Our wild class trip! - school children take snorkeling trip to Lady Elliot Island off the coast of Australia

Ranger Rick, Sept, 1994 by Melanie Dow, Linda Lee Rathbun

Last April, my classmates and I flew over the ocean in a noisy little plane. We were going to spend a whole week at a camp on Lady Elliot Island, a small island made of coral. It's off the coast of Australia, where we live. Soon we saw the island below us (see photo below), and our plane bounced down on the bumpy runway. We made it!

ISLAND SNOOPING

First we ran for the tents and chucked our stuff inside. Then we found out where the food hall was. After we'd scarfed down our lunch, we were read for action.

Mr. Miller, our teacher, took us on a hike around the island. He told us that Lady Elliot is one of 2500 coral reefs along this coast. The reefs were built by millions of tiny animals called polyps (POL-ips).

Each polyp builds a stony skeleton around itself. When it dies, it leaves its skeleton behind. Then new polyps pile up on the old skeletons. After thousands of years, a reef is formed. These reefs stretch along the coast for more than 1000 miles (1600 km) like pearls in a necklace. The "necklace" is called the Great Barrier Reef. (See map, page 45.-)

The tide was out, so we could walk on the flat, shallow area around the island. This area is called the reef flat when the tide is out.

Mr. Miller warned us not to step on the live animals. Then he showed us how to pick some of them up carefully - so we wouldn't hurt them and they wouldn't bite or sting us. We found lots of little eels, shells, crabs, and squishy sea cucumbers. I picked up a blue starfish (far left). Underneath its arms were rows of tiny tube feet. They tickled when I put the starfish on my arm.

We also learned that we should always check what's happening with the tide before we walk out on the reef flat. We could get in big trouble if we were out too far when the tide came rolling in.

SNORKELING - AT LAST!

The next morning, we put on our wetsuits and our snorkeling gear. We each had a "dive buddy" to swim with at all times. Then we split into small groups, and each group swam off with a teacher.

We swam in the lagoon - the calm water that covers the reef flat when the tide is in. Under the water, I could see a "neighborhood" of sandy streets and colorful coral castles. It was like a magic kingdom with weird creatures living everywhere!

Our teachers had given us some bread to take along. Before long, I was surrounded by the friendliest fish I'd ever seen. Some fish called scissortail sergeants ate the bread right out of my hand! (above)

On our second day at camp, we got to go out beyond the lagoon, right to the edge of the underwater coral reef. We swam in the ocean next to a wall of coral. Snorkeling out in the ocean was the best! We saw some totally unreal creatures. 1.,really liked watching the strange-looking coral polyps (below right). They reminded me of tiny flowers,

Once a huge loggerhead turtle swam past. One of the teachers dived down and swam along with it for a few seconds (right). Then we all swam down to give the turtle a little pat on the back. Imagine touching such a rare animal!

HEY - IT'S A RAY!

It's hard to say which sea creature was my favorite. But I think the all-time winner was the manta ray. Once when we were out in the deep water, a huge manta ray appeared above us (above left). With its 41 wings" spread, it looked bigger than my bed! Then out of the deep ocean came four more.

Wow - it was like being surrounded by spooky UFOs! They glided right past us as if they were flying through the water. We were so excited, we tried to talk to each other through our snorkels. I'll never forget how it felt to swim with those huge manta rays!

As we were heading back to shore, a cuttlefish (above) swam up to us. Soon another came close, and they started changing colors from rusty red to jade green to gray. They do that to send signals to each other. It's almost like talking!

SUPER STARS

There was plenty to see on Lady Elliot at night too. After eating dinner we usually went outside to lie on the beach. It was so dark on the island that we could see millions of stars.

One night, Alex (my American friend), was looking for the Big Dipper - till he found out that we can't see it in Australia! (We're in the Southern Hemisphere down here, and we see different stars than the ones he's used to.) We showed him the stars that make up the Southern Cross instead. We watched some incredible shooting stars. Then we saw a satellite moving slowly across the sky. I never saw so much in the sky in one night.

FRIENDLY FROGS

Some nights we went looking for green tree frogs. Those guys are so cute - they look as if they're made of lime Jello.

One night I found a green tree frog sitting on a branch (above left). Then my friends and I found two more (above). The frogs seemed to be smiling at each other, so I figured they were buddies. We poured some water over them, and they closed their eyes and croaked. They liked it!

TURTLE WATCH

Lucky us - we took our trip to the island at just the right time of year. While we were there, baby turtles were hatching on the beach!

A couple of months before our trip, sea-turtle mothers had dug deep holes in the sand. Then each mother had laid as many as 200 eggs in the holes and covered them up. Now baby green turtles and baby loggerhead turtles were climbing out of their nests.