21st Sept Stonehaven to Windy Bay to Chance Bay 28nm

We woke to extremely calm conditions. No wind at all. The burgees on the mast did not offer a flutter.

We quickly had coffee and I took Tamara for a look at the coral. Water clarity was good and the fish life plentiful.

Judy and Martin came over to say farewell as they were headed into the marina to get the cooling system checked and hopefully pick up their freezer.

I saw some fish splashing so had to go and investigate that with the fishing rod.

I caught a trevally and 2 stripeys. Not the big coral trout that I thought was making the splash.

At least we have sashimi for lunch and fish for dinner.

As I was coming back to Billabong Tamara was at the back of the yacht with “George” the friendly turtle.

I quickly tied the dinghy to the side of the yacht and grabbed the camera to take photos and another video. It stayed for about 5 minutes.

This is an amazing video of Gangster T

Tamara really enjoyed this experience as she was in the water touching it and it just kept staying around as if it wanted more.

I wanted to get in the water and take some more underwater shots but I think “George” had enough and went into a deep dive and disappeared.

A catamaran picked up the other mooring so I let them know about the friendly turtle. They seemed to know about it already and said that it is a she and her name is “Gangster T”. No idea how it came by that name.

The fellow on the catamaran said that it has been around for years and is resident in the lagoon and that he feeds it jelly fish which apparently turtles eat along with sea grass.

That explains the mystery somewhat about how a turtle became friendly.

I cleaned the fish and we left the mooring and headed off around the northern side of Hook Island to Windy Bay. The wind was less than 5 knots so again we motored all the way. Had lunch along the way. We arrived at Windy Bay and it was flat calm.

I took the dinghy for a quick fish and landed a coral trout that is earmarked for tomorrow night’s dinner with Marina and Oliver. They arrive at Hamilton Island at 3 and we will pick them up so it could be a nice treat for Marina. I have fish for Oliver and he likes it crumbed.

I cleaned the fish and we left for Chance Bay for our overnight anchor. On the way I put a lure out and to my surprise we landed a mackerel. Rarely with all the yachts and motor boats around do you ever get a strike. Now we have plenty of fresh fish for our visitors.

We had a quiet night after our big day and lights were out early.