29/09/12 Welcome to Curieuse
We all met at the Victoria
harbour on Mahe and boarded the Cat Cocos ferry for Praslin. What a
crossing...! With the company that we met and the stories that we shared, the
one hour trip passed quickly even given the bumpy ride. A quick taxi ride to
the Cote d’Or and we boarded Dexter (GVI team Curieuse vessel) for Curieuse
Island - our new home.
Curieuse Island is difficult to
describe given it’s complex beauty and
the many facets of wonder for us to discover.
On Monday we walked through the Mangroves of Curieuse, clambered over
three giant hills and hauled ourselves over boulders to reach the turtle
nesting beaches furthest from our camp. On our way we encountered our first
Giant Aldabra Tortiose, as well as our first set of Hawksbill tracks, and at
the furthest end of the furthest beach (Grande Anse) we discovered a new
hawksbill nest!
On Tuesday we hiked past the
Mangroves once again, only this time we took a left to make our way up to one
of the Coco de Mer survey sites. After scrambling through some dense vegetation
we came across our first Coco de Mer family – it was truly exciting! We
recorded several juveniles, and witnessed a mature female carrying a healthy
nut. The view was spectacular!
This afternoon we were treated to
a snorkel session with the lovely Esme.
We viewed damsel fish, Needle fish and Parrot fish amongst many others.
Some of us were also lucky enough to see a ray. We are greatly looking forward
to the following weeks here on Curieuse as our host’s, Rachel, April, Esme and
as of today Lee are already making our time here truly memorable.
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