Lady Musgrave - New friends with new stories and new toys...

Radha and Pam from Sesha came to visit one afternoon and a new friendship was quickly formed. Eric ran the boat tours and ensured there was always plenty of nibbles and small talk for our guests.

We spent the next few days snorkeling and exploring the island together. Radha even setup his dinghy so the kids could go sailing one morning which provided plenty of fun for all.

Thanks for the good times, the pancakes and the awesome wood carving...

You guys really know how to declutter and enjoy the small footprint life!

Lady Musgrave - Turtle nesting season...

The first night we made it ashore we found a large Green Turtle laying her eggs in the sand surrounded by a small group of school students who were camped on the island.

We missed the turtle coming up the beach and digging her nest, but we stayed with her until she had finished laying and was on her way back down to the waters edge.

Eric enjoyed the show and even managed to stay quite for an hour or so. He was getting a little tired by the end, but he woke up rather quickly at one point to asked loudly why the turtle was flicking sand at him!

Emily and Ryan's own experience in 2011 had taught them to stand back after a turtle stops laying her eggs. I wonder if Eric will remember for next time?

Lady Musgrave - Just hanging around...

When not diving we spent our time split between turtle watching, visiting the island and thinking up new ways to cool off. Probably the most enjoyable solution we found for the latter problem was leaping off the boom into the crystal clear waters of the lagoon...

Lady Musgrave underwater life - Another day another adventure...

We spent over a week at Lady Musgrave on our way south and each day we hit the water in a new location to explore the reef and interact with the local inhabitants.

Eric made the transition to deep water snorkeling during our stay and despite his limited swimming ability the extra buoyancy of his wetsuit gave him wings.

There is awalys a lot to see at Lady Musgrave and during our visit we found a large Moray Eel which we called Eddy!

We also found some cool Nudibranchs, several fish that liked the security of small shells and a couple of musical Yellow Flute Mouth...

One afternoon we also found a mystery monster fish (prehaps a false Stonefish) and the remains of someone else’s misadventure - the rudder of a small yacht that had obviously run aground on reef near the lagoon entrance.

Ryan is always eager to explore so near the end of our stay we decided to swim over the edge of the outer reef wall where Ryan entered the surf zone and saw several turtles and fish surfing the ocean currents...

Thanks Lady Musgrave!

Hoskyn Island - Swimming with dolphins...

A pod of dolphins played around Lucey Blue as we motored into the lee of Hoskyn Island to anchor in a small sand patch. The sea conditions were perfect for an exposed anchorage and we decided to go for a snorkel along the reef wall. The water was amazingly clear, the coral diverse and complex, the fish were friendly and to our amazement the dolphins that had played around our bows returned while we were swimming.

We have never swum with dolphins before and it was a great experience. The dolphins only stayed for a short while, but we heard them talking to each other and we managed to get a grainy underwater photograph or two!

Unfortunately Hoskyn Island is not a great place to stay overnight night so we departed in the late afternoon to a secure anchorage in the sandy lagoon of Lady Musgrave just eight nautical miles further south...

Middle Percy to Hoskyn Island...

We left Middle Percy Island at 0730 on 10 November. West Bay was empty after our departure - everyone else had moved around to Escape Bay the night before due to the arrival of gentle Northerly winds.

The conditions were light during the morning and we sailed under spinnaker and full main with a number of other yachts - including Nimrod and Duet. By late afternoon we lowered the spinnaker and hoisted the code zero. Lucey Blue was still sailing nicely at 8-9 knots, but before dusk we lowered the code zero and reefed the mainsail as thunderstorms were predicted along the coast and we wanted to time our arrival to coincide with high tide.

At around midnight with low cloud, no moon and storms along the coast we sailed between Mast Head Island and Erskine Island. There appeared to be five to six yachts anchored in the lagoon at Fitzroy Reef when we sailed past and as we approached Hoskyn Island we watched  - on our AIS - more than eight boats leave Lady Musgrave. The outer reef was amazingly busy, but our destination looked peaceful enough...

Lady Musgrave - A departing gift 'Whales off the port bow'

We left Lady Musgrave an hour before high tide on the morning of 3 August. As soon as we had motored out of the lagoon a pod of three humpback whales swam leisurely past the boat within metres!

Just minutes later there were another two or three whales off our port side, leaping and frolicking in the water.

We watched them for about an hour or so before setting course for Percy Island approximately 180 nautical miles to the north. The kids enjoyed the whales and had fun in the sailbag for another few hours...

Lady Musgrave - Our last days this time around...

We spent the last few days at Lady Musgrave in perfect conditions - virtually zero wind, glassy seas, warm sun and plenty of blue sky.

Sam went kayaking most mornings around the sand cay, occasionally climbed the mast to 'check things out', continued to cook delicious delights and entertained the crew with some radical dance routines.

After school - usually by about 0945 each morning as the kids were keen to complete their work - we would explore the lagoon or island.

Emily broke her fishing drought with two beautiful (if tiny) Doubleline Fusiliers and spent time baking and working on her clothing design skills.

More often than not someone would take Dad out snorklling at least once a day to make sure he remained happy and on one occasion Emily found the remains of a huge Helmet shell.

Several yachts entered the lagoon as the condtions improved and we spent a pleasant night aboard Giselle - another Middle Harbour yacht and one also fitted with Scott Sails!

The sunsets capped off perfect days, but as time ticked by we kept an eye on the weather and planned our departure for the north.

Lady Musgrave - Eric learns to snorkel...

Eric wants to be involved in all the activities aboard Lucey Blue and while he loved his underwater spy glass and scenic kayak tours he was desperate to be in the water. The only problem is he is still learning how to swim!

While this fact was a minor obstacle to Eric's aquatic ambitions we decided to take him out to the turtle pool and see if he could use his new googles and snorkel with support from Mum and Dad.

We suited Eric up in a full wetsuit and took the plunge. Eric was like a baby koala latched onto our backs while looking over our shoulders to see underwater.

Eric was so excited. He was wiggling, pointing, jumping up and down, exclaiming and carrying out lengthy monologues with his snorkel in his mouth! Who said you can't talk underwater?

Eric was in seventh heaven looking at turtles, fish, seahorses and starfish, but he eventually got cold and started to turn blue so despite his protests we headed back to the boat for warm showers.

Nick took Eric with Emily and Ryan out the next day to a shallow section of the lagoon and took the next step. With a lot of words of encouragement and support, a pair of blue fins and an extra wetsuit for added warmth and flotation Eric was away.

The look in his big wide eyes as he realised that he could swim and even snorkel is one that Nick will never forget - apprehension, doubt, confusion, amazement and then finally pure joy. There was a lot of cheering as Eric waddled along through the water half dog paddle, half moonwalk.

Eric swam by himself for over forty minutes that day at Lady Musgrave. He was so proud to be able to share his own special treasures with Emily and Ryan just as they had with him on our earlier adventures. He would swim this way and that, stop and point to share his excitment and when required tug on someones wetsuit to get them to see what he had found!

Emily and Ryan shared in Eric's joy. But on the way back Emily told us all that it was not fair that Eric had learnt to swim at Lady Musgrave given she had to learn in a "normal pool''. We all laughed while shivering on the dinghy ride back to Lucey Blue.

Eric then explained his swimming adventure to Mum and asked why his hands had gone wrinkled or as he said "all donkerly". Our youngest duck is growing up fast...