Turtles, whales and dolphins

After leaving Mackay on Friday we sailed to Keswick and St Bees Islands, and spent two days in an anchorage between the two islands. The water was clear and the coral gave us a taste of what is to come, but the weather could only be described as bizarre. The cloud base sat below 1000 ft (and often much less) for four days, and brought with it some rain and drizzle. Visibility on the open water was down to a couple of miles at stages. Heather suggested that if the sun was shining it would be a spectacular anchorage, so it is on our list of places to drop back into on the way south.

Refuge Bay, Scawfell Island

On Sunday, with no wind and a dead calm sea, we motored to Scawfell Island and spent two days anchored in Refuge Bay. As we sailed in to the bay we saw several turtles. It was more of the same weather wise, but the kids were not deterred and they are spending more and more time in the water. Today we sailed across to Brampton Island, and tomorrow we will have a quick look around before continuing north to the Smith Island Group where we will anchor at Goldsmith Island.


On the way to Scawfell Island, and then again today, we were lucky enough to see more whales. The first encounter was a mother and calf swimming slowly north. Today's was another mother and calf, but the rougher conditions encouraged the calf to show off and demonstrate how it could jump out of the water. We have had a few other times when we have seen whales leaping at a distance, but these two came close enough to us to let us get some photos and video. After leaving the whales this morning, we were escorted by a small pod of dolphins who spent about 40 minutes playing around us and leaping in front of the bow as we sailed to Brampton Island. It has been a good few days for animal encounters!