Wednesday 20th June 2018

We left Hayman Island this morning at 8am, ‘sailing’ not motoring, so all were happy about that.  The weather is lovely, sunny, blue skies, but quite cold;  as usual I’m the only one in a t-shirt, everyone else has fleece’s and long pants.

We’re heading for Magnetic Island, doubtful we’ll make it today, so an overnight stop in Upstart Bay may be on the cards. 

As we left this morning we were graced with a visit from a small pod of  about 12 dolphins, mostly juvenile.  They swam with us for about 10 minutes while Lesley and I stood on the bow watching and cheering as they leapt high into the air;  there can be no doubt that these are fun loving happy creatures.

Thursday 21st June 2018

So, as it would turn out we didn’t stop overnight, our Captain decided we would slow down, head out a bit and keep going all through the  night so we could arrive at Horseshoe Bay early this morning.  It was a pretty rolly night, no one got much sleep, there were a few issues with wind change, and a few frayed tempers, OH well, all’s well that ends well, and we arrived tired but safely this morning.

After lunch we all headed ashore to explore. Magnetic Island is famous for its wild Koala’s, and we were told if we hiked up to the fort through the forest we would most likely see some.

The hike was steep (for me) and in total we walked about 3 miles, but the views were spectacular, we saw wild Koala’s sleeping and feeding, along with some pretty spectacular birds.

We had an ice cream (as you do) on the beach before we headed back to True  Blue for a dinner of coconut breaded Spanish Mackerel, caught by Stuart yesterday. 

It was quite a magnificent catch, the Mackerel was 57” long and gave us enough fish to fill the freezer and keep us all fed for quite a few meals…