2nd Sept Able Point Marina to Stonehaven 13nm

The morning was spent provisioning at the Saturday morning markets which are excellent for reasonable priced greens and fruit and vegies.

We find the coriander, mint and parsley lasts a lot longer than the supermarkets. Bananas, pineapples, water melon and many other tropical fruits are all reasonable priced and good quality.

The locally made bacon and egg pie is also my favourite breakfast at the market washed down with an “organic” coffee.

We had the marina courtesy vehicle so we made a quick dash to Bunnings for a new curly deck wash hose and minor repair items before returning the vehicle and exiting the marina before the cut off time.

We ate lunch on the motor out to Stonehaven where we re-joined Isabella. Martin and Judy had their son Myles on board and we went fishing for the afternoon.

I have stayed in Stonehaven many times and never fished. There are a lot of reefs around so should have no issues catching fish if they are there. Because it is a popular charter yacht anchorage and every person tries to catch a fish I did not really expect much but we hit the jackpot with a nice coral trout. Tamara will be pleased as we can BBQ it whole with chilli garlic lime and coriander. 

That’s dinner for tomorrow night as I already had fish defrosting in the sink.

We also hooked a couple of other smaller fish including myself. I was dehooking a rock cod and the hook slipped out from the pliers with the fish still attached to the lure and it dropped on to my knee and the barbed hook sank deep into my knee. I was trying to dehook myself which proved a lot harder than getting a hook out of a fish’s mouth. The barb prevents the hook from coming out and no matter how hard I pulled, it was not coming out. After many attempts the hole got a little larger and it finally came out with a decent tug.

My big concern was how Tamara would react. I got the usual lecture etc. Back on the yacht I washed up and put an antiseptic cream and band aid on it and now wait and hope for the best that it does not get infected. Fish hooks with fish bacteria are not good for the human body. Had my last tetanus shot 7 years ago when stung by a sting ray and my foot got infected and spent Christmas day and New year in the Monavale hospital.

Drinks were on Isabella with another pleasant sunset and after a few “pain killers” I no longer felt the pain in my knee.

Any day you get a coral Trout is a good day despite hooking myself. Just have to wait and see if my immune system is strong and can fight any infection that may develop.