Michaelmas Cay

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Michaelmas Cay

You can’t be in Cairns (pronounced “cans”) without heading out to the natural wonder that is the Great Barrier Reef.

I chose a trip on the Ocean Spirit to Michaelmas Cay, a sandy island on the reef.

While I am a certified SCUBA diver and I love marine life, I was here for the birds.

I checked in and walked out to the dock under a light, warm drizzle. It rains almost everyday in Cairns. I was early so I headed to the breakwater to try to pick up a lifer.

I scanned the nearby trees for roosting birds, I was looking for a night-heron. I found one foraging at the breakwater. I guess no one told it that it was a night-heron, a Nankeen night-heron.

I headed back to the dock and boarded the Ocean Spirit.

While waiting for the Ocean Spirit to depart I sketched the mountains to the south and the boats moored in the foreground.

During the two hour cruise to the cay, we stopped to look at a few humpback whales.

This is a continuous-line sketch of the Ocean Spirit looking towards the bow as we head to the cay.

We arrived at the cay and anchored to the buoy. The launch began to take snorkelers to the sandy cay.

I headed over and walked on the vibrant sands. The cay is a bird sanctuary and various pelagic birds nest and roost here. The most prominent breeding bird at this time of year is the brown booby.

This a semi-regular vagrant to the west coast of California but I had never seen one this close and in it breeding plumage. I sketch one on it sandy nest (featured sketch).