Some colourful staghorn coral off Thomas Island.

The A Frame on Middle Percy Island is filled with mementos from passing cruisers. Sheepy engraved our names on the broken dinghie paddle ( a casualty of our captain's encounter with a large Spanish Mackeral) and hoisted it up onto the roof . I also managed to leave my water bottle. Hopefully , in years to come I can retrieve it.

One turquoise beach after another!

The trip went from Gladstone to the mouth of the Fitzroy River, Great Keppel Island , Pearl Bay, The Percy Islands, Mackay, Wigton and Prudhoe Islands , Thomas Island and Hamilton Island.

Tides of 4m made for interesting currents and thoughtful anchoring.

Did quite a bit of snorkelling hoping to outsmart the Irukanji with my wetsuit until I realized that any Irukanji trapped inside my wetsuit would be mighty angry.

The view at dusk from the lookout at North Keppel Island NP.

Here is just another fabulous sunset with the foredeck crew about to drop the pick. in anothe beautifully sheltered anchorage.

Whtisunday Adventure

The last 2 weeks I (Sue ) did a "mile-catcher" with Sunsail to increase my experience.

The Whitsunday sailing adventure was supposed to be an arduous slog for which I had brought wet weather gear , beanie and polar fleece but if you bring all that stuff ..well ..you dont get to use it. It was hot and downwind 15-20kt which required the iron headsail to get it up to a respectable speed. The most onerous aspect of the whole trip was trying not to keep up with my fellow crew members sundowners. The second challenge was not to be stung by the lethal Irukanji jelly fish.

The boat was named "Girofle" (? a bunch of cloves or a town on the French island of Reunion) was a Jeanneau 45 and the skipper Joel, and second in command Mark and the supernumerary Sheepy taught us well so that we got to where we intended and anchored securely even after dark. We were intending to sail from Hervey Bay but the trip South was truncated by awful weather sothat we boarded her at Gladstone but still managed to get the 300 miles sailing experince necessary for the Coastal Skipper qualifications.