Friday 16th May
Left the G spot (Guichenault Point) early at 0800 hours and
travelled back south to Monkey Mia again, as Jermey and Margie on Moonshadow
had order some new sheets (rope to all you landlubbersJ) for their heady, to replace
their old and fraying ones.
It was wonderful to be back at MM after the unrestful nights
worrying about dragging anchor at the G spot. We had a lovely couple fo days their walking
miles along the beach and seeing the shovel nosed rays in the shallows. The second day there, we had taken the
dinghies across to the mangroves and had watched the fish jumping out of
the water and seen a stone fish…lucky no
one stepped on that one!
We had a wonderful weekend at MM again, enjoying the café (and
the coffee) and doing a run over the Denham in TInika and Bills car to
reprovision…which was good…I was down to my last 6 bottles of Champers! J
Wednesday 21st May
Midday..
Just leaving Quoin Bluff after the most amazing 2 days. Arrived at Quoin Bluff on Monday early
afternoon after a wonderful and fast sail from Monkey Mia, with the wind on the
beam most of the way and anything from 8 knots to 18 knots.
Leaving Monkey Mia at 0400 hours and also leaving Moonshadow
and our good friends Margie and Jeremy who are to continue on their journey
north to Darwin. We wish them all the
best. Margies sister Tinika and her
hubby Bill have been fantastic, doing a couple of BBQs for us and loaning us
their car twice during our stay so that we could get more provisions. They are on hols at MM for another month
before they head home to Perth, so at least Margie and Jeremy still have
company whilst they stay at MM
Setting off was problematic when our friends on DS radio’d to say that their engine
wouldn’t start again, but then radio’d back 10 mins later and admitted that
they had the CF award for that day…had been pressing the kill switch instead of
the engine start button in the dark!
…happens to everyone! J
Quoin Bluff has very little written about it in the cruising
guide, but it is a truly beautiful place and we had some wonderful experiences
with the local watery fauna.
Arriving just after 2pm, we had a dolphin escort into the
bay and could see some large rays, either mantas (not sure if they come down
this far) or eagle ray pectoral fins were sticking out the water and then
disappearing.
Anchoring at Quoin Bluff is easy in 2.5-3 metres of water
with good sandy bottom over mud.
Excellent holding. We were about
0.3 NM from shore and landing on the sandy beach was easy, as we kept away from
the landed sea grass to the southern end of the beach.
We went for a short walk ashore on Monday after arriving and
settling in. We found the remnants of a
building and bumped into a couple off a small power boat who pointed out the
remains of the stone Guano jetty which is right in the south corner of the
bay…starting to get munched by sand flies, we retreated to the boat for a
sundowner and to plan what we were going to do during the next few days.
Wonderful restful night in perfect anchoring conditions with
very little light winds from the south and no swell. The following day we had morning coffee on
ours and then headed to shore where we began a long trek along the beach and
then up the bluff. From here we could
see the beautiful but shallow waters of
the bay which houses Egg island.
Stunning views across both bays from the top of the Bluff.
We reached the edge, taking care not to treat on any
overhangs that might give way. As we
stared down into the crystal clear waters from the top of the bluff, Mike made
the comment…”well this is supposed to be Shark Bay and we haven’t seen any
sharks!’ A few minutes later as if on
cue and much to our delight.…one came swimming along the shore line. Nick got some excellent photos of it and
several other sharks, one of which looked like a tiger and the others may have
been grey reef (pointier noses!), but difficult to tell in the shadows of the
ripples in the water. From our vantage
point on the Bluff, we also saw several large sting rays (appearances in
keeping with eagle rays) and several turtles, one of which looked like a large
leatherback. A huge sea eagle soared
overhead and we spotted 2 massive nests on the cliff face.
Our walk took about 4 hours and we returned to the boats
hungry and headed over to DS for some pancakes…as they had loads of pancake
mixes left, which had to be eaten.
Planned to take off at lunch time. Back to our boat for a well earned rest and
watched a video before crashing for the night.
We had another wonderful night in perfect conditions with a tiny
easterly breeze and no swell. Following
morning after brekkie, we motored across to the end of the bluff in the dinghy
and drifted back towards the shore from there.
Hoping to see some more sea life close up (especially the sharks). We were rewarded with huge numbers of sting
rays, both eagle rays and blue spotted rays, turtles….and one tiny shark about
75cm long.. The sea eagle circled
overhead. still cant complain.
Left Quoin Bluff at midday on our way to Geraldton. I have to say it has been one of Mikes and my
favourite places. Restful nights and
lots of interaction with the sea life Mike even saw the tail of what he thought was
a Dugong on the way out of Quoin bluff.
It is so calm today that I am able to write this as I am going along. This is a first for me…I normally get very
seasick even looking at a book. So I am
quite chuffed at this achievement! J
We now have a 40 hour sail to Gero in light winds with
minimal swell, so shouldn’t hopefully be too bad, even if it is 2 overnighters. We will be keeping in close company with DS
and have arranged pens for when we get there with the DPI (who have been very
good BTW)…so can rest up then before our onward journey south to Dennison and
the cold weather. BRRRRRRR! (not looking forward to that)