Position: 20 02.38 S 148 26.62 E
At anchor Bona Bay
Wind: SE F3 - gentle breeze
Sea: rippled Swell: nil
Weather sunny, warm
Day's run: 55 meters

We enjoyed a peaceful night at anchor with the wind dying off in the evening. However, this morning the wind came in from the SW making for a lee shore and a slight chop. I presume it was a morning land breeze for it soon died out, returning to calm before the regular gradient SE wind kicked in again. Despite having the island to windward of us, a small sea was coming up from the south and we were bobbing around a bit. As I wanted to try to give the hull a clean, preferably without Sylph threatening to bonk me on the head, I decided to weigh and shift anchor a short way to the south to tuck in a bit more closely under Bluff Point where it looked a bit calmer.

So, at 1040 I started the engine and cranked the anchor chain in, then motored about 500 meters to the south where I dropped anchor again. Despite only being a short distance the move has made a significant difference with the seas being a lot flatter.

Once settled I broke out the hooker gear. But before jumping in the water my thoughts turned to all the tropical nasties that might be waiting for me in the water. I tried to reassure myself by looking online to see whether there were any particular issues with Gloucester Island and Edgecombe Bay, the broader bay in which Nora Bay is situated. Unfortunately, my research did little to comfort me. The list of potentially dangerous aquatic creatures in this part of the world is quite long; specifically, bull and tiger sharks, salt water crocodiles, blue-ringed octupus, and box and Irukandji jellyfish - most of which can kill you in a matter of minutes. I gave myself a good pep talk, noting that I would be wearing a full light-weight wet suit to protect myself from stingers (and it wasn't stinger season yet), that crocodiles don't generally sneak up on one in the middle of the day, and the likelihood of any sharks being nearby would be remote.

So, coward that I am, I eased myself in the water, donned mask, fins and breathing gear and ducked under the hull to start scraping. It did not take me long to come to the conclusion that a simple bottom scrub was not going to suffice. The bottom was completely covered in small barnacles and there were some large ones growing in various nooks in the hull. The anti-fouling paint had clearly come to the end of its useful life and we were going to have haul out as soon as practical. I spent a short time in the milky water (visibility was only about two meters which did not add to my general equanimity), scraped a small patch of barnacles off, and a few large ones off the prop shaft before returning on deck to clean up and restow the dive gear.

Fortunately, sailing downwind with a fresh breeze behind us means that Sylph's sailing performance is only marginally affected by the growth at this stage, and she seems to be sailing to windward okay as well. A friend (Ada) is joining Sylph in Townsville for a bit of a sail so I don't want to undertake a haul-out before then. My thoughts are to continue to give the hull a scrub when conditions permit (better visibility would be nice), maybe with Ada's help when she gets here, and look to booking a haul out after she leaves, perhaps in Cairns or back in Townsville.

All is well.