A Turtles Graveyard

Prologue

The small sand key, no bigger than a football oval, sat shining in the
sun, a blinding white crescent of sand and shell in the midst of a
3-acre blossoming of coral polyps. This relatively unremarkable sand
key (unremarkable in relation to a myriad of other magnificent jewels
in this coral crown) was spotted here and there with the flaking shells
and bleached bones of a number of the six species of sea turtles that
make this reef their home. These were the remains of those that had
clambered up the beach to lay their eggs, and having expended their
energy in the laying found themselves without the strength to return to
the water and cso ollapsed in the cool of the evening, only to be
killed by the indifferent, deadly sun that rose to discover them
exposed and weakened in the morning light. Some perhaps had clambered
ashore in order to die free from the harassment of ocean dwelling
predators. This was a fabled "elephants graveyard". Located at the
mouth of Hydrographers Passage in the northern reaches of the GBR, man
has sailed past this very place for the past two hundred years, barely
giving it anymore than a passing regard, being more intent on reaching
their destination, dreaming of real and imagined wealth to be found
both on the enormous expanse of the east coast to the west and the
abundance of fishes to be found in the sparkling waters that surround
this continent, this the largest of the worlds' islands. This island
nation had grown and developed steadily. Shipping along this, the
greatest of the worlds reefs, had increased drastically over the last
decades. Along with this increase in maritime traffic, came an increase
in accidents, little incidents that many were sure were the prelude to
something big. Those men and women sensitive to the reef environment
and aware of its fragility, had a foreboding of disaster and attempted
to inform and avert. Theirs was a message not well received and often
scoffed at. Little did these men and women know, a group of cephalopods
that made this section of the reef their home, actually one octopus in
particular, had also begun to sense something unimaginable.
Unimaginable but deadly.