We lost the dinghy the other day. Again. And then we got it back. Again. It's like a leaky, half deflated boomerang! Maybe it just loves us. Who knows, maybe it's just dumb luck that it hasn't abandoned us yet and dumb stupidity that we don't seem to learn our lesson. Either way we don't come out looking good. This has been the fourth dinghy incident since we left New Zealand. We lost the seat going through a reef in Fiji (but we got it back), it started floating away in New Caledonia after we didn't tie it on properly (I jumped in and swam after it), then we lost it the other day on Lady Musgrave (a nice man with a fast tinny brought it back as it was being dragged out to sea). So we've pretty much worn out our good luck and the chances of getting it back next time are slim to nil.
We anchored at Middle Island in the Percy Islands after lunch, then went exploring with two of us rowing the dinghy and two in the kayak. We discovered a tiny cove with a cute little beach and pulled our boats up onto the shore. But not very far up - we were just going to have a quick look around and there was only a tiny patch of sand in front of the rocks. Then it turned out to be an awesome spot - the rocks were really interesting, there were rock pools everywhere, the view was amazing, the water was crystal clear and there was pretty coral in the bigger pools. So we spent a while exploring.
Then when we had poked, climbed and looked at absolutely everything possible we ducked back down onto our private beach just in time to see the dinghy floating away and the kayak lift up off the ground. A few more minutes and I think they both would have been goneskies. The dinghy beached itself on some rocks and Garth tried to wade out to it, just as the kayak started floating away as well. Then he was just standing in between them looking like he was about to pounce but he wasn't sure in which direction. I was standing on the shore dying with laughter. It was a nice calm day though... It's all fun and games until the wind picks up.
We rowed over to the actual beach and went exploring, which was a lot of fun. The sun was going down so we didn't have much time, but we followed the footsteps leading away from the only other dinghy on the beach. They led us up into the hills overlooking the bay. There were cute little signs pointing the way to the homestead on the island, whose occupants are supposed to be very welcoming of cruisers. There were old and faded arrows nailed to trees to mark the path, and then when the directions stopped there were makeshift markers people had put up such as a pumice stone hanging down from a tree, or string tied to a branch. We eventually lost the path but found a herd of wild goats instead, along with a lovely view of the bay.
The day before we had been over at South Percy Island, which was a lot of fun as well. We went bush bashing across the island into the unknown through scrub, spiders and mass amounts of ferns. Mike went exploring and found a hammock fort in a tree not far from the beach. Of course he and Garth climbed up into it, without really caring that the rope was starting to disintegrate. It took us ages to get back to the beach but none of us got eaten by spiders or snakes, so it was a fun adventure.
It was Christine's birthday so we tried to pack in as much fun as possible. We followed up the bush walk with a snorkel around the rocks. No coral, but there were some interesting fishes. Some of them were huge and they just stayed very still staring up at us - we went out and got the spear gun fixed as soon as we got to land! The reed all around the rocks was really interesting. The rocks were scattered around on a beautiful white sandy bottom, all covered in sea weed stuff. The reeds were long and soft, moving rhythmically back and forth with the current. When I looked down it looked like the sand was moving around and the reed covered rocks were staying still. I spent ages floating above them just staring. It was hypnotising.
We went to Mackay after leaving South Percy, stopping at a nice anchorage in amongst a group of islands on the way. It took us 8 hours to go 18 miles from Middle Percy to our anchorage, motoring for the last three. We were expecting the current and wind to be just as horrible the next day for our 55 mile trip to Mackay so we left at 5am... Then arrived at lunch time after some nice downwind sailing. Although I hid downstairs for most of it - I've figured out that if I lie down I can't be knocked over.
We went past a big group of whales on the way. They were quite a way off in the distance but there were a lot of them in a small space. They were alternating between spurting water everywhere, slapping their tails down all at once and launching themselves completely out of the water. They looked like dolphins from so far away, jumping up and flipping around. So that was really amazing. I just hope we find more!
Coming into Mackay was really interesting. There were coal ships everywhere waiting to get into the port. When it was getting close to their turn they would line up one after another - the line looked like it went on forever. The AIS is amazing - it told us when they were starting to move and when we needed to worry. Yay for the AIS!
Xxx Monique
We anchored at Middle Island in the Percy Islands after lunch, then went exploring with two of us rowing the dinghy and two in the kayak. We discovered a tiny cove with a cute little beach and pulled our boats up onto the shore. But not very far up - we were just going to have a quick look around and there was only a tiny patch of sand in front of the rocks. Then it turned out to be an awesome spot - the rocks were really interesting, there were rock pools everywhere, the view was amazing, the water was crystal clear and there was pretty coral in the bigger pools. So we spent a while exploring.
Then when we had poked, climbed and looked at absolutely everything possible we ducked back down onto our private beach just in time to see the dinghy floating away and the kayak lift up off the ground. A few more minutes and I think they both would have been goneskies. The dinghy beached itself on some rocks and Garth tried to wade out to it, just as the kayak started floating away as well. Then he was just standing in between them looking like he was about to pounce but he wasn't sure in which direction. I was standing on the shore dying with laughter. It was a nice calm day though... It's all fun and games until the wind picks up.
We rowed over to the actual beach and went exploring, which was a lot of fun. The sun was going down so we didn't have much time, but we followed the footsteps leading away from the only other dinghy on the beach. They led us up into the hills overlooking the bay. There were cute little signs pointing the way to the homestead on the island, whose occupants are supposed to be very welcoming of cruisers. There were old and faded arrows nailed to trees to mark the path, and then when the directions stopped there were makeshift markers people had put up such as a pumice stone hanging down from a tree, or string tied to a branch. We eventually lost the path but found a herd of wild goats instead, along with a lovely view of the bay.
The day before we had been over at South Percy Island, which was a lot of fun as well. We went bush bashing across the island into the unknown through scrub, spiders and mass amounts of ferns. Mike went exploring and found a hammock fort in a tree not far from the beach. Of course he and Garth climbed up into it, without really caring that the rope was starting to disintegrate. It took us ages to get back to the beach but none of us got eaten by spiders or snakes, so it was a fun adventure.
It was Christine's birthday so we tried to pack in as much fun as possible. We followed up the bush walk with a snorkel around the rocks. No coral, but there were some interesting fishes. Some of them were huge and they just stayed very still staring up at us - we went out and got the spear gun fixed as soon as we got to land! The reed all around the rocks was really interesting. The rocks were scattered around on a beautiful white sandy bottom, all covered in sea weed stuff. The reeds were long and soft, moving rhythmically back and forth with the current. When I looked down it looked like the sand was moving around and the reed covered rocks were staying still. I spent ages floating above them just staring. It was hypnotising.
We went to Mackay after leaving South Percy, stopping at a nice anchorage in amongst a group of islands on the way. It took us 8 hours to go 18 miles from Middle Percy to our anchorage, motoring for the last three. We were expecting the current and wind to be just as horrible the next day for our 55 mile trip to Mackay so we left at 5am... Then arrived at lunch time after some nice downwind sailing. Although I hid downstairs for most of it - I've figured out that if I lie down I can't be knocked over.
We went past a big group of whales on the way. They were quite a way off in the distance but there were a lot of them in a small space. They were alternating between spurting water everywhere, slapping their tails down all at once and launching themselves completely out of the water. They looked like dolphins from so far away, jumping up and flipping around. So that was really amazing. I just hope we find more!
Coming into Mackay was really interesting. There were coal ships everywhere waiting to get into the port. When it was getting close to their turn they would line up one after another - the line looked like it went on forever. The AIS is amazing - it told us when they were starting to move and when we needed to worry. Yay for the AIS!
Xxx Monique
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