200 – MAY 2015
first CLASS
feeding on the reef, grinding their teeth
against the coral to capture surface-
dwelling organisms and the polyps
themselves. There are plenty of powder blue
tangs, with black faces and bright yellow
dorsal stripes, cruising below me, while
parrotfish and licorice-striped angelfish
dart through scores of more prosaic green
surgeonfish in a blur of rainbow colours.
Translucent blobs in the water in front of
my goggles resolve as tiny jellyfish, and
I spot a couple of giant clams with thin
undulating shells making their home on
the reef. Our snorkelling guide points to the
sand below us where a stingray, perfectly
camouflaged in white, lies motionless on
the sea bed – at least until the guide dives
down and pokes it so we can enjoy the
spectacle of it gliding away.
After a while we swim to the sandbank
for a break. I wander over to the far side of
the little hill of sand, flop down in the
water and let myself be gently pushed
around by the ankle-height waves that have
made it over the top of the reef. The sand is
a dazzling white, the water bathtub warm,the sky cloudless and the sun an insistent
presence at my back. It’s a heavenly
combination I could have enjoyed for hours,
but eventually I’m called back to the boat
so we can head over to another snorkelling
site in deeper, more exposed water.
Here there are more flurries of parrotfish
and angelfish, and a couple of turtles. The
stingray-poking guide grabs one of the
turtles to show us a shark-bite-sized hole in
its shell where its hind leg once protruded.
I’m more than a little uneasy that the guide
is waving the turtle around and encouraging
my fellow snorkellers to have their
photographs taken with it – almost everyone
does – yet when it’s released it doesn’t swim
away, and instead turns around and comes
back to calmly circle us, seemingly
unconcerned with the attention. I dive
down to swim with it for a few strokes and
snap a couple of images, before watching it
flap away into deeper water. I resurface,
clear my snorkel, and head back to float
above the reef and enjoy the show below. ■
For more details, go to http://www.clubmed.com.au
or call 1800 855 052.Looking across the pool to the
main bar. Below: each beachside
villa has a secluded internal courtyard
with a day bed, rain shower and
bathtub; the Motu restaurant
features a glass-floored central bar.