Frankland Island

Wednesday morning was upon us and another great brekky was served. Australians shorten every word that they can and in one of these posts I'll list a few. But for now, Brekky = Breakfast.
We were picked up at the B&B and taken into the city where we boarded a double-decker bus and headed out to an inlet off the pacific ocean. There we climbed aboard a split hull boat with about 50 other anxious snorkelers and took a 40 min boat ride out to Frankland Island. We choose this trip over some of the others that go out to the reef because we got to go to an actual island and not just float out in the ocean. Plus the boat ride was more than an hour shorter than the ones that went out to the outer reef.
After our flippers, masks and snorkels were in place we set out with our snorkeling guide as he showed us around the great collection of coral that lay no more than 20' off the beach. We scooted about in the water watching parrot fish crunch on coral. They have beak like mouths and you can actually hear the larger ones crunching the edges of coral as they get at the small animals that make the coral their home. We paused for a quick lunch and were back in the water. I probably saw 50 different types and colors of coral and at least as many types of fish, all of which kept me at a safe enough distance so that I couldn't touch them no matter how many times I tried.
Before heading back we took an island walk with the guide who showed us how the coral comes about and on what side of the island it grows. We learned about reef sharks and how octopi can eat crabs without even breaking their shell and we found a live/dead example. We saw clams that secrete acid to burrow themselves into rock all the way up to their mouth openings for protection and how the walking pine trees actually lay down and extract roots so that they really walk across the island to get closer to the water and the light. The seacucumbers were cool too, we even saw one that had expelled it's guts. A white stringy and sticky mass lay in the water where one sea cucumber had defended itself from a predator.
Back on the boat for the ride home after another exhausting and slightly sunburned day. For dinner, we walked a few blocks down the road to a cafe. It was most unusual. There was a dining room in the back with about 5 tables, a mini mart in the front and a counter full or prepared dishes waiting to be heated and served. I had a delicious lasagna and the guy sporting a pointy beard that was dyed red fixed me a huge ceasar salad. As hungry as I was, I still couldn't finish it all. We strolled back to the B&B and crashed.