Monkey Mia

Well, we have been here for several days now...I can't remember exactly how long because I don't know what day we arrived and have no idea what day it actually is today either... :)  Easy how time goes by when you are not having to adhere to a particular schedule or time frame....  Also easy to lull yourself into early senility!

The days go by very quickly and although we are very busy most days...too busy to even update the blog...I couldn't tell you exactly what we have been doing, because I can't remember.  Oh dear!!!

We had one rough night on anchor here, 24 hours after arrival...which we were expecting. High winds 25 knots and lots and lots of heavy rain squalls.  The anchor alarm went off several times overnight, but it was just the boat swinging on the anchor...fortunately there was no dragging this time as the holding here is pretty good.

Margies sister Tinika and her husband Bill are staying up here for a few months, so we have caught up with them and their lovely friends Maureen and Terry with their pooch Jay, who unfortunately had to leave today to head back to Beverly.  They treated us to a wonderful meal ashore with some fresh caught cod on our first night, which was beautifully cooked and very tasty.  We also had dinner with them at the resort restaurant last night.  The food was very good....our only complaint was that as soon as we moved outside to finish our drinks they shut the doors and turned the lights off...and it was only 2030hours!

We pinched Tanika and Bills car the other day (with their permission of course!) and all went into Denham to get some much needed shopping and did the touristy things by visiting the aquarium (cafe only) and eagle bluff where you can look out over shallow water and see sharks, rays and even dugongs in the right conditions.  We did see a shark but it was so far away it was just a moving black line in the water.  The coffee at the aquarium cafe is top notch...very nice!

We have had dolphins, dolphins and more dolphins, much to Robyns delight.  They were all around us when we were dropping anchor and frequently come to the boat and the dinghy when we are travelling backwards and forewords to the shore.

We will be heading to shore tonight for a sundowner then Mike and I will fire up the barbie on the boat for tea.

Nick and Robyn have just been repairing their heady, it looks like it has been chafing against the spreaders (nicks fault for going into racing mode and pulling the heady on too tight, according to unidentifiable sources. We have also just watched Nick towing Margie and Jeremy back to Moonshadow in their dinghy....they either had a fuel blockage or ran out out fuel...either way we have photographic evidence!  Robyn is just going ashore to try out her new blow up kayak...cameras at the ready in case she falls out!  :)

We were last in Monkey Mia about 9 or 10 years ago and there was nothing here.  The resort is taking shape and the facilities are much better than they were back then.

We have decided that it is now impossible for us to get to the Montes...we would get there OK but would be pushing it to get back within the time frame and we don't want to do that.  The current decision now is to spend some time exploring Shark bay in a lot more depth, but the information on appropriate anchorages is limited....will have to go and talk to the guys on the local catamaran to see if where we are thinking of exploring is actually viable.

p.s. message to Chris Dixon.  thank you for reading.  :)