Before starting our southbound journey, we had a small reunion with our friends on Havachat at the Whitsunday Island of South Molle.

We were keen to catch up with Will and Rochelle who were with us at Marion Reef for the first week of our second Coral Sea Atolls voyage. You will recall they had to cut their trip short because of work commitments.

We met up at Bauer Bay, South Molle, a small isle with several peaks, bays and inlets accessible through well maintained tracks. We were there for two days and enjoyed beautiful scenic walks together. It was a lovely way to reconnect, then disconnect! As is often the case with cruising friendships, you have some intense time together, then you say goodbye and don’t know when you will see one another again.

Here are the four of us together:

This slideshow will give you an idea of the scenery we enjoyed.

Middle Percy Island

We are now on our way south. We left the Whitsundays on Monday morning for an 18 hour motor-sail to the Percy Isles while we could. The weather has been so unpredictable and changeable that it is difficult to plan!

This was our anchorage at West Bay for a few nights, the calm before the storm.

Our tandem kayak got a bit of use to get to the beach for bush walks and to paddle around the lagoon at high tide. We particularly enjoyed the hike to Rescue Bay, on the southern side of the island. It was not a well defined track but it was fun following the markers made of found objects and we enjoyed the swim in the ocean once we got to the water.

Southbound

We were hoping that we would be able to sneak out to the Swain Reefs again for a last offshore adventure before going back to the Gold Coast. However the 10 days’ wait at Middle Percy Island for the winds to abate was going to be too long, with no assurance the conditions for the Swains would eventuate. Do we sit, wait, and hope or do we just give up and move on? It was one of these hard to make decisions; no matter what you end up doing you feel disappointment.

There is pressure to get back to the Gold Coast, as we have a bit to do to get the boat ready for Tasmania (new solar panels and clears for the cockpit as well as the usual maintenance) and for us to attend to a whole array of medical follow ups. We have started our southbound journey early, but it is hard going with the wind against us at this time of year and the engines on more than the sails!

In the end we left the Percy Isles on Thursday for a 100nm passage to North Keppel Island, getting there late in the evening just before the next big blow. When the wind calms down we might have a chance to get to the Capricorn and Bunker Group in the Southern Great Barrier Reef – our last opportunity to snorkel for a while!

Talk to you next Friday, somewhere in the deep blue ocean.