Cape Range National Park

There's something about turtles. There's a wise and knowing expression with a hint of superiority mixed with curiosity as they raise their wrinkled head above the surface and meet your eye. That pointed head dwarfed by a magnificent shell below. I imagine the many divers who've witnessed this shell-dwelling masterpiece grow over years of its life. We snorkel just above as it glides effortlessly through the turquoise ripples, peaceful and happy in our company. 

We meet precious family who've travelled far to join us at Cape Range National Park. There are  days of wind and rain but we enjoy the breaks between and kayak and walk and dive anyway. Everything is wet and nothing dries but the kids barely notice the weather as they absorb every minute together with their cousins in a whirlwind of adventures. Playing horses on the dunes,  hunting crabs, chasing waves and making fishing rods from sticks. We imagine a life for them without screens. Here this is easy.

Eventually the still and the sun arrive and the diving is worth the wait.  We visit Turquoise Bay and drift with the current. We kayak out to the lagoon and tether to a buoy while we dive.  Schools of neon blues and yellow fish swim amongst the larger golden trevally and snapper. Tiny green ones feed and dart in amongst the fingers of coral tipped with neon blue like a thousand fairy lights. Angelfish and parrot fish, reef shark and butterfly fish. Starfish and striped snake eels.  It's a wonderful world hidden beneath the surface and I'm warmed to see it considered precious; so well protected and conserved here.  Poor husband is pained to leave his spear behind.  But we agree these precious sanctuaries are too important.  May it always be that we leave no trace here.