16th Oct Deep Creek to Inskip Point Wide Bay Bar 22nm

It was another early morning as we have to reach the shallowest part of the Great Sandy Straits on a rising tide near full height. High tide was at 7.10am and if we time it right we will have tidal flow with us to the shallow point and the tidal flow with us on the falling tide all the way to Inskip Point.

We raised the anchor at 6.15am and headed off in a very much cooler air temperature. It is the first time I have had a jumper on at this hour of the morning.

A good cup of tea and the sun rising soon warmed the air and it was a very pleasant trip in glassy conditions. I really like navigating through the Great Sandy Straits and you do have to concentrate as one wrong move and you will find yourself on a sand bank. Not good if the tide is falling because it will take another 12 hours to get off.

 A very pretty morning in glassy conditions

 Navigating the Great Sandy Straits with tidal flow.

This time of year it is Turtle mating season and we witnessed a number of Turtles at it. We stopped to take some pornographic shots of the love making but were not too successful. It appears to be a very cumbersome act.

 The best pornographic shot we could capture of the "Love Making Turtles"

We arrived at Inskip Point at 9am after a very fast run with the current assisting so we had all day to have some fun. I launched the dinghy and on the falling tide there are sand flats everywhere so Leon off Nirvana’s Kitchen and I went to pump some yabbies. These are great bait for whiting. The yabby pump that I have had in the yacht for 7 years fell apart and did not work. Lucky we found a nice fellow who pumped about 30 yabbies for us. After lunch Nirvana and Tamara went for a beach walk and Leon and I attempted to catch some whiting.

We found the nursery as most of the whiting were too small to eat. We salvaged 6 whiting big enough to eat and threw the rest back for another day. Tamara and I ate those for dinner.

We witnessed another great sunset and had an early night as tomorrow is bar crossing day and we need to be underway by 5am to get the last of the run in tide to make the crossing as safe as possible.

Inskip Point - many species of birds congregate here for the evening.