Weather windows can suddenly appear and all of a sudden your benign cruising plans morph into something more serious.

After days of rain, we were planning the first of our ‘loops’ between K’gari and the Southern Great Barrier Reef: off to Burnett Heads for a top up of provisions, out to Lady Elliott or Musgrave for a few days then back. But out of nowhere a longer window of calm weather opened up and it was ON! Don’t go looking for us on Marine Traffic at Lady Musgrave, we are at the Swain Reefs!

For this trip, Åse and Mike on Thor have joined us. After two years on the hard at The Boat Works to refurbish their catamaran, a Schionning Wilderness 1620, we thought they’d be ready for an adventure and invited then to come with us.

Here are the two cats together at Burnett Heads on the eve of our departure.

This is Anui’s fourth voyage to the Swain Reefs and Thor‘s first. We hope we will enjoy multiple bites at the Swain cherry this season. We are keen to do more exploring there without letting ourselves drift too far north, hence the loop idea!

We left Burnett Heads on Tuesday for a leisurely overnight sail straight to Sweetlip Reef in the southern part of the reef mosaic. It is a nice, easy arrival spot to get to.

Here are a few shots taken at sunset during our passage:

We covered the160nm miles in exactly 24 hours. It was a leisurely passage. We were intent on making it easy for ourselves: straight line, low speed, low stress, minimal sail manoeuvres. We could have pushed harder and done it in less time, but we chose simple, under screecher or jib alone most of the way. The seas were a bit choppy, and the true wind was up in the high 20s in the middle of the night. It got a bit rough as we came closer to the Swain reefs, but once inside the reef mosaic it all calmed down and we finished the last few hours under main and jib. Thor sailed under reefed main and jib all the way, choosing to tack to keep the sails full – a lot more  work and distance covered, but it suited them.

The next morning we had a dive and fish at Sweetlip, off one of the bommies, an easy way to get back into the swing of things. Wade caught a cray, well spotted by Mike, and we managed to catch two big squids lurking at the front of the boat along our anchor chain, so we had a feast on Anui that night!

Here are a few images of our first snorkel for the season!

With a fishing boat and dories anchored at both Taiwan and Sanctuary Reefs, we decided to sail to Horseshoe Reef, which promised some good snorkeling along the drop off, something different for Mike and Åse.  We are playing reef guides and wanting to give our buddies a range of memorable experiences at the Swain Reefs.

In the end we missed “slack water”. There was too much current running at the drop off for our unfit bodies, so we retreated from the edge and had to be content floating over a very damaged reef and spotting a few ctenophores, moon jellyfish and different types of Anemonefish. Wade managed to catch a coral trout, so not all was lost, and we also checked out the wreck of an old Taiwanese fishing boat.

In our usual fashion we keep our meandering plans around the reefs quite open, choosing individual anchorages on the basis of the local weather forecasts, how we all feel, as well as the quality of the snorkeling and fishing. If conditions are good, we stay a while in the one spot, if not we move on. The beauty of the Swain Reefs is that although a long way offshore, once in the labyrinth, it is never very far to the next anchorage.

Join us next week to see what we are up to!