Never would I know Christmas Island is a small Australian-owned territory located in the Indian Ocean, approximately 300 miles south of Jakarta, Indonesia, one and half hour direct flight from Malaysia or 50mins flight from Perth. Of course, you are required to obtain a visa which can be done by applying eVisa at http://www.immi.gov.au/. Now I should record Christmas Island in my travel list.
So what has attracted tourist to Christmas Island?
Christmas Island boasts some of the best scuba diving trips in Australia and has some of the longest drop-offs in the world.
Our scuba diving trips boast endless kilometres of spectacular wall diving, untouched corals, hundreds of species of tropical fish, dolphins, whalesharks, warm clear water, the opportunity to see magnificent marine life - what more could you expect from the ultimate scuba diving trip and experience?
Nonetheless, I find the most interesting story about Christmas Island is the annual red crabs mass migration to the sea to spawn which takes place each year around November. Besides, it has been called one of the wonders of the natural world.
The main migration commences on the plateau and can last up to 18 days. Masses of crabs gather into broad columns as they move toward the coast, climbing down high inland cliff faces, and over or around all obstacles in their way, following routes used year after year for both downward and return migrations.
The females then also move to the terraces and mating occurs. The females produce eggs within 3 days of mating and remain in the moist burrows on the terraces for 12-13 days while they develop. The eggs are held in a brood pouch between their extended abdomen and thorax. A single female can brood up to 100,000 eggs!
After about a month in the ocean, and after growing through several larval stages, the surviving larvae have developed into prawn-like animals called megalopae. The megalopae gather in pools close to the shore for 1-2 days before changing into young crabs and leaving the water.
Although only 5mm across, the baby crabs begin their march inland, taking about 9 days to reach the plateau. Here they seem to disappear and are rarely seen, living in rocky outcrops and under fallen tree branches and debris on the forest floor for the first three years of their life.
Christmas Island Red Crabs - A funny movie is a click away
Indeed, this is a very nice article to read on since I always think Christmas Island is located at the outskirt of States and I even argued with Lern about this. In another words, katak di bawah tempurung - lah!
What's dinner tonight?
STEAMBOAT!
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