Clear Kayaking at Goat Island Marine Reserve

Meet Clearyak!

After a drive through a mix of rolling hilly farmlands and bush, through the toll road because we are on a bit of a tight schedule, we arrive in the wee town of Leigh – the gateway to Goat Island. We park up in the marine reserve’s large parking area just in time to see a trailer full of crazy-looking kayaks make its way down to a loading bay toward the beach.

We meet Brook, the boss man behind Clearyak! Who is preparing one of the clear kayaks made out of shatter-resistant transparent plastic – the kind that bulletproof glass is made out of, Brook tells us. At least if the fish turn on us, we’ll be sweet!

The adventure starts on our transparent kayak

After brook gives the double kayak a quick wipe down, we are helping him carry the Clearyak down to the beach, popping it straight into the water – getting sand all over it would be counterproductive.

Brook helps us into the Clearyak which as wide seats and a flat bottom for optimal underwater viewing. Already we are mind-blown by how clearly we can see under the water. For the time-being it’s ripples of sand on the floor, but as we start to paddle toward Goat Island itself, a mere 600m off shore, what we see underneath us is pretty magical!

Weird underwater perspectives!

The fish find us!

We glide over rocky reefs which become more and more abundant with kelp the further away from the shore we get. Where there’s kelp, there’s life and sure enough, we start spotting the first fish of the day! Blue spots glisten in the sunlight off snapper that are coming toward our kayak in all sizes. Baby ones, giant ones, beastier ones… When Brook joins us out on the water on his paddle board, he even introduces us to Monkeyface that is swimming underneath us, a snapper with dark scales and a scrunched up face that is said to be around 60 years old! One small groups of snapper spot our Clearyak, they tend to start following us, attracted by its reflection off the sun – even bumping into the bottom of the kayak. We don’t even need to look for fish – the fish find us!

Snapper, red moki, eagle rays and more!

Although snapper are definitely the most abundant species in the marine reserve, we keep an eye out for other species too. In the kelp forests close to Goat Island, we spot a couple of pairs of striped fish called red moki, which Brook informs us that they are usually found in pairs because they mate for life. There are heaps of smaller fish sticking together on the seabed, along with a couple of sightings of eagle rays! These diamond-shaped rays glide along the bottom of the water, seemingly flapping their wings like an eagle. We get to spend a bit of time with these little dudes before they sneak away under a rock.