Lovely Lady

Wendy and I first came to Lady Musgrave Island as a day trip on our honeymoon in 1992. We said then that we would bring our own boat back one day and this is our second visit since. It really is a beautiful place, though I didn't think so when the weather turned nasty(more on that later). There is a cay surrounded by a big lagoon and clear, clear water.

We have sailed every day since leaving Brisbane to get here and overnight from Fraser Island, 100 miles to the south. A morning start seen us leaving with an outgoing tide through the Sandy Straights before the wind picked up and we could stop the motor. A memorable sail in the lee of Fraser Island in about 10 knots saw us plodding along at 4 knots on a flat sea. As the sun was setting the fishing rod started to scream. I picked it up and pulled in some drag, still running. A little more drag slowed it a bit but there was still a lot of weight there, I dared not to tighten it anymore. Daniel was keen to land this one but he was still in the bad books for loosing a big one off Noosa. I really wanted to bring this one in but somehow found some selflessness in me to pass him the rod. He done well and brought a 110cm Spanish Mackerel along side the boat after about 20 minutes. Probably the best table fish there is, I cleaned and filleted this beautiful fish and shallow fried about a sixth of it for tea and put the rest in the fridge for another 4 or 5 meals. A great end to a great day. The wind stayed with us until about 1am, so we started the motor again to get us the last 25 miles.

bottom of that rod is pushed in pretty hard, I don't think he felt it

trying to see some colour

Amy trying to help

A beauty



Happy boy

I get stuck cleaning it

We arrived at the lagoon at 7:00am and went through the channel markers and dropped anchor. After breaky we jumped over the side and brushed the antifoul under the boat. She had heaps of scum and slim stuck to her from being in the rivers at Newcastle and Brisbane. One thing we noticed was the amount of remoras or sucker fish. As soon as you threw any food scraps over the side about half a dozen of them would shoot out from under the boat and devour all traces of it. They usually attach themselves to sharks, we were hoping they were not around as well.

Entrance into the lagoon

Cleaning the hull



Where are your shark friends?

Later on we went to the reef and done some snorkeling. There were dozens of turtles. They are Green Turtles and Daniel tried for a couple of hours to catch up to one for a ride. He was surprised when he seen how fast they can swim. It is the time of year that the babies hatch from the sand and that night we went to the island in the hope that we would see some. After about 2 hours we gave up, there was lightning in the distance and a storm approaching.

Amy ready for fun

Looking for turtles



Shearwater chicks are abandon by there parents at this time to survive on their fat reserves

No turtles but these geckos somehow got to the island

The storm had us a little excited. The lagoon is large and seas can build up inside. As the wind picked up I let out more chain, 50m in total. We are in 7m of water so the scope ratio is 7 times the depth, the higher the better, you would normally have 5 times your depth. The wind picked up more and the chart plotter showed us to be moving, I thought we were dragging so I started the motor. Wind now gusting at 38 knots or about 70km per hour. Waves were hitting the boat and spray was hitting the windscreen hard, the boat was not moving anymore, I think the catenary had gone out of the chain, it would have been bar tight. The boat in front of us lost something over the side and a flashing light was head toward us. We shone the big spotlight on it and it was a life ring, luckily nobody inside it, though we don't know what we could have done if there was. After about 20 minutes it was all over and all was calm. In the morning we could see that one of our neighbours had dragged anchor about 300m. There is only one narrow entry and it can not be navigated in the dark so once the sun goes down you take what you get and hope it's not too bad. They say that hell knows know fury like a lady scorned, I don't if we upset her but I don't want to see this lady in a really bad mood.

Next morning the forecast was for a chance of thunderstorms. We left for the mainland.