Date: June 2nd	TI: 1410	TO: 1510	Max Depth: 5m
Divers: Paul, Becky, Starrlight, Katie, Heather

Date: June 3rd	TI: 0920	TO: 1010	Max Depth: 5m
Divers: Paul, Becky, Starrlight, Katie, Heather, Michel

Date: June 6th	TI: 0910	TO: 1000	Max Depth: 5m
Divers:  Heather, Orla, Katie, Paul, Sharman, Becky

Date: June 6th	TI: 1100	TO: 1150	Max Depth: 5m
Divers:  Paul, Becky, Katie, Starrlight, Heather

The Low Islets are made up of one woody, sandy beach island alongside a larger and longer mangrove island. This was the site of one of the first coral reef studies, "The Great Barrier Reef Coral Reef Expedition," where 13 scientists lived on the woody island to conduct transect and observational studies on the reef in 1928-1929. The island now has a fully functional laboratory and dorms in regular use by university students all over the world.

The turtles, sharks, and large reef fish were populous on these reefs, perhaps due to the preservation policies. 45 turtles sightings were logged during our short stay from 1 June to 6 June. Low Islets has no sea turtle nesting beaches, the turtles use these reefs as feeding grounds to prepare for the migration to their natal beaches to mate and nest. Juvenile black-tip reef sharks were observed on the dives and from the beach of the woody island and large camouflaged rock cod hovered above the corals.

The inside lagoon is protected from the swells and winds that batter the reefs on the other side of the island. The reef grows up into calm shallow water where visiting snorkelers can observe the reef life with ease. The soft coral coverage in the inside lagoon was high. In some places mushroom leather and lobed leather corals reached up to 75% coverage. There was a very high hard coral diversity, and they appeared to be in good general health. The dominant genera were Porites and Acropora, and the dominant threat to the reef was sedimentation. Hard coral coverage was about five to ten percent.

 

Date: May 13th	TI: 1400	TO: 1440	Max Depth: 5m
Divers: Paul, Sharman, Orla, Heather

Date: May 13th	TI: 1520	TO: 1550	Max Depth: 5m
Divers: Katie, Becky, Christine

Date: May 14th	TI: 0700	TO: 0750	Max Depth: 5m
Divers: Starrlight, Michel, Christine

Date: June 1st	TI: 1500	TO: 1550	Max Depth: 5m
Divers: Paul, Heather, Starrlight, Becky, Katie

Date: June 2nd	TI: 0905	TO: 1000	Max Depth: 5m
Divers: Paul, Heather, Starrlight, Becky, Katie

Date: June 5th	TI: 0840	TO: 0930	Max Depth: 5m
Divers: Paul, Katie, Heather, Becky

Date: June 5th	TI: 1100	TO: 1150	Max Depth: 5m
Divers: Paul, Becky, Katie, Starrlight, Heather

Date: June 9th	TI: 1400	TO: 1500	Max Depth: 8m
Divers: Paul, Eibes, Carol

 At low tide you can see the jagged rocks break the surface through the swells crashing on the outside reef. This reef is made up mostly of large bommies scattered on a sandy bottom and a continuous reef as you approach the inner lagoon. On our first visit in mid-May, the weather was rough and the visibility was less than 10 m. We observed only sparse fish activity. Many large Porites boulders had large tufts of Sarcophyton soft corals swaying from the tops.

When we returned to Low Isles two weeks later, although still slightly murky, water visibility had improved drastically. The fish life appeared much more lively and abundant with the clearer conditions. Many large sweetlips roamed the big coral bommies. Groupers hid between coral crevices, sometimes coming out to have a glimpse of the divers. Many snapper cruised in and out of the reef, as well.

With the improved water visibility, the coral life seemed much more abundant. Many massive Porites and Goniopora colonies stood out from the diverse corals scattered throughout the reef. Sedimentation deposition on the corals was apparent, and many corals in the lower region of the reef had sections completely covered in a sandy silt.

Many green sea turtles and also a couple hawksbill sea turtles were seen scouting the area. The turtles swam near the divers, not appearing bothered by their presence.

Date: 12th June	TI: 1030	TO: 1120	Max Depth: 20m
Divers: Paul, Heather, Sharman, Orla

We managed to get just one dive in here before the wind picked up to eventually become a gale, preventing us from diving before our deadline to return to Cairns. This is clearly a popular dive site, close to Cairns and with a tourist platform secured to the seafloor. But we did not find much to report, however, we were unable to dive outside because the sea was already fairly high. There were some interesting corners on the reef, several pretty branching Acropora colonies and the funky blue devilfish (a longfin) hiding upside down beneath the corals and rock.