Billabong at anchor on a calm sea at the Tangalooma wrecks
We woke at 5.30am as you do here in QLD. The sun is up at
5am!! Why don’t they have daylight saving!!
Echo Beach was departing and as they raised their anchor
they found it had snagged another anchor and chain. Robert and I raced over in
the dinghy to lend a hand and found the chain was stainless steel. We were
hoping the anchor was stainless as well but that was not to be. It had been on
the bottom for a long time as marine growth covered the chain and the anchor
was well and truly rusted. After a bit of salvage work we unshackled the anchor
and recovered the chain. It was not very long but about 6 meters which may come
in handy on another vessel one day. Robert and I took it to the beach and gave
it a good clean up and got most of the growth off but it will require a lot
more work to get it in usable condition. I put it in a bucket and stowed it in
the locker.
We said our goodbyes to Echo Beach and gave our best wishes
to Graham and hoped for the best.
Another yacht, Mustang Sally with Mark and Di on board was
anchored nearby. We met them on our 2011 cruise at Dunk Island. They were going
for a snorkel on the Tangalooma wrecks and invited us to come. Robert declined
the offer but I went. I was not disappointed and was very surprised to see the
marine life that had made the wrecks their home. Despite being allowed to fish
there the fish life was abundant with large snapper, bream, sweet lip, emperors,
whiting, trevaly and no doubt gropers but I did not see any of them. The water was not quite clear enough to see
any distance into the holds of the wrecks where the gropers would be hiding. A
snorkeling boat brings guests from Tangalooma to the wrecks every couple of
hours and no doubt they get fed well, hence the reason they don’t take bait on
fishing lines. I am surprised that the wrecks are not off limits to fishermen.
We had no time for fishing and had to depart for Peel
Island. The forecast wind was 20-25 knot northerlies and this would not be a
good anchorage. We headed off at about 11am for Horseshoe Bay at Peel Island.
This is a well protected anchorage for northerlies.
The tide was with us, the wind was behind us and we had a
very good sail into Peel Island. By the time we arrived the wind was gusting to
25 knots and we were very happy to get into the lee of the island and drop
anchor.
Robert came with me for a walk on the beach and we saw
numerous stingrays with in a meter of the beach all sunbaking in the shallows.
People who know me know that I am not keen on Stingrays any more.
We had a couple of gin and tonics as the sun went down and
cooked the rest of the fresh mackerel for dinner. The wind abated for most of
the night and it was a pleasant night’s sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment