CLIENT: Remote Islands Voyage
VOYAGE NUMBER: 20220526
FROM: Rosslyn Bay to Mackay
DATE: 30 May 2022
POSITION: St Bees Is
REPORT BY: Red Watch
This morning we woke to a beautiful sunny day to the north of Scawfell Island. There was a light north westerly wind with a moderate swell. The bugle was blown and we leapt up for breakfast. After delicious pancakes we headed for shore.
Due to the swell, the initial plan was to get into the water then climb into the tender. But thankfully that did not happen, we ended up just doing it the standard way. 3 of us swam slowly in and joined the rest on shore. Some headed for the magical butterfly valley. A cool shaded spot with fresh water flowing to the east of the bay. Blue and black butterflies (Blue Tigers), pale creamy ones and odd black and purple one flying and then settling all around. A few brave crew members headed further up the valley till they could look out over South Passage from high up.
On the beach early on were the Beach Stone Curlews then later the Reef Heron, sea eagles and even an osprey swooping repeatedly for fish. We got about a quarter of a bag of rubbish including a selection of sea glass for Heather. Michelle sustained an injury to her right hand while swimming, Libby enjoyed a lie down on a granite boulder. Lea, the mermaid, swam with the fishes. Aqua aerobics and chit chat with Margaret and Libby happened down the western end in the tranquillity of the opalescent water. Some swam back to the boat and then after some synchronised swimming and jumping off the boat we all had burritos and went for a nanna nap.
By 3 pm a plan was hatched to explore the next bay. A turtle or 2 was spotted. The first party donned their life jackets and got safely into the tender, just. They disappeared between waves but returned after 20 min. There was no safe landing with today’s weather. What a shame as the beach looked gorgeous and there was a picnic table waiting for them. But the ride was like going to a fair, up and down, up and down. Captain Phill had an exciting ride in the tender back on board with all the swell.
The decision was made to move our night time location because the unseasonal norwesterly winds were making our position very uncomfortable. Next came a successfully completed emergency drill with anchor drop and retrieval. As we headed out the swell was so big we had spray over the bow of the boat. We had a gorgeous sunset sail over to Keswick and St Bees Island and dropped the sails in calm starry anchorage south of St Bees. The evening and night sailing gave us a brilliant end to an amazing day.