Island Hop Stop #4 - Boat Port, Lindeman Island, Queensland, Australia
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Fri 21 May 2010 05:09
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20:25.713S 149:01.749E
Another day, another island. Imagine
that.
May 14th, we had another marvelous, mostly downwind
sail under a clear sky 12ish miles to Lindeman Island where we stayed three
nights to rest up from island hopping. Ok, not really. We stayed
three nights because it was a nice place to be (not that the others weren't),
and there were good walking trails. Good walking trails are essential for
the island hopping boater. Especially for island hopping boaters that
haven't been in swimming since they were in New Caledonia last October.
Some form of exercise is important so our legs don't become squishy and
squid-like. Unfortunately, our trip through the South Pacific has spoiled
us for life when it comes to swimming. Our swimming criteria now requires
that the air temperature be no less than 85 degrees and the humidity no less
than 75%. The wind must be light, the water completely crystal clear and
warm, and the nearby coral reefs brimming with fish and generally
fabulous. This from two people who used to swim in freezing cold,
murky brown Sodus Bay on Lake Ontario and call it fun. There's good reason
for our snobbish swimming criteria here in Australia though. There are
lots of critters in Australian waters that are best seen in clear water - like
poisonous jellyfish, sharks and crocodiles. If the water isn't clear, it
doesn't make sense to go swimming. There are no crocodiles around the
islands - they prefer the mangrove mud flats along the mainland coast. The
sharks around here probably aren't any worse than the not-too-scary reef sharks
we've seen throughout the Pacific, but the jellyfish are something to worry
about. There are two poisonous varieties, one called the box jellyfish,
which are large and easy to spot, the other variety is tiny and almost
impossible to see. Both hang around in Australian waters only during
certain times of the year. We are in the tail end of the poisonous
jellyfish season, but we're not feeling like we need to test the waters just
yet. Besides, it's not warm enough for us and all the recent rain has made
the water a little murky. So, walking it is.
Picture 1 - Boat Port Beach at high tide (a
departure from the monotonous low tide pictures you've been served of
late). As you can see, our dinghy is alive and well.
Picture 2 - Butterflies. We thought there
were a lot of butterflies on Great Keppel Island. Nope. Lindeman
Island is the blue butterfly capital. All the blurry blue smudges are
butterflies. They were amazing.
Picture 3 - A blue butterfly close-up.
Picture 4 - A sulfur-crested cockatoo in
flight.
Picture 5 - One of the Australian favorites - the
kookaburra. The early explorers named it the laughing jackass (as in
donkey) because that is exactly what it's call sounds
like. Kookaburras usually travel in pairs and their laughing jackass
calls reverberate through the forest ricocheting off the trees and rocks.
It always makes us stop and listen. It's rare to see one close up, so we
were happy to get at least one semi-blurry picture.
Picture 6 - It seemed like a good time for a sunset
picture. It's been a while, hasn't it? The sunsets have been
extraordinary lately so prepare yourself for the possibility of many
tropical sunset pictures in your future.
Anne
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