Position: 20 06.17 S 148 54.31 E
Moored Stonehaven Anchorage, Hook Island
Wind: S F3-4 - gentle to moderate breeze (gusty)
Sea: slight Swell: SW < 0.5 m
Weather sunny, warm
Day's run: 11 nm

We arrived at our planned anchorage at 1710 with plenty of daylight to spare though in order to do so we had to make the occasional use of the motor with the wind light and variable for much of the afternoon. On approaching Homestead Bay I spied a buoy at its entrance. I assumed it might be indicating a speed restriction but on closer inspection it was marked with shark and no swimming symbols. While I was pretty confident the risk would have been minimal I opted for prudence rather than valour, and decided to seek an alternative bay to scrub Sylph's bottom in the morning.

Having studied David Colfelt's "100 Magic Miles" overnight, which covers the Whitsunday Islands in detail, I opted for Stonehaven Anchorage on the west side of Hook Island which was only ten miles from Cid Island, downwind, and Colfelt had some snorkelling symbols on his diagrams so I thought it was unlikely to have a shark problem.

At 1020 this morning I hoisted the mainsail and cranked in the anchor, Sylph falling off onto the port tack and sailing out of the bay without the aid of the engine. We were soon heading downhill, running wing-on-wing back north towards Hook Island. It was a pleasant sail and two hours later I started the engine, handed sail and picked up a public mooring at the southern end of Stonehaven Anchorage. However, after rolling and pitching about for an hour, the idea of trying to scrub Sylph's hull with her gyrating unpredictably above me was not at all appealing. Investigating the north of the bay with the binoculars, I concluded that the moorings further inside the bay might be more comfortable. So, at 1410 I slipped the mooring and motored half a mile along the shore line to pick up another mooring that had a little more protection from the swell.

Since then I have donned my light wet suit, snorkel and mask and been over the side to give the hull a scrub. I was disappointed to find the state of Sylph's bottom worse than I was hoping, with numerous small barnacles firmly attached to most of the hull. I used a plastic egg slide to remove about a fifth of them before giving up for the remainder of the day, with the thought of attempting to remove the remainder of the encrustations with the aid of the hooker gear in the morning.

It has only been twelve months since I had Sylph out of the water for a bottom scrub and a couple of coats of anti-fouling paint for last year's Sydney to Hobart race. Given that the anti-fouling I used is supposed to last up to three years, I was expecting not to need to haul Sylph out again for at least another six months, but it seems I am going to have to haul her out much sooner. Either that or I am going to have to do a lot of swimming and scrubbing. Certainly there could be worse places in the world to be if one has to do a lot of swimming.

All is well.