Twice before we’d booked for snorkelling at Cook Island, which we had so many times looked towards on the third day of our tours while watching for dolphins, but had never visited, with Cooly Dive. Each time the weather had been so bad they had to cancel the cruise. With the cyclone up north I was afraid we’d get some rough weather down our way as well.

We had just led a three-day wildlife tour, but added a couple of extra days at the request of our British guest, to include snorkelling and Aboriginal culture, and he was flying out the following day.

The sea is always a little rough as you enter it from the mouth of the river, and we were all given life jackets as a precaution

Unfortunately it was rough enough to make my stomach a bit queasy on the way (I hadn’t bothered with seasick pills as it seemed such a short distance, but maybe I shouldn’t have been taking so many photos while clinging to the edge of the plunging boat)

We soon reached Cook Island, well-known for nesting seabirds and turtles 

Ronda underwater

We soon saw what the dives here are famous for – a turtle (unfortunately the visibility wasn’t good enough for a better photo).

If you look closely you can see the shell, head, tail  and flippers of the turtle

We saw another later in the dive, also a wobbegong shark (a small harmless species, and regrettably I didn’t manage a recognisable photo), toadfish and lots of other fish and scattered bits of coral. Our English guest also saw a pike fish.

Unfortunately the water was too murky that day to see the colours of the coral

Then finally back to the boat:

Darren heading back to the boat

Maybe next time the water will be a little clearer and we’ll get some better photos, but apart from my seasickness (which worsened on the return trip – must remember those pills next time!) it was a nice introduction to diving at the island.