Winds SE  10 – 15 knts sunny  HT 7:00 am

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A paddleboard over the coral started the day off for me, I didn’t take Morgan as she would think we were going ashore and would be disappointed.

The coral was very average, some plate and anabranch corals had some colour but a lot was dead near the shore. Some of the soft corals were pretty. I think the coral close in takes a beating from the swell as Pinnacle Bay not as protected as some of the other bays.

After a delicious breakfast of fish with onion, garlic, pepper cream sauce cooked by my seafood chef we lowered the waterproof camera down below the boat.

 

The coral colours down deep were quite spectacular with brilliant oranges and the fish were plentiful, obviously out deeper the coral is in good condition. The camera cable is 18mts long and we were lowering it to 14 metres. The bottom was uneven so we had to be careful the camera didn’t hit the coral as the boat was swinging with the current and a slight breeze.

The Whitehaven express arrived to disgorge 40 people for a snorkel and suddenly our quite anchorage was full of shrieks and squeals. The boat comes daily from Airlie and takes tourists to three destinations, Pinnacle or Manta Ray Bay, Hill inlet and Whitehaven Beach. A good way to have a quick look at the Whitsundays.

We departed about 10:30 and sailed round the top of Hook towards Airlie then tacked back to Hook passage. We dropped the sails after passing through the passage as the wind was on the nose. John put the lure out and caught another Tuna mac, when will we catch something different?

We motored south to Peter Bay ( I’ve renamed it Dad’s Bay, he would have liked it here), and anchored in roughly the same spot as before in 7 metres water.

We put the lines out and fish were on the bite as soon as the bait hit the bottom. We caught quite a variety with some large fish to keep. John was very excited when he hauled in his favourite fish a Red Emperor, he has been waiting a while to catch one.

Predominantly we caught Sweetlip and yellow finned bream, the latter being to small for the pan so they were thrown back. A couple of very large fish broke us off.

As it was Sunday we had a  chicken, pumpkin and potatoes roasting on the barbie . I was happy to cook dinner and fish at the same time as the barbie is on the back deck.

A game of scrabble after dinner with an unusual result as I won, I think I just got lucky.