janet, eric and i decided to take a day trip over to faure island. we had heard that a sponger had been spotted over there and were skeptical, but went to check it out anyway. there are huge flats surrounding the island where the depth stayed between 1 and 2 meters with no sign of dolphins. but it was glass calm so we could see lots of shovel nosed rays and bluebone fish.
faure was only named in 1801 and stayed uninhabited until it was used as a sheep and goat station in the late 1800s. in 1999 the lease was sold to the australian wildlife conservancy which removed most of the goat and sheep and the AWC has tried to reintroduce some of the native mammals that didn't survive once the sheep and goats were introduced.
anyway, at this point there are no humans on the island except the occasional ranger at the station. we went on shore to look around and saw no one, kind of like a creepy ghost town. there were bones everywhere, snake tracks in the sand, broken glass, and abandoned buildings. it was like an adventure field trip. the rainbow water and the mysterious overall vibe are calling me from across the water to come back and explore some more...
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