Thursday 29 June 2017

30th June 2017 - Whitsundays - Stonehaven Bay - turtle magic

Friday 30th June 2017


Hamilton Island marina

Facepainting and craft at Catseye Beach
Today is our last 2XS day with the Thomases.  We are going to go for a short trip, just to Henning Island, where we can have a picnic, swim, and pootle around in the kayaks.


Thank God for the kayaks!

They have made life a lot easier for everyone. 

For a start, they are fun.

And also – it is possible to transport small girls long distances which they wouldn’t be able to do by swimpower alone.

We went back to Stonehaven Bay and moored near an expansive reef, in a fairly sheltered position.  There were a few issues with bits of snorkelling equipment breaking or plunging to the bottom of the sea.   But all was well; we all got back onto 2XS happily enough.

And then our Attenborough Moment began!

Katy and Rose had seen a small turtle near the boat when they set out.  Exciting enough but…

Small turtle between kayak and boat
After lunch a really big turtle ambled along and came right up to the boat.


It was very interested in watching us, and was quite happy to be touched. 


Pete and I have never seen a turtle behaving this way; it was totally tame!  Usually turtles appear for a few magic seconds and then they disappear very swiftly under the water.


We thought maybe it was hungry, but there was plenty of coral on the reef; none of it seemed to have been damaged by the cyclone.


It certainly didn’t want the crumbs from our BBQ lunch.

Never mind the reason – it made us all very happy, being so close to such a beautiful sea creature.


And as we were about to leave our turtle behind, a big burst of flying fish arose from the sea, and a large batfish me swimming up to eat our crumbs.  Total Attenborough Time !!


We have had a bit of a boat injury…Poor Jeff was kindly helping me lock the workshop drawers.  This can be a bit tricky and oh dear oh NO…I slammed the biggest heaviest drawer just as he was putting his hand out…(Oh the guilt!!!  He will lose that fingernail; not a good souvenir!!!)


Tuesday 27 June 2017

28th June 2017 - Hamilton Island - Cateran Bay - Stonehaven

Wednesday 28th June 2017

Sculptures in the dark
Today we are having a land day.

Rose the Chess Queen
Our last one was great. 

Pete and Jeff
Hamilton Island resorts are very welcoming – we spent many hours at the big one on Catseye Beach, swimming in the fabulous pool, using the game facilities.


Nobody came up to ask if we belonged…


Yesterday we left early and headed for Cateran Bay on Border Island.  It was a beautiful place for snorkelling, with plentiful fish, beautiful coral.  Not so much now…there are a few patches of coral, and a few surviving fish, but it will probably take many years to recover from the fury of Debbie.

Whitehaven Beach
We cruised by Whitehaven Beach but didn’t drop anchor.  (Dropping anchor is a slightly fraught activity at the moment…)

Zoe well enough to work on her journal
By this stage our five seasick passengers were starting to revive as the water got calmer…

Thomases recovering
Along Shoalhaven Bay we got a mooring so all was well.

Zoe and Jeff
This stop was a great success.  All of the Thomases saw at least one turtle, a great big one, very obligingly feeding on the coral and ignoring them all completely.


They swam and paddled the kayaks and generally frolicked until all of the seasickness had left their systems.

Katy and Eva

Once again we got home late, in the dark.  Fortunately I had enough ingredients on board to be able to make a pot of carbonara, otherwise I think the emotional temperature would have dropped.

Leo