbane at quarter to 12 on a six hour bus ride. We then had a two hour, sickening ferry ride. I finally arrived on the island, had induction, learned about all of the things that could kill me, then had lunch. In the afternoon they made sure we could snorkel…and I froze, had to get a new wet suit: a long one and a short one. I’m still cold in the water after about a half an hour, but it’s much better!

We all crashed early that night, but I’ve started a new regimen of going to bed early and waking up at 5:30am. The first morning I went for a wander around the island. I passed by a turtle on the beach, thought it was dead, and kept walking, telling myself I would mention this to someone at the research station when I got back. Then, the turtle slowly starts to move a fin, then another, and finally it’s back in the water and swimming away. INCREDIBLE! I also saw many rays swimming around that morning. Later in the day we went for a snorkel. Saw some cool fish, a bunch of turtles, and a shark. However, I got really dizzy when I exited the water and I’ve been struggling with it ever since.

The next day was pretty boring. Felt awful and slept a lot. Today we went snorkeling again, but I couldn’t handle the second afternoon trip. I did learn a lot about the fish, though. Angelfish and Damselfish are absolutely gorgeous! It looks like we’re about to have a storm, though! Now, I have a bit of time until lecture and so I’m desperately trying to update my blog. I’ve mentioned in the title that Heron Island should be called Noddy Island. That is because there are hundreds of Noddy Terns all over the island, roosting in the trees, and excreting all over everything, including us. There are other birds, as well, such as those that sound like dying babies and squawk all night. You get used to it, though. Anyways, I better head off and go replenish my fluids a bit more. This dizzy spell is killing me.

TTFN!