Qamea - Pictures
Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Sun 1 Jul 2012 06:29
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Pictures from Qamea (pronounced Ga-mia). The reefs here were
some of the best we have seen. It all looks very healthy, is densely
packed and goes on and on - there's lots of it!
 From our chartplotter again. The bay at the north
west end of Qamea with Aurora B anchored and the
route we followed to get in. Green is reef and
according to the chartplotter we're on top of it! Not
the
case as the charts are generally out; it's just a
question of by how much and this varies from bay to
bay.
That's why you need someone on the bow when going
into the anchorages.
 Having had the chartplotter view, this is what it
actually looks like. Nice flat water - the bay is well
protected.
On occasions a little swell found it's way round
the corner, gently rocking the boat, but nothing
more.
 We're anchored in 40ft or so, and in lovely sand -
you don't know how good that is until you've anchored
on coral! We're quite a long way out, but that
gives plenty of swinging room and reduces the
likelihood
of mozzies or other critters reaching the
boat when they're out and about at
dusk.
 The vegetation is very
thick.
 We had the anchorage to ourselves, taking this
picture from the dinghy on the way back from a
snorkeling
trip, using the underwater camera (hence the drip
on the left!).
 On our own that is until Sea Bride arrived. It was
good to have company and ........
 ...... it gave the opportunity to take Aurora
B as the sun went down.
 Another sunset on another
day.
 Diving down and taking the sun rays lighting
up the reef.
 A huge coral garden that went on and
on.
 There were lots of small reef fish. It wasn't deep
enough for the bigger fish.
 A Sea Cucumber - like a sea slug it lives on the
bottom and eats all the reef debris.
 A Cushion Star - a variety of
starfish.
 Not Good - a Crown of Thorns starfish that destroy
the coral. We only saw a very small number and
hope it stays that way.
  Some of the purple coral was quite
striking.
    Christmas Tree worms. Get too close and they
completely close up.
 A clam.
 More of Nemo's
relations!
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