PORTS OF CALL - Australia / New Zealand
Willis Island (Cruising), Australia
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Willis Island, located east of Australia just beyond the Great Barrier Reef, is the only permanently inhabited island in Australia's Coral Sea Islands Territory. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has a weather monitoring station on the island, staffed by three people, who make up the island's human population. Thousands of masked, brown and red footed boobies - a seabird that looks like a dressed up seagull - keep them company.
Don't Miss
The unique seabirds around Willis Island are a joy to watch. One of the boobies' strange habits is to pretend to have a broken wing if a human gets near one of their nests; hopping away, the "wounded" booby tries to lead the approaching person astray. Many other birds also wheel around this tiny island, including wedge-tailed shearwaters, sooty terns and common and black noddies.