Diamond Islets - Fishing

After we left Central Diamond Islet our fishing luck changed dramatically. The shoals between Central and West Diamond proved to be a fishing mecca - even for those of us that simply throw a line out while sailing to their next destination...

Our first catch that afternoon was 1.3 m reef shark - he went back into the sea after a bit of delicate work removing the hooks from his jaws.

Then we finally caught something worthwhile - a 0.94 m Dogtooth Tuna. This one wanted to go back to the sea, but he was definitely staying with us!

 As we sailed past West Diamond we also caught a 0.8 m Green Job Fish.

After filleting the fish we had filled three large boxes (about 2 kg each) with delicious dinners....that's a whole lotta fish (Nick had the audacity to complain about how much food we now had...and that his fridge was overflowing!!).

We all agreed that we did not need anymore for a while so the fishing lines were stowed at 14:30 and we continued our journey to the Herald Cays overnight. Eric has now started calling Dad the 'Master Fisher' following the theme from the Lego movie of 'Master Builders'!

Central Diamond Islet

We departed East Diamond Islet on 5 September to explore Central Diamond Islet with an idea of staying overnight if the anchorage was good or moving on to the Herald Cays about 110 nautical miles further NW if it was not.

As it turned out the anchorage at Central Diamond was fairly average - exposed to the sea and deep (18 to 20m) with lots of coral and only small patches of sand. We eventually found a spot to anchor in about 19m and hit a nice sand patch so we went ashore for a few hours.

Central Diamond Islet felt rather isolated with less birdlife than East Diamond Islet and fewer shells, but we still had plenty of fun on the walk around the sand cay.

The kids enjoyed the cay and the unusually friendly Moray Eel…

After lunch we carefully pulled up the anchor and departed for the Herald Cays via West Diamond Islet. The conditions were nice (10-15 knot SE winds) and Lucey Blue sailed happily along at 6.5 to 7.5 knots without the code zero or spinnaker...

Mariner Drone video of our catamaran at East Diamond Islet in the Coral Sea...

We love the isolated coral cays in the Coral Sea - amazing colours, incredible underwater visibility, abundant bird life and patches of spectacular coral.

This low-resolution video does not do East Diamond Islet or the GoPro Hero 4 camera justice, but on a small bandwidth connection it is the best we can upload at the moment.

Enjoy...

East Diamond Islet - Bird life...

The bird life on East Diamond Islet is amazing and the red Hermit Crabs are cool too...

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East Diamond Islet - Snorkelling...

Well much as we love East Diamond Islet - fantastic anchorage, great bird life and crystal clear water - the reef system appears to be under stress. The majority of the reef has been severely damaged by recent cyclones and there are places where there is simply no living coral and very few fish. After much searching we found life in the patches behind the sand cay - even a turtle or two. Hopefully the reef will return to it's former glory in the coming years...

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East Diamond Islet, Coral Sea.....a long way from anywhere!

....Helllllllooooooooooooooooooooo, Hellllllooooooooooooooooo. Is there anybody out there? Strangest feeling bobbing about off a small island in the middle of the Coral Sea....just us and the Boobies, Terns and Frigate Birds...oh, and the SHARKS!

I (Sam) keep scanning the horizon for signs of human life...but apart from the odd container ship which passed us far to the East earlier in the week, we've seen nothing. No one at all! Feels a bit 'Waterworld' to me. This said, I did nearly fall off the back of the boat about 10 minutes ago when our first small plane flew past (again, well to the East, but still...it was a plane)! De plane, De plane! :) I'd like to think there were real live people in it too. I wish they'd come over to say hi!!

We've been playing with the drone today, which helps show what a truly amazing place this is. The colours defy description. It looks like Lucey Blue is levitating above the water. We are anchored in 10 metres here, and the bottom is clearly visible (and so are the SHARKS)! They are only little reef sharks, and we've only seen seven at once....so it's not a huge problem, but when signs of life are few and far between...it'd be nice if they comprised something a tad more cuddly...if you know what I mean? Dolphins would be nice!

Anyway, I'm rambling....call it cabin fever. We are getting ready to go ashore and take photos of Hermit Crabs. Missing the world, but enjoying the serenity.

Over and out!
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East Diamond Islet - Fishing...

Well our fishing luck has not improved! After a morning looking for fish all Nick brought back was a Barracuda to show the kids. Right size, but wrong fish so we let him go. Fingers crossed for something better tomorrow...

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East Diamond Islet - An afternoon stroll...

We decided to take a quick afternoon stroll along the beach and there looks like there will be plenty to explore for the next week or so...
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We've arrived at beautiful East Diamond Islet...

After leaving Airlie on Saturday morning, we made it out to Knuckle Reef where we spent the night. We left Knuckle at about 8:30 am on Sunday and motor-sailed through Sunday night, reaching East Diamond Islet at midday today (Monday).

The colours here are simply unbelievable. The water is clear, even when it's 20+m deep. The cay is huge, and looks to be full of birds...we could film a Hitchcock movie here, no worries. We even had three stowaways en-route last night...three birds simply landed on our decks and proceeded to go to sleep. This morning at sun-up they promptly left, without paying their bill, and each left a large guano mess behind!! Given the number of birds on this small cay...we are expecting more of them to visit this evening...we will be scrubbing the decks for days to come!

We caught three fish along the way. Three smallish Mackerel Tuna, and we threw them back (they are only two star eating). Despite circling the cay this morning, with two lines out, we caught nothing more. We are hoping that one day soon a beautiful Spanish Mackerel will be tempted by our lures! In the mean time, we will be eating sausages!

There is no one else out here, it feels like we have the entire Coral Sea to ourselves!

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