Monday 19th April (Lini's Journal)
Brindabella's Web Diary
Simon Williams
Thu 22 Apr 2010 22:13
Si had bought us a day permit to moor and snorkel in the marine park
on the islands and reefs which promise fantastic sights. The weather
had other plans for us however and we had 21knots of wind as an hour
later we motored slowly towards a buoy in very bumpy seas. Standing on
the foredeck with boat hook in my hand I felt like I was at an
impossible fair ground game: Roll up- roll up; Thread a needle on a
trampoline and win a day of underwater fun! There was no way I could
thread my line through that eye in such bouncy water and we set a
course for Dog Island an hour or so further out hoping things would
calm by then. They didn’t and even before we entered the deserted bay
we knew we would not have a whole island to ourselves to explore as
the pilot book suggested.
It was a long beat to windward back to Little Bay but at least we’d
had a good sail today. We arrived at 2.15pm and picked up a mooring
buoy: Anchoring is strictly forbidden in the marine park. The wind and
seas had now calmed so at least we were able to snorkel round the
rocks which although not so spectacular in colour provided different
amazing experiences. As we snorkelled around some large detached rocks
off the rocky cliffs, thousands of silver fish flowed out around us.
Each different shoal had different sized fish from a couple of
centimetres up to fifteen and all seemed oblivious to our presence.
Wow! Back on Brindabella we saw two huge barracuda swim under the boat
then relaxed taking in the wonderful cliffs in vastly ranging colours
with deeps caves and nests of shearwaters, pelicans and terns. How can
a camera capture so much? With the sun now sinking and the marine
parks off limits after 7pm we motored round the headland into Crocus
Bay for night.