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Sydney to Heron Island :: Lizard Island :: Weekends from Sydney
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Australia page 2: Lizard Island
Having some family visiting Australia, we flew up from Sydney and met them for a long weekend (3 nights) on Lizard Island in March 2003.
Lizard Island
If you've read our first Australia page, you know that we visited Heron Island, which is also a resort (run by the same company, in fact) situated on a small island on the Barrier Reef. But little differences can make a big difference, and they added up to make our stay on Lizard much better than the one on Heron.
First off, the weather was fantastic. We were a little worried that we'd show up in the middle of a cyclone or at least have the sort of windy and drippy days that we had at Heron. But we had perfectly calm, sunny weather the entire time we were on Lizard - and were told by everyone there how lucky we were, because it was apparently the first really good weather in about three weeks. And since Lizard is the northernmost island resort on the Barrier Reef, it was plenty warm.
At 2500 acres, Lizard is a much larger island than Heron (it isn't a coral island but a granite one), with far fewer guests, so it was easy to go off and find a wide sandy beach - any one of 24 - that we didn't have to share with a single other guest. (The cruise ship "The World" was there when we arrived, but they were only allowed to use one particular beach, and they were gone by the next day anyway.)
The rooms, amenities, service, etc., are outstanding. Everyone is friendly. The bungalow was a spectacular large and open design ("I could live here" was heard more than once). The chefs are very good (but maybe trying a little too hard, with a couple of concoctions like "split pea shooters"*). And the daily refills of our very own cookie jar with homemade cookies were a big hit.
And as an added bonus, neither of us got hit in the face by a muttonbird. There is quite a bit of other fauna on Lizard, though, including ... wait for it ... lizards! Regular lizards, of course, skinks and geckos (we like geckos) and the like ... but also huge (up to two meters long) Gould's sand monitors. They're the ones that Captain Cook named the island for, when he stopped to climb the local hill for a view of the barrier reef (he was having a hell of a time finding his way to open sea). In addition to lizards, there are flying foxes and at least one nesting osprey pair.
Unlike Cook, we had the convenience of modern transportation, and flew from Cairns out to the island in a little 6-seater plane. Despite Deb having a few misgivings about trusting her life to a loud, cramped, probably aging little flying machine, we hopped aboard. It turned out to be pretty sturdy, and in good hands, and we got an incredibly scenic tour of the coast and the reefs on the way out to Lizard (and on the way back, too).
In the water
Given the perfect sun and calm seas, the diving (and snorkeling) was superb as well. Not only great visibility - 30 meters and up - but also no chop, so we could literally lean over the side of the dive boat and see details on the bottom, fifty or a hundred feet down.
We did some snorkeling around the local reefs around Lizard - there are hours and hours worth of good snorkeling spots out there, with good stuff, like the local blue-spotted lagoon ray, the giant clam, christmas tree worms (a favorite of Deb), and more. Even caught a glimpse of a little sea turtle lazily flapping along at the surface when we stood up to walk ashore.
The diving was superb. George was one of very few guests on the half-day trip, and the only one on the full-day. Some of the off-duty staff took advantage of the empty space and the great picnic lunch spread ("let's all thank George for wanting to dive today" :) ). It was relaxed, more like diving with friends than being taken out to dive by resort staff (except that he wasn't allowed to lift a finger to help). All very competent of course.
The half-day (one dive) was good. Good weather, nice dive, lots of critters including a big barramundi cod. The highlight was seeing a leopard shark (yes, they have spots) napping on the bottom at the end of the dive. I'd seen one once before, off Phuket, but that was only a glimpse. This one let us get up close to have a good look at him.
The full day was better. On the way out to the first dive site, we stopped to have a snorkel and see if any manta rays were around. Not only was one around, but he swooped and twirled around a coral outcrop for a good ten minutes while we snorkeled nearby. Excellent start to the day. (And the photo at right doesn't do it justice.)
The first site was a wall dive on the outside of the outer reef. A rare opportunity, at least on Lizard, because they generally wouldn't take guests to such a site (due to depth, current, etc). It was an awesome wall with great viz, the only drawback being some current that inconveniently swept in from both ends; it was a little bit of a workout but worth it. Enormous wrasse, a moray eel, a blacktip shark cruising the wall, and plenty of little attractions waiting to be discovered in the wall.
After lunch and some snorkeling, we dropped into the Cod Hole, where the huge potato cod and other fish eagerly awaited a handout (the dive operation is allowed to feed them only 2kg of fish each time so they won't become dependent). This is as close as you can get to big fish short of eating them; they circle around your legs like dogs at a dinner table. After a bit of feeding, we headed off to explore the vicinity, meeting some more locals like another blacktip and schools of little fish.
Upon returning to Lizard and mooring the boat, the staff gave the local fish their traditional treat from the back of the boat. A couple of blacktips were hanging around, but they got nothing, because a Queensland groper (grouper) the size of a refrigerator scarfed down the fish on offer with one massive gulp.
Aside from possibly my trip to the Blue Hole in Belize, I'd say this was my best day of diving to date. Enthusiastically recommended.
* Split pea shooters are little shot glasses filled with cold pureed uncooked(?) peas with a tiny bit of caviar on top and possibly some eye of newt. They look like baby vomit and taste accordingly. George tried his on a "what the hell" basis, and was unimpressed. Deb got one into her mouth and her body rebelled. It ended up in her napkin. Waiters struggling to hide their grins brought her some moist towels. "Shall I take this away?" one asked delicately, to which Deb nodded her head while still clutching the napkin to her mouth, shaking in spasms of silent laughter (and emitting an occasional shriek). Hey, you can't say we don't do our part to liven up a dinner.
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