15th and 16th Sep Bait Reef and Hook Reef. 16nm

Billabong at Bait Reef

 It was a surprisingly calm night and we slept all through the night. The wind never got more than 5 knots from the north east and the sea conditions remained calm. The tides are a lot higher and lot lower at this time of the month as the full moon is approaching in 2 days. I think the reef is at its best when it is at low tide to snorkel around the edges.

After breakfast I took the dinghy over to the inside lagoon of the reef and explored for a few hours while the tide fell. I was amazed at the fish life and the pristine coral in the lagoon. Hope it stays that way. I witnessed a school of about 30 Maori Wrasse feeding on the reef as the tide was falling. It was an amazing sight with their tails in the air as they were going about their business, oblivious to me as I drifted close to them.  When the tide was slack I snorkelled along the outside of the Stepping Stones along the south west corner of Bait Reef to the Manta Ray drop off. It was one of the most enjoyable snorkelling experiences I have had although scary as you cannot see the bottom off the edge of the reef. Its 40-50 meters deep!!!.  I came face to face with a huge Manta Ray which scared me initially but it swam around me majestically. I must admit I did hang onto the dinghy a bit tighter as I drifted along in the current. I also came across many turtles, reef sharks, a school of mackerel and numerous coral trout. It shows that marine parks are preserving the coral and the sea life. 

Back at the boat it was time for lunch for me and the fish. I sat on the back feeding them again with the big Maori Wrasse dominating the other fish.

"Mick" came back for a feed every morning.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and sleeping.

The next day remained calm with little wind so I decided to go to Hook Reef for the day and try some fishing. After breakfast we departed Bait Reef and as soon as we were out of the marine sanctuary the lines were out. Soon after nature called and I had to go down to the toilet. While sitting on the loo Tamara yelled out fish!!! Not finishing the job properly I rushed upstairs and all 3 lines were screaming off. There was mayhem on board. I did not know which line to pull in first. I took the game rod as that reel was screaming off line. I locked the other lines off in the hope we could hang onto them. After a struggle with the game rod we saw the fish leap from the water a good 150m back and gave a huge head shake and the line snapped. Bugger - that was my best and most productive lure!!!It was a big mackerel well over 15kgs so it would have been hard getting that on board. Meanwhile the second line had been bitten through (bugger) and we were down to one fish on the remaining line.   It was a big one too and it was on the  hand line. We got it up to the back of the boat and I was about to lift it out of the water when it took off and the line tore through the skin on my finger. Silly me for not having gloves on!!!. Eventually the fish tore the hook off the lure and disappeared into the deep blue.  Bugger. Oh well, none out of 3 and the loss of two of my best lures.  I was very despondent and feeling doubly shitty. I went back to the loo to finish the job and got some new lures out and tried again. We headed onto Hook Reef and 30 minutes later we had a nice easy size to handle mackerel on board. It was a 4 mealer!!

I try not to catch big fish by keeping my lures small but every now and then the big ones will go for the smaller lures.Its the luck of the draw- you loses some lures but it is great fun.

Fishing at Hook Reef

I found a clear sand patch to anchor in and we swam and snorkelled, did a bit of fishing and had lunch. We had to leave the reef by 2.30pm or stay the night. There were no other yachts around us and fear set in that we would be here on our own. The reef becomes unclear in the afternoon as the sun moves west and the sun shine on the water means you cannot see the coral bommies that are littered all over the place. Hitting one of these even at low speed would make a mess of the keel. Decision made we were leaving at 2.30. I managed to catch 3 decent reef fish including a coral trout so we had loads of fish on board and headed back to Bait Reef for the night. There were 3 other yachts moored at Bait Reef and we were able to get a mooring and settled in for another sunset and healthy serving of fish for dinner. The night was not as pleasant as the previous two. A combination of higher tides and more wind made sleeping quite uncomfortable. Wind over tide makes short choppy waves and the yacht rocked quite a bit.