The tides were good to take Lazuli out for another short weekend overnight trip: we could leave around 11am, and return between 12:30 and 4:30 on Sunday afternoon.
My BIL Scott and his sailing partner met us 10am, and we had the boat loaded up with plenty of time to spare before we had enough depth to head out.
Whilst I was off the boat on some important business, the rest of the crew had seen a pod of dolphins swimming nearby in the marina. A good start to the weekend away.
The wind forecast was for 10-15kts SSE, which was perfect for sailing to and anchoring up at Tangalooma. Full sails out for a fun sail across.
I got new jackets and pants for the girls to try and keep them a bit warmer up on deck. They worked pretty well.
There was only two other boats over at the wrecks, maybe they knew something we didn’t? The girls were keen for sips’n’dips on the beach, so we didn’t waste too much time getting the tender in and over to the beach.
The water was lovely and flat, albeit a little chilly. We enjoyed a few nibbles and drinks, and the girls spent the afternoon chasing seagulls and playing in the water.
When ever we stop at wrecks, we need to climb up this hill and take a photo, Kristina suggesting I could frame Lazuli between the trees.
Back on the boat we got to warm up a bit and had a pleasant evening and dinner.
It turns out the other boats did know something we didn’t - the wind swung round SW overnight (it wasn’t on the forecast!) so it was a bit of a bumpy night and morning.
We briefly considered heading down to the sandhills, but it wouldn’t have been any nicer and the girls were keen for more time on the beach here. The ride in was slower and not so dry as the day before.
The girls and I enjoyed a long walk up and back on the beach, with Emma collecting all the little jelly-like sea snail egg sacs she could find.
The clear, jelly-like sacs that you see along Australian beaches are not jellyfish.
They’re actually the egg sacs of predatory sand snails, like the moon snail or conical sand snail. 🐌
If you look closely, each sac contains thousands of tiny little eggs.
Moon snail egg masses usually float near sandy areas, and they often wash up on beaches in the spring.
They easily crumble when handled. These egg masses consist of tiny eggs in a jelly matrix.
The matrix absorbs water and swells to form the distinctive crescent-shaped tube which can be three to five times larger than the snail that laid it.
The egg masses break up in the water after a few days, releasing planktonic larvae from the eggs.
You can read more about them:
- https://www.dolphinresearch.org.au/weekly-creature-feature-do-you-know-what-this-is/
- https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/species/8732
We were nearly ready to head back when Kristie looked up from her book and noticed a whale spout just near our boat. A quick moment of disbelief before the two whales surfaced and continued their swim north through the channel between the sand and the wrecks.
It was going well (for the whales) until some idiot on a jetski (she was working for the hire place) got all excited and started chasing them… the Park Rangers came and had a good word to her afterward.
The whales swam all the way up to where Micat comes in, then turned around and swam all the way back out the deeper channel to the south.
With that excitement over, we got back onboard and had a quick lunch and got ready for to sail home. It was gusting 17kts SE when we left, so we stuck with one reef in and had a comfortable sail home. We saw one more “lost” whale jumping in the bay.
We were tied up just before 3pm, and a quick pack up saw as walking to Morgans for a very early dinner just after 4pm. Dinner done and on the road home by 5.
Stuff that broke this week:
- more stitching on the bimini infill and sail covers.
Lessons learnt:
- Whales do come in to the bay!
- Tangalooma is rubbish when it’s SW winds
- Don’t walk under birds sitting on wires