Our second full day at the magical Fitzroy Island started a bit later. James and I slept in, tired out after the snorkelling yesterday, while Sally and Ian did yoga. By mid-day we were reunited and headed to the Snorkel Shop to rent some kayaks. There were so many program options. There was of course the glass bottom boat we did the day before, but you could also go on day long scuba diving trips, as well as sailing during the day and sunset sailing.

After we were handed our life jackets we dragged the kayaks to the shore. The weather was just perfect with the sun warming us up, but not too boiling with the ocean under us, ready to cool us down. The kayaks had two plastic windows in the bottom to look for life in the water. When we hired the boats we got strict instructions to keep outside of the buoys to make sure we don’t touch any coral which was already poking out because of the low tide.

We had a wonderful time cruising on the bright blue water and having a look at the luxurious yachts parked near the jetty. Me and James joked about how awful would it be if the only reason we’d notice a sea turtle was by hitting it with the paddle. Thank god this did not happened. But soon James cried out, pointing at the water near the coral. It was a sea turtle coming up for air. We could not believe our luck. He came up 3-4 times, sticking his head out. You could even see his shell right under the surface.

Fitting to our amazing luck, we had a tour booked to the Turtle Rehabilitation Centre for the afternoon. We met Azri, the leading marine biologist of the island at the reception. The centre is known as the “Fat Farm” of the Reef Restoration Foundation, where the turtles are brought in to feed them back to their ideal weight before releasing them back to the ocean. Azri told us about the most common injuries turtles suffer. The biggest one was when the turtles eat the rubbish thrown into the ocean, starting with the plastic bags which are indistinguishable from jellyfish. Since the plastic won’t be digested in their stomach it creates a lot of gas which causes the turtles to float on the surface. This is called the ‘floating syndrome’ and the turtles suffering from this are unable to dive, eat or get away from predators, like sharks who can easily access the exposed stomach area.

If you see a turtle floating call wildlife help. Turtles do not sleep by floating , they sleep on the bottom of the ocean.

On our way to the centre Azri told us about other frequent injuries they suffer, like being hit by the propeller of a boat or harpooning. The centre was a huge tent covering 7-8 large pools in a closed area with one pool out the front. Most turtles suffered serious injuries or were deadly afraid of humans, so for the sake of their health we could not go to see the ones who were kept in the back. Azri told us about the kind of injuries that some of the turtles in the back suffered. Two of the turtles were still floating, and one of them had only to fins left. The one turtle we were introduced to was Jules. She had been speared and had a big hole on her shell. She was doing well with her recovery and in approximately 6 months she could be re-released to the wild. She was beautiful as she was swimming around picking up the squid pieces Azri threw to her. She was also very curious and at the end, when most people had left, she came up frequently to the surface to have a look at us and even puffed some fish breath into Ian’s face.

After the amazing tour we headed out for a snorkel before the sun goes down. We walked further down the beach, to have a look at the coral near the White Rock, where the bay ended. It was teeming with life. Colourful fish were everywhere, some as small as my little finger and some are as big as a wok pan. It was just when we decided to head back in when we almost bumped into a sea turtle. It was even more astonishing to see after the encounter at the centre. He went to the top for air and we lifted our heads out of the water at the same time. After that he headed down to deeper sandbanks and started eating the vegetation. The moment we spotted him we reached for the Go Pro that we were carrying with us, and even though the Go Pro was playing up, we got a short clip of the turtle swimming right in front of us.

By the time we got out of the ocean the sun started to set and we were shivering. We hurried back to change out of our swimsuits and catch the sunset. James and I sat out on the sandbags that were put up to stop the high tide. The sunset was the most beautiful I have ever seen. The sun went down behind the mainland of Australia and the sky was full of clouds. After a couple of minutes of peaceful orange the sky was set aflame with dark red. We were lost for words. The clouds looked like they were on fire and the sun set painted the dark water crimson. We stayed outside till the stars took their place and we talked about out top sunsets around the world.

We left the island the next day. Only Ian decided to go for one last snorkel, so while he went in we sunbathed on huge rocks by the shore. He came out relatively quickly and told us he saw jellyfish that looked awfully like box jellyfish, the most deadly kind in existence. We took the ferry back to Cairns. But due to some misfortune, instead of going up to Daintree with our hired car we were stuck one more night in Cairns. A night we spent exploring the picturesque promenade and the famous Night Market of Cairns.