For years, our favourite place to spend Christmas was on the island of Tobago. Although we now live in the tropics, we’ve so missed our time there (and our amazing Trini family too!). So this year we decided to spend Christmas at Lady Elliot Island on the Great Barrier Reef.
We have been to Lady Elliot once before, but it was just a quick overnight trip for Rob’s birthday. We absolutely loved it and so loved the peacefulness of being somewhere with no telephone, internet or television. It’s really so wonderful to watch people actually engage with another instead of having their heads buried in their phones! The island is small (only about 40 rooms), and totally self-sufficient and you can only get there by small plane, a fun experience in itself.
We had booked a reef unit so we could enjoy views of the sea from our deck. This is what we woke up to everyday. When the tide was low, the coral is all exposed, but when the tide was high, this was an amazing place to snorkel.
We went snorkelling at least twice everyday and every time we went, we were surrounded by turtles. It was so amazing to be so close to them! Here’s a little video Rob took of one that was swimming with us.
And here’s another fun video of some of the many different fish we saw.
After snorkelling, we would often wander along the beach…
….and watch the fins poking up from the water.
Yep, that’s a shark. But just a reef shark, so perfectly safe. They’re actually quite beautiful to watch.
This time of year is also nesting season on the island so there were birds everywhere.
And so many babies!
We had a mom and baby that decided the steps leading to our room was their home. It was so fun to watch them each day, especially when mom would come back from hunting to feed her baby.
But of course, we were really there for the snorkelling. On the opposite side of the island from where our room was, there is a large drop off, so the water was quite deep. You could still see all the coral, but the fish and turtles on that side of the island were much bigger. We saw one turtle that was as long as Rob is tall. It was crazy!
And we even swam alongside some sting rays. Here’s a little video.
The way they move is so graceful. They were very beautiful to watch! Rob would swim right up on them, but I tended to keep my distance a bit more. Rob would say I did everything but step on his head to put him between me and them haha!
We even saw turtles mating. They would come up for air and then sink back down before swimming to the surface again. This picture doesn’t capture how big they actually were.
At night, we would head out to the beach and enjoy the blanket of stars overhead. One night, while we were relaxing on those fabulous lounge chairs out front of our room, we saw a dark shape start to move up the beach from the water. It was a huge turtle coming up to lay her eggs. The effort they go to to lay their eggs is astounding. We could hear her grunting with effort and she came so close to our chairs, I had to put my feet up so she didn’t crawl over them. She pushed past us to the back of our chairs and started digging a hole for her eggs. Such an incredible experience! We didn’t want to disturb her with the light, so we don’t have any pictures, but I’m so glad we were able to experience that.
We started Christmas morning like we do every year…with a bottle of champagne. Only this year, we were able to watch the tide go out on the Great Barrier Reef while we did so. The island also made the day special with a glorious seafood lunch.
I ate so many oysters at lunch, when Rob asked if I wanted some at dinner, I had to admit I was oystered out. (Jackie, Rob said you would hate me for that comment!).
After five wonderful days at Lady Elliot, it was time to head home. Sniff!
We celebrated New Years Eve at home this year, just us. And just to make sure we gained all the weight you’re meant to over the holidays, Rob cooked up a fabulous dinner.
And then Rob was gracious enough to let me kick his ass at Connect 4. A perfect way to start 2020 🙂
