Well this would have to be one of our most boring weeks on board, with terrible weather… until we moved to Moon Point, heard dingoes howling at sunset and the rest is a tale of luck and forgetfulness.
Once the wind eased from 40 knots to 20, we moved away from our hole at Pelican Bay, where we had spent five days last week, and motor-sailed through the Great Sandy Straits, past Moon Point and onto Platypus Bay, at the NW end of K’gari (Fraser Island).
We had hoped to do a small return dash to the beautiful reef of Lady Elliott Island and back to Platypus Bay, one of several loops between K’gari and the Southern Great Barrier Reef we would like to do over the next few weeks. But with sustained showers and dull skies for days, we decided it was not worth the effort and instead stayed put, boat bound, keeping ourselves entertained with yoga, piano playing and binging on Netflix… not wonderful for ailing backs!
It was rather tedious, until we moved from Platypus Bay back to Moon Point to escape the rolly conditions. We managed to get a few interesting aerial shots of nearby Coongul Creek at low tide in between showers. The patterns created by the sandbanks and the colour graduations from above are endlessly fascinating.
Later that day as the sun was going down, we heard some howling and looked out, binoculars in hand: two dingoes were roaming the beach! We sent the drone up and spied on the beautiful animals, flying low, getting shots from different angles, and in the process capturing a gorgeous sunset. Do look at these in full screen to see the details.
The whole scene was so absorbing that we were both studying the photos and short videos on the controller back in the cockpit, and totally forgot about the drone still in the air! Oops… Just as well the DJI Mavic Air has great safety features; it came home all by itself 😳!
So there you go, some unexpected excitement and very satisfying shots in an otherwise boring week!
Sv-Anui 
Wow, I LOVE the photos! So moody and beautiful! The Dingos look like dogs to me, I suppose they are in the K9 family. Attractive dogs!
Hi John, Glad you liked the photos, for a while I had nothing to share, but the drone flights made the post! The dingoes do look like dogs but definitely not your friendly pets – separate lineage to wild dogs and actually closer to wolves.
Oh, okay, go away wolf-like critter! 😬 I appreciate your effort in capturing these beautiful photos! I’m sure you could sell them online. 👍🏻
Very moody (ala John) drone photos there Chris. Stunning, particularly love the first two overcast photos and the first of your dingo sunset ones of Anui. It’s not always about blue skies. So much rain up north. We have had endless days of sunshine & desperately need rain.
Hi Amanda, blue skies are good for diving, but give me cloudy for interesting photography! However we have had way too much rain. It is tedious and restricts what we can do.
Am laughingly reading about your drone returning all by itself! In a way ‘frightening’ that it knew how when ‘forgotten’! Love your ‘pools and sandbanks’ photo looking at all the cross currents – fascinating! Dingoes – they have caused their problems and tragedies . . . but I love the ones of the ‘Anui’ out on the ocean and the dingoes walking on the beach . . . puts things into perspective, Was it dawn or dusk – am not quite sure which side of the island you were on . . . there seems some land in sight but I have been to Fraser and the mainland was far closer from where we crossed . . . best for the next week . . .
Hi Eha … the drone returning to its ‘home point’ was one of the worst senior moments I have had! We were both so engrossed in checking the photos on the controller screen that we totally forgot about the drone! It would have been hovering on the spot while we were looking at the photos, but then I turned the controller off for a few minutes till it dawned on me! Panic attack! By the time we went back on deck, I turned the controller back on and it reconnected to the drone, the beast had flown back and was descending slowly. It could have landed on deck but we couldn’t risk it missing the spot so Wade saved the day and grabbed it! We were both shaking like leaves! And it was dusk, we are anchored at the NW end of Fraser, at Moon Point, looking out into Hervey Bay.
Well, I am ‘glad’ I asked 🙂 ! You have described what would have filmed as quite an ‘adventure’ with a ‘happy ending’! A misadventure would have been rather costly methinks and put you into another ‘major’ port to pick up a new one – these days rather a necessity. Great!!!
It certainly livened the evening!
I’m missing those beautiful wide open panoramas that your clever drone has captured! Love Hervey Bay.
Our mast is out for 10 year re-rigging at the moment but we hope to be back in action by mid June – if it ever stops raining!
Hi Chris, always curious what the aerial view will uncover!
Slow start this season, and yes, the weather is rather odd. Might share an anchorage with you somewhere… we are not going very far north this year. Hope Suzie is doing well and we catch up with you two along the way.
From boredom to extremely picturesque adventure! Thanks, enjoyed your pics and felt your angst at the possible drone loss. Bring on the next adventure eh!
Yes, a lucky save thanks to smart technology! The angst was more about my unbelievable absentmindedness! We are back to a rainy day of Netflix binging today. Hoping the weather improves and we can move on after the weekend.
Great views probably the best way to see the Dingos on K’gari. Lucky with the drone.
Cheers Mick & Lyn
Hi Mick & Lyn, lucky indeed! Safest way to see them. The howling is what attracted our attention.
What an excellent feature of your drone! A great help to the distracted. Well done realising in time for a catch
Yes… a senior moment! Fortunately the boat hadn’t moved too much.