Description
Lady Elliot Island is a special place on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
It is the only coral cay along the entire 2000 km of reef that is capable of landing fixed-wing aircraft and the diving is both varied and exciting with easy access for shore entry. There are abundant rookeries for the wandering sea birds to nest and rear their young and inviting beaches for turtles to come ashore and lay their eggs. Human guests are made welcome at the small resort and encouraged to get close to nature.
Modern reef growth reached its present height above the sea floor 5000 years ago. Underlying this growth is a succession of older reefs, formed during the previous 2 million years as the continental shelf subsided raising the relative sea level.
The island itself began to develop about 3000 years ago in response to a small one metre drop of sea level. The bulk of the island was built up during a 1000 year period and it has grown very little in the past 1000 years.
