Tuesday 4th November - Cairns Marlin Marina

A few final jobs before we leave - filled up the water and offloaded what rubbish we still had onboard.

Left the marina at 7:40am and started motoring out to Sudbury Cay

It was forecast to be 5kts, but it was gusting 15 on the way out.

Had the line out, and caught some seaweed; we had 3 hits on the lure but nothing stuck :(

Motored through a rain squall before finally grabbing one of the two moorings out at Sudbury Cay.

Lunch.

Hoot was on the way out so we were in contact with them. They’d gone to check out a reef further north but ended up on the other mooring here.

Kristie and I geared up for a snorkel; we saw flat worm, maori wrasse, and 3 large cuttlefish.

Andrew and I both had our spear guns. Andrew got a tusk fish and cuttlefish.

I tried to get a cray with hand spear but just pissed it off and it fled back into the safety of its rock :(

Bride and Andrew were walking around the cay when we were done with our snorkel. We stopped to have a quick chat and organised sip’s ‘n dips.

Back to Lazuli to wash and get dry. We were going to Hoot for dinner (fish and calamari!), so I made up some potatoes to take over and put them in our billy boil.

Got drinks and cheese and headed into the cay with the girls.

Andrew had brought in one of their coconuts and the means to open it up.

Having drinks with friends on a tiny bit of sand in the middle of the ocean is one of the many things we’ve really enjoyed this year. It never gets old.

Dinner on Hoot. Delicious fish, and lots of calamari!

Wednesday 5th

Kristie awake to see the sunrise; the sand cay is quite small and offers very little protection from the swell, so it’s very rolly.

We left at 7am and motored (no wind) to Russell Island. Hoot stayed there to wait for the wind.

Kristie had a nap, and I got in some work while underway.

Arrived at 9:30am and picked up the most northern of the 3 moorings there.

School and more work.

The other boat there left, so we took it’s mooring as it was a bit further down and should protect us from the swell a bit more.

Lunch.

Tender into beach for beach combing.

Found a few shells, and had a good chat with a lady who had just arrived and was spending a week camping on the island.
She suggested that as it was low tide we could walk across to the other headland and there was a track to the top.

With our togs, wetsuit/water shoes on we walked across to the other headland and looked for a path up.
It was a bit of a scramble; and only Kristina and I climbed to the top.
Kristie and Emma got about halfway up, then went back down and made their way back across.

Great view; the wetsuit boots not the most sturdy option for rock climbing.

We all enjoyed a sit in the water to cool down once we were back across and closer to where our tender was.

Bride and Andrew had turned up and were out snorkeling/spearing.

We dropped the girls on Hoot; and with Bride’s permission, Emma set their fish (live bait) free!

Kristie and I went back to Lazuli to get the swim mat to take back to Hoot.

Bride had set up a line running from the front to the back, under the middle of their cat that could then be used for some in-water tight-rope walking.
The girls played on Hoot’s davits/lines for ages.

We made good use of the mat while the girls were playing.

Dropped the girls to Lazuli, gave them dinner, back to Hoot for sips ‘n dips.

Thursday 6th

Left Russell Island at 6:50am, lure in straight away. Hooked a few seaweeds.

Kristie took over while I worked.

No wind, no swell, so we went to check out Eddy Reef. Anchored but even at mid-tide there was too much NE swell for us to stay there.

Brief attempt to sail but not enough wind.

Motored the rest of the way to Goold Island instead.

No fish.

Friday 7th

Woke up at 5:30am with alarm, anchor up by 6am.

Saw some dolphins.

Sailed once we cleared Goold and had a nice run down and around the side of Hinchenbrook Island.

Anchored in the northern section of Zoe Bay to try and get out of the NE swell.

Had a long tender ride into beach; decided to stop about half-way down as the waves crashing on the shore were getting bigger.

Ended up with a 1km walk down the beach: hot and soft sand. Stingrays and shovelnose rays where swimming up and down in the shallows.

Kristie and Emma tried to take a rainforest track (trying to be croc safe) from the beach to the waterfall; they walked for 15min before accepting it may be the wrong track and had to turn around and go down the beach like we did.

Kristina and I hadn’t waited and had got to the falls and had a swim, fed the fish, and 30min later with no Kristie or Emma we started to walk back.
Met them 2min later just after crossing the creek.

Back to the falls for a family swim.

Fed the Perch some more shapes (they don’t appear to be fussy on what sort of shapes!).

We had a swing, and the girls did some “drawing” on the rocks/algae. All four of us had a turn sitting under the waterfall.
There wasn’t as much water coming down as when we’d visited on the way north.

Tender was high and dry when we got back, long and slow struggle to get it down to the water.

On the way up we’d timed our visit so we didn’t have to do this!

Sailed to Orpheus and grabbed a mooring there. Lovely and protected in a NE.

Saturday 8th

7:15am and we were off sailing towards Maggie.

8:10am had a visit from the Water Police. They came alongside while we kept sailing (we were only doing 5kts or so downwind).
They wanted to check the life jackets, flares, v-sheet, rego, EPIRB, and then gave Kristie a breath test.
It’s been a time since I had some “camping coffee” on a weekend morning, but if I did it wouldn’t be before a 47nm sail!

Anchored at Picnic Bay as Horseshoe was too rolly. We quite liked it here. Good protection from NE and very scenic.

Tender into beach to drop Kristie in for shopping.

Kristie took the bus to the marina to drop off the stubby cooler we’d taken from Vellamo, and then to pick up some supplies at the IGA.

Kristie ended up having a chat with Rhythm, there were planning to head off to see the coral spawning.

I brought the girls in to meet Kristie. I sent them both up the road to dump our rubbish!

Dinner at the pub across from the jetty; the girls enjoyed the massive fish tank we were sitting in front of.

Walked out along the pier for the sunset.

Tender back to Lazuli in the twilight.

Sunday 9th

No wind, so motored, with Kristie at the helm while I worked.

Had our trusty red & white lure out and caught a Spotted Mackerel on the way!

Anchored at Cape Bowling Green, which was ok in the NE winds (it’s normally referred to as Cape Rolling Green and is not a pleasant place to be in a SE wind).

Monday 10th

Anchor up at 7am to get out to the SS Yongala (only about 2hr motor away).

Kristie motored while I worked.

We had permits to dive the wreck, but our understanding was you need to book/pay/arrange to use the moorings.

At 8am I called the place that we were under the impression dealt with these, but they didn’t open until 8:30.
Called again but turns out 9am is opening time.

Called at 9am, but their building alarm was going off so they’ll call back.

Nobody called us back, so I called again at 9:30 but the usual person was away so got someone else to call me back.

Arrived at SS Yongala at 9:45am and picked up a mooring. Glassy conditions. Not a breath of wind.

Got a call back at 10am and the guy said it wasn’t them, and he couldn’t find who to call anyway.
Suggested we enjoy the dive and seek forgiveness if we have to ;)

Yongala Dive arrived at 10:10am.

Set up gear, discovered that my primary reg hose was leaking. Replaced that with one of our spares.

Kristie saw a turtle and sea snake on the surface.

Kristie swam our line over to the Diver Access Point (which by this time was much, much closer to their boat than ours!).

I took Kristie and her dive gear over in the Tender. Matt (owner of Yongala Dive) offered to surface watch if we wanted to dive together, so quick gear up by me.

Tied tender to their boat.

Strong currents - 8m viz.

Lots of life. Bull Ray, shovel nose, eels, turtle, cod, Maori Wrasse, nudi, flatworm.

This was my first dive on the wreck, Kristie has been here several times.

Many, many thanks to Matt for doing surface watch so we could dive together. A refreshing change compared to some dive operators that like to think they “own” the site they dive.

Dropped mooring at 12:20. Had another call at 1pm by mooring people but let them know we’d already talked to someone.

Enough wind to sail at 2pm. Anchored at Cape Upstart at 5:30pm.

Tuesday 11th

Alarm at 5am, breakfast on the way.

7am hooked something big.

We’d hooked one of its pectoral fins, so it was swimming in circles.

Took lots of circle work, but eventually after 25min I got my lure back!

Motored until Cape Gloucester, by which time we could sail straight to Airlie.

Arrived at Coral Sea Marina at 5pm. They placed us at the end of the arm.

We had a nice rainbow to welcome us “home”.

We have booked to stay at the marina here for a month.

There are a few boat jobs to do, but our main goal is to get Lazuli tidy and listed for sale before we head south.

We will enjoy making use of all the facilities here.

Thursday 23rd October - Lizard Island

Today we say goodbye to Lizard Island, our home for the last two and a bit weeks.

We’d organised with Hoot that we’d aim to leave at about 8am, and head out to the Cod Hole at the top of Ribbon #10.

We were up early 6am to start getting ready.

During the usual pre-departure checks I found quite a bit of water in the bilge under the engine :(

Once that was gone we were ready! A quick radio call to Hoot confirmed they were ready to head off earlier, so we had the anchor up at heading out 7:30am.

There was a bit of wind, so got around the corner and put the sails up.
The wind was pretty much SE, so we were taking out, heading north of east (not in the right direction!).
Sailed that way for quite a while, before tacking and heading south.
Our tacking angle was probably 110degrees - there was a bit of current heading north.
After 2hrs of sailing, and still 5nm away (upwind!) we dropped sails and motored out. Hoot did the same.

Vellamo had left earlier than us and were smart enough to not try and sail. With their iron headsail up, they were already out there and on the western of the two moorings.

We went to check out the 2nd, however it looked like a yellow mooring (it was in fact a red mooring), however it looked really close to the reef, and there was too much swell coming in for us to be comfortable out here.

Turned around and went to find somewhere to anchor. We ended up about 1nm around the corner in some sand.
Dropped anchor in about 16m, and ended up sitting in about 21m.

Hoot by this time had gone in and taken the mooring (they had offered it to us after discovering it was a red mooring).

Quick Lunch, then getting ready for us all to dive!

Kristie and girls went over in our tender, and Andrew came over in his tender and took the rest of the dive gear and I.

Kristina wanted to say hi to Tora, the cat on Vellamo, so Kristie stopped there to say hi.

It was then time for Kristina and Emma to have a quick dive. They saw a few Cod and enjoyed their dive.
They dived the Cod Hole before I did!

Hoot had offered themselves up as the dive platform.

Kristina and Emma enjoyed swimming and jumping off their cat while we got ready to go for a dive.

Whilst swimming one of the fish liked the look of Kristina’s white and green sock and took a bite of it, and put a hole in it.
(thankfully no toes were bitten!)

All 6 of us adults (Bride and Andrew off Hoot, Traci and Matt off Vellamo, and Kristie and I) then went down for a dive.
Traci had issues with her new mask so they went up to the surface and we kept diving.

Bride and Andrew swam off, so it was just Kristie and I by ourselves for the dive.
We went down to about 24m and found a big cod that was happy (well, it didn’t seem to care!) for a few photos.
Headed back west and up into the shallower sections as the viz dropped off as it got out into the deeper sections.

Visibility would have been about 30m. Excellent coral cover. We saw some of the large Cod this place is named for, as well as an eel, reef sharks, Maori Wrasse, humphead parrotfish.

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 18.1
• Duration: 63min
• Average Depth: 8.7m

Kristie and I then took the dive gear back to Lazuli, leaving the girls on Hoot with Bride and Andrew.

We had a pod of dolphins come up close just as we got back to Lazuli.

I ended up removing more water from the bilge.

Sips ‘n dips on Hoot with Matt and Traci.

We had a huge pod of dolphins swam past, and do some fishing in the channel to the east of us.

It was a long, slow, wet ride back to Lazuli!

Friday 24th

Breakfast while Kristie filled tanks.

Cleaned up bilge and discovered one of the hose clamps on the hose coming out of the raw-water stainer had come off.
I replaced that, hopefully that’s the cause of the water ingress.

Kristie and I geared up and headed over to Hoot, leaving the girls on board Lazuli.

The 4 of us went down (and stayed together this time).
We would have had 40+m vis this dive, and no current.
We went out east and came back along the wall.

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 23.7
• Duration: 72min
• Average Depth: 8.9m

Back to Lazuli for lunch, and Kristie filled more tanks.

I had my friday afternoon client meeting.

Back to Hoot for more diving. Vellamo were hosting drinks this afternoon, so we took all our supplies with us.

Kristie went for a dive with Andrew and Matt, while the girls, Bride, and I snorkeled.

The visibility was still amazing, so we could snorkel above them and watch for a bit.

A very friendly cod came up at the start of the dive and hung around for a bit, posing for photos.

We enjoyed our snorkel, checking out the wall in front of Hoot.
We were still in the water when the divers came back, so Emma and I followed them. Emma enjoyed playing with the air bubbles as they came up!

Once dry, we all converged on Vellamo for the afternoon. The girls were down stairs watching their iPads, with Tora the cat keeping a close eye on them.

Enjoyed our drinks and nibbles, then we all got to enjoy Traci’s famous sunset cocktail - grapefruit and vodka.

Had another pod of dolphins swim past.

Back to Lazuli for dinner.

Saturday 25th

Breakfast, and then Kristie filled tanks.

I had a look through the back lazarette to see if I could spot anything else that might be the cause of water ingress (there wasn’t any new water in).

Vellamo and Hoot left before us, both wanting more time at Lizard Island.
We were off motoring at 8am.

Autopilot on the entire way, which gave me time to work on the previous blog.

We arrived at bottom of #10, and dropped anchor in about 6m of water at 11:30am. 1 minute later the first of the seabirds landed on Lazuli.

It was just over 14nm from our spot at the top of #10 to where we stopped at the bottom.

No water intake!

Lunch.

Kristie dived on one of the random bommies out the back.

Visibility was only about 5m, and it wasn’t long before she was back on the tender after getting buzzed by a cranky reef shark.

Family snorkel on one of the shallower reefs in close.

We had a shark swim past us while Kristina was out between the reefs all by herself. I got out there with her and brought her back in.

The coral cover was ok, not as good as we had at the Clam Gardens. We still enjoyed the snorkel and saw a large eel, pufferfish and some clownfish.

Loukia turned up about 3:45pm. I went over and invited them for drinks, but they declined as they’d had a big day (they’d come all the way from Lizard).

We were on time for dinner, but Emma took herself to bed at 7pm! Those late nights and big days had caught up with her.

Sunday 26th

The infection on Kristina’s food had grown significantly, so Kristie did a Tele-health video call with a doctor.
He gave us a script for some antibiotics, but we’re just a little far away from the nearest pharmacy.
He recommended (as we couldn’t get there soon), that we drain and put some antibiotic cream on it.

With that done, we motored over to the patch between #10 and #9. We ended up picking up the mooring on Pixie Pinnacle.
With the NE forecast, I wasn’t happy with the idea of anchoring in close as we could get blown towards the reef edge.

Lunch.

Checked AIS and saw that the Spirit of Freedom dive boat might be heading our way, so we held off diving until we knew what they were doing.
They ended up heading away from us and went to No-name reef just north of Cod Hole: time for us to go diving!

Quick tender ride (about 20m) over to the tender mooring at the top of Pixie Pinnacle.

Viz was about 25m. We had a Manta swam past at one point. Great dive! There were plenty of clownfish, and so much fish life everywhere.

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 25
• Duration: 62min
• Average Depth: 11.5m

Back to Lazuli for a quick tank change, then Kristie did a solo dive on Pixie Wall, heading west from the mooring.

I had a quick snorkel, and found her a pipefish.

Visibility was about 20m. A great dive other than her float/line getting stuck on the plate coral, which limited her exploration of some of the canyons and overhangs.

With me on top in the tender, she could do a one way dive. Started at one mooring, and made it to the next.

More tank filling, then sips ‘n dips.

Monday 27th

Kristina’s foot bubble/infection had filled up again, so we drained it again.

Kristie and I then went over to dive Pixie Wall. Jumped in and went east this time.

Lots of fan coral, canyons to explore, more pipefish, some nudi’s, and had 2 barracuda follow along for quite a while.

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 15.2
• Duration: 63min
• Average Depth: 8.4m

After the dive we motored down to Ribbon #5, about 32nm south.

Kristie was skippering (dodging reefs) while I worked.

We lost Starlink about 5nm out from our anchorage at the bottom of #5.

There are two moorings there, but both were taken. Went in closer and took a while to find somewhere to drop the anchor.

Ended up in about 10m of water on a clear sandy spot between bommies.

Ribbon #5 is one of the few that is not a Green Zone. I had green squid light out at night and could see a few larger fish swimming around underneath.
I dropped a lure in, but it was half-hearted and they showed no interest in it!

Tuesday 28th

Kristie filled tanks. One of the moorings was now free, but we decided we didn’t need to move next to Loukia and fire up the compressor!

Once the tanks were done we did move across to the free mooring.

Kristie and I geared up to go dive one of the patches between #5 and #4.

We tied on to one of the moorings over there.

Jumping in quickly as it was so hot.

There is a nice wall there; we swam west.

Great dive! Saw a nudi, a few eels, crayfish, white tip reef shark. We had another more curious shark came to check us out a few times before it swam off.

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 21.5
• Duration: 62min
• Average Depth: 9.3m

Back to Lazuli and I grabbed the spear gun and jumped in on the bommie behind the mooring.
The fact that this is NOT a Green Zone shows… didn’t see anything of a size that could be taken.

Lunch.

Emma and Kristie made damper (GF flour and lemonade).

Kristie filled tanks while that was cooking.

With tanks filled, Kristie and I went back over to the same mooring on #4.5 but this time swam east around the corner.

Another great dive, we saw 5 Maori Wrasse at the start.

Saw a decent sized eel, crayfish, nudis, and a cool flat worm.

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 16.8
• Duration: 61min
• Average Depth: 9.2m

As we got back in the tender, we could hear Kristina talking on the VHF to Hoot: “Mum and Dad are diving… again”.
Turns out Hoot were about an hour away.

Back on Lazuli Kristie filled tanks.

I cooked dinner and put in the Billy Boil, hoping to save time for dinner later on.

Sundowners on Hoot. Loukia was the yacht on the other mooring. We motored past them on the way to Hoot to invite them over.
They declined (for a 2nd time!) as they were going to be off early in the morning and their tender was already out of the water and packed away.

On Hoot, the girls used their 4G connection to do their streaks (Duolingo and Roblox!); I used it to set up Ocean Mode ($3.20/GB).
I hadn’t activated Ocean mode, and while you can access your Starlink account from the app while you’re in a restricted region, the multifactor auth requires internet access :|

The lightning storm on the mainland gave a good show. Others who were further south than us got a bit of rain, but no storm out where we were.

Wednesday 29th

With Hoot here, we had breakfast then met up over at the #4.5 site again to dive with them.

We went east, and had a great dive with about 25m visibility. Andrew spotted a lovely anemone bulb still closed up!

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 16.8
• Duration: 61min
• Average Depth: 9.2m

Diving done, and time to head down to Ribbon #3. Only 9.3nm to the south.

Hoot stayed where they were to have a break from diving (WTF!) and to go fishing.Kristie enjoyed a nap on the way down.

Two moorings here, and both were vacant!

Spoil Sport was on Steve’s Bommie when we turned up, but looked like they were packing up.

We still had tanks to fill, so compressor out and Kristie filled tanks over lunch.

Spoil Sport then moved over to Ribbon #2.5 (the patches between #3 and #2).
AIS makes it easy to see exactly where they are diving :)

Turned on Starlink so the girls could get streaks and we could check weather forecasts.

Enjoyed watching the dolphins that swam past.

Kristie and I geared up and did the 0.7nm tender ride from the mooring to Steve’s Bommie.

Excellent dive!! 25m viz, quite a few nudies, a few large cod, schools of fish, pelagics, lionfish, clownfish, pipefish, and the plaque.

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 23.9
• Duration: 62min
• Average Depth: 13.5m

We got back and Emma was keen for a snorkel. Kristina still using her foot as a reason to stay dry.

Jumped in on the reefs just to the east of the mooring. Not much coral but she enjoyed the warm layer of water on top.
Emma enjoyed swimming down close to all the clams she could find.
There was a large school of black fish came past with a few humpheads.

Kristie filled the tanks again.

Emma and I played Minecraft. As we had no internet she was bored and wanted to play something.
We spent an hour on a few worlds together… her crafting and me wandering aimlessly attacking chickens and other animals!

They both are struggling with no internet. Addiction is real.

Kristie realised the intake hose had fallen out at some point during the filling.

Sip’s ‘n dips with just us.

We’re getting low on meat, so dinner was Carbonara with just bacon (we usually add chicken).

Had the night on the reef by ourselves; at the other reefs there had been game fishing boats that came in to the reefs to shelter for the night.

Thursday 30th

Woke to a light sunshower, and bird poop on the decks. We’d had a few perch on the spreaders over night :(

Analysed tanks and found one had 7ppm, and the other was 4ppm. So we dumped all the air from them and refilled.

We both went over and dived wall on 2.5 again, this time we headed to the east.

Only 15m viz, awesome coral, reef shark, nudies, barracuda. Visibility dropped off a bit more as we got to the corner.

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 15.6
• Duration: 61min
• Average Depth: 8.2m

Back on the boat and filled tanks, then lunch.

Checked and realised that we didn’t need Ocean mode at #3, so opened Starlink back up to the girls! They were delighted!

Post lunch dive back at Steve’s Bommie. Cod, Grouper, three eels, lion fish, big schools of pelagics, a flat worm, banded shrimp, purple anemone bulb.

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 24.4
• Duration: 65min
• Average Depth: 12.8m

Radioed to let girls know to get ready to go for a dive.

Emma wanted to dive Steve’s Bommie, so headed back out there; Kristina stayed on board with her infected foot.

Emma did a 15min dive around the top of the bommie, with her max depth around 6m.

She really loved the dive here.

Back to fill tanks.

Friday 31st - Halloween

With nobody around us, and out on the reef by ourselves, Kristie gave thd girls all the Halloween lollies that she’d purchased in preparation for trick-or-treating.

Left the mooring at Ribbon #3 and we were motoring at 7:30am heading to Pickersgill Reef.

No wind, very, very hot onboard!

I worked.

Hooked a Mac Tuna while in a meeting, but threw it back.

Got to Pickersgill but too much swell. We had a weird NE swell, and most of these reefs don’t do so well in that direction swell.

Kept going south to Mackay Reef/Cay, only about 12nm south.

Kristie got a sun burnt back while sitting out in the sun briefly.

I called up Coral Sea Marina; we’d originally booked to stay with them for the month of November. We weren’t going to make it there by tomorrow!
They were happy to move our booking.

Got to the cay, and we all got into togs and went in for a swim with the mat… but not before a jump…

Jim and Jude (Nohea) were there and came to say hi and had a good chat with them while hanging about in the water.

Back to Lazuli for quick change and back to the cay at 5pm for sips ‘n dips with Nohea.

Girls dressed up in their costumes that they had for Trick or treating.

We enjoyed sunset drinks and cheese on the sand with us and Jim and Jude. I’d mentioned earlier during our swim we were out of a few essentials… like Weetbix.
Jude kindly brought in a care package of Weetbix for me :) Thanks! Jim’s comment was along the lines of “It’s good to get that cardboard off the boat!”.

Back on Lazuli we had done dinner when Coco and Van from a massive motor cat came trick or treating (with their Dad) in their tender at about 7:30pm.
Girls got dressed (we were all more or less just surviving in undies it was so hot!) and put together two small clipseal bags of lollies to give to the other two kids.

The girls missed being able to go trick or treating back home.

Saturday 1st Nov

Kristie and I went for a snorkel, and on the lookout for a tasty Coral Trout.
Didn’t see any trout, but saw a turtle, reef shark, large eel, and lots of fish. Just nothing to spear.

Swim at the beach and the girls enjoyed playing on the mat with the other two kids.

Dropped mooring at midday and sails up to follow Nohea south. They weren’t sure where they were going, but we were aiming for Low Isles to meet up with Hoot again.

Just under 22nm all up, and we only motored the last 2 miles as the wind was SE and we couldn’t quite make the island without tacking.

There are 5 moorings there, and they were all full when we approached. We were about to drop anchor when Kristie noticed one of the yachts on a mooring was leaving, so we quickly grabbed that.

Bride and Andrew came by in their tender and we organised drinks on the beach at 5pm.

Kristie and I went to Loukia (who were on one of the other moorings) to let them know our plans as well.
They invited on board and had a beer and a chat with Kelly, a solo sailor from Port Douglas on the mooring next to them.
(she has an even smaller boat than Loukia!).

Garry (Loukia) admitted they’d been about to raise their tender when they saw us come into the bay and realised they really ought to make an appearance for drinks :)

We went back to Lazuli to get the girls and supplies.

At the beach at 5pm for drinks and food. There are tables there so we set up on one of them.

Fiona and Gaz from Loukia, and Kelly joined us and Hoot (along with two of their friends they’d picked up from PD for the night).

Andrew opened some coconuts, and Bride shared around the coconut flesh and milk.

Fresh coconut milk and gin is a regular drink for Bride, and Kristie enjoyed it also.
At least one of the coconuts had some lovely soft flesh. So good.

Emma flew her kite by herself for a bit, then she and Kristina took my phone for a walk around the island to take some photos.

We took some of the coconut back to Lazuli.

Had a late (8pm!) dinner of Pancakes and Bacon and maple syrup!. Yum. Our last dinner before we resupply in Cairns.

Sunday 2nd

Dropped mooring and leaving by 6:30am. Loukia was about 2nm behind us when they followed us out of the island. They travel a lot slower than us.

We spent a bit of time getting ready for jobs once we get to the marina.

Both our fridge and freezer had accumulated a bit of ice, so with the freezer low it was the perfect time to defrost these.
I had the camp fridge on and cold as a freezer, so transferred all the stuff in our freezer to that, and the fridge contents into the insulated woolies bags.
With the high ambient temperature it didn’t take long for the ice to disappear!

I got a bit more of this blog written.

We arrived at Cairns Marlin Marina at about 12:45. We’d called to ask for assistance… we shouldn’t have :(
The guy they sent down was completely useless a catching lines. We gave him our spring line and all he had to do was tie that off.. he just did one loop and left it at that..
The wind was blowing directly behind, so it quickly pushed us forwards and we touched at the front, and then ended up sideways in the empty pen.
No out best effort :(

With the boat sorted, Kristie started 4 loads of washing… no washing for 5+ weeks so everything we had needed a wash!

We had a full load of rubbish to offload.

Kristie then set off to head to the shops to get Emma’s iPad screen replaced.
Also stopped in at the pharmacy, newsagent, and Woolies.

I had a bunch boat jobs to do as well:

• Filled up all 3 water tanks
• Flushed the outboard engine
• Washed the decks (got rid of all the bird poop)
• A few trips to the laundry to bring back the dry cloths and put some more in the dryers
• Decanted the one jerrycan of diesel we had.
• Filled up a container to soak our dive regs in.

With Kristie back, I started walking to Anaconda to get the gas filled.
I decided I best call them first to make sure they could; turns out they were out of gas so I only wasted 200m instead of 2km!

We all had much needed showers, and then went to night markets for dinner and a massage.

The girls found some stuff to spend their pocket money on.

Cold Rock on the way back to Lazuli.

Monday 3rd

I took the tender to go and get fuel at 8am, Tuesdays is their busiest day so we couldn’t get a fuel booking for Lazuli until much later in the day tomorrow.
Filled up 4 jerrycans of diesel, and 30L of unleaded. Emptied 3 of them straight away and kept the one 20L of diesel in the locker.

Kristie did school with the girls.

I then set off for some shopping.

• Uber to Whitworths to buy a new bilge hose and other goodies
• Walked to spear/fishing place to get a new filleting knife
• Walked to Tackle world to get new red and white lure
• Walked to BCF to fill the gas bottle and buy a hand spear.
• Uber back to marina.

While I was out, Kristina and Kristie walked to the Marina office to pick up some packages, and then onto the Post Office, Target, and Coles.

They brought home a hot chook for a late lunch.

I had a work meeting, and Kristie had a nap up top.

Replaced the bilge hose; I ended up having to get both girls to help to feed it through.

Checked and cleaned the log/depth sounders; they both had substantial growth (the speed log wasn’t working at all)

Pizza takeaway for dinner. The girls and I had a quick swim in the lagoon while waiting for Kristie to bring the pizza.
Back in the water as soon as pizza’s were smashed.

Emma’s wobbly tooth finally came out (with assistance) at the lagoon. Kristie had to hold it for the rest of the swim and keep it safe.
Emma has previously lost one of her teeth at the pool in Yeppoon a few years ago and was most distraught thinking the Tooth Fairy wouldn’t come if she didn’t have the tooth!
We didn’t get out of the lagoon until 7pm.
It was so nice just to be in the water.

Kristie did another load of washing. 2 days spent walking around in the heat in Cairns was easy enough to fill a load.

Made the most of the marina amenities and enjoyed a nice cold shower.

Tomorrow we’re leaving Cairns and starting to head further south.

Cairns is HOT, especially when there is no breeze.

Yes, the Tooth Fairy visited Emma!

Tuesday 7th October - Lizard Island

Work and school.

Kriste had called up and organised a tour of the Lizard Island Research Station this afternoon.
We’d be heading over after lunch and then hang out there for a bit.

The girls helped me bake some brownies that we could take across with us.

Lunch.

We all got in the tender to head over to the Marlin Bar where we’d get a lift across.

Emily and Kaia (8yr old girl) turned up in their Troopie just after 1:30pm and gave us a lift to research station.
The girls loved sitting in the back of the troopie across the sandy bumpy track, and I’m glad we didn’t have to walk!

Emily and David are the current directors of the station, having taken over from the previous couple at the start of the year.

We got a tour from David. Watched a video in the aircon (we haven’t had that for a while!).

Walking around outside Kaia went to talk to Alan, one of the researchers based there at the moment.
He came over and talked us through what he’s doing: studying the effects on survivability of fish when releasing them back to the coral after a few days.
He’d collect the eggs, hatch them, and then inject the fish with a fluorescent dye before releasing them back to a little isolated bommie.
He could then go back later at night and easily identify / count.

After the tour, Kylie (she’s here as a Governess to Kaia) took us to the beach hut and the girls all made loom bands.
And we ate some brownies :)

With the crafting done it was time for some fun on the beach. The girls all did some handstands and cartwheels, and then a game of red-rover.

Emily dropped us back off at the Marlin Bar at 5pm, so we had a few drinks with the other yachties.

We waited for the research station crew to turn at 7pm before we had our dinner.

Tuesday night is Burger night. You can have whatever you want for dinner, as long as it was a burger.
They were tasty though.

But too spicy, for Emma, too big for Kristina to finish, and too gluten’y for Kristie to have the bun.
I enjoyed mine :)

Wednesday 8th

Work and School.

Lunch.

Kristie had organised another play date with Kaia (and Kylie).
It was a wet tender all the way around to research station.

We got to see “The House” on the point. You can stay here for a little over $20,000 per night.

I dropped Kristie and Emma at the end of the beach so they could have a dry walk the rest of the way there.
Kristina and I got there a bit quicker with the lighter load.

Kylie and Kaia were already in the water, so we got changed and jumped in for a nice swim with them.

We walked back to Kaia’s house via the dive shed, and we all enjoyed a warm shower in the open :)

The girls enjoyed some fresh orange ice blocks, and I had a lovely fresh brewed coffee.

The girls played in her bedroom while we chatted outside.

At 5pm we walked down to where the caretakers live, and watched him water the Sunbirds.

The trees are full of them, and they fly down to enjoy a good shower/sprinkle from the hose.

Back to the tender for the slow trip back to Lazuli.

Earlier in the day, one of the boats had come around to us and mentioned they were doing a movie night on the beach.

Quick dinner onboard, then left the girls behind and managed to get there just as the movie was starting.
They’d set up a air mattress against the shrubs, with a white sheet over it. They then had their Starlink, a projector and battery box to complete the setup.

They played “Don’t Look Up”. I hadn’t seen it, quite enjoyable.

There were probably only about 8 of us that stayed for the entire movie.

Kristina’s recount about the trip to the Research Station

We finally made it to Lizard Island which has been out destination all year.
Mum organised a trip to the research station where we met some new friends.
Emily and her daughter Kaia came to pick us up in their big troopie.
It was lots of fun sitting in the back because the sandy road had lots of small bumps and we didn’t have to wear seatbelts.
When we arrived Kaia’s dad (the CEO) showed us a quick video with information about the station and the scientific research that they do.
Our new friend Kaia had a toy alpaca named Alpe. So we enjoyed throwing him up in the air then trying to not let him hit the ground.
It was the funnest tour we have ever been to, as for once we had some friends doing it with us.
After the tour we walked to the beach hut and made necklaces/collars for Alpe, and some matching friendship bracelets out of loom bands.

Emma’s recount about the trip to the Research Station

We finally reached our destination Lizard Island, so of course we had to get off and do something!
Mum ad organised a tour at the research station. Emily had a kid so she thought it was a good idea to have a play.
She picked us up and let me and Kristina go for free!
We hopped in the troopie with Kaia and her alpaca plushie, Alpe! When we got to the station we let Alpe fly and walk on the ceiling.
They gave us a tour of the research station and showed us what they did.
After the tour we walked to the beach hut to do loom bands.
We spent almost 2 hours doing loom bands!
We all made friendship bracelets together!

Thursday 9th

Quick breakfast, no school today as we’re off to climb up to Cook’s Lookout.

Tender in and shoes on.

The first section is reasonably steep, and we stopped often for the great views back over Watsons Bay and all the yachts.

There are plenty of Kapok trees around, and many had seed pods.

Kristie and Kristina tried the flowers, apparently they are edible!

At one point during one of our rests (when Kristina and I were waiting for Kristie and Emma to catch up) Kristina spotted some interesting wildlife:

There was also plenty of Sunbirds flying around.

We got to the top and had no view at all as it was completely covered by clouds. Made for an interesting experience, but not what we’d walked up for!

Cook climbed the peak on Lizard Island to chart a course out to sea through the maze of reefs which confronted him and the island’s summit has since been called ‘Cook’s Look’

The girls both added a rock to the top.

Sadly not much of a view.

There’s a visitor book up there as well (in an old army ammo box). I wrote in the book, and then Emma decided she needed to document a different opinion of the walk to what I’d written.

We came across a yellow spotted monitor lizard on the way back down.

The walk ended up taking us 4hrs all up, though we did have quite a few stops. Ended up being close to 5km return by my watch.

We jumped straight in to swim in our clothes as it was so hot.

Back to Lazuli for a late lunch.

Work, and downtime for the girls.

Sunset drinks on the beach.

Emma’s recount about the walk to Cook’s Lookout

The walk up to Cook’s Look was hot, on a steep and rocky track.
We made it up with some help of skittles from dads backpack.
The view up top would have been great, if the grey clouds weren’t so thick.
It seemed so slow and we were right, it was the oposit of quick.
Along the way we saw some lizards, basking in the sun.
We at some flowers, collected plants, this walk so much fun (NOT!).

In 1770 Captain Cook climbed to the top of the highest hill to look for all the reefs so the H.M.S Endeavour could find a safe passage through.
The walk and the lookout became famous so mum and dad dragged me on the steep, 5km walk.
After about 500m we started to see a lot of kapok trees scattered around.
On the trees there was lots of seedpods full of a material like cotton.
The open seedpods had spongy cotton because they weren’t ripe, but the cream and brown ones were.
Mum searched and the kapok flowers are edible! Mum enjoyed them but I didn’t.
At the top me and Kristina looked for two rocks to put on the pile!
It was a great view.

Kristina’s recount about the walk to Cook’s Lookout

Last week, we did the steep walk up to Cook’s Look.
This walk is named that because in the year of 1770 when Captain Cook anchored at Lizard Island, he made his way up to the top of the mountain to see all of the reefs and plot a way out.
After about 500meters of walking we spotted some Kapok trees. They were covered in green seedpods full of sticky fluff.
Later on we saw some different coloured seedpods and Mum said it was because they were ripe!
So I got one then smashed it against a rock and out came a cotton like material.
Another thing on the trees were some yellow flowers.
We searched them up and found out they were edible!
Of course Mum, Dad, and I tried them right away after taking a photo.
Later on I was looking at the yellow orchids and spied two tiny yellow beetles that looked like they were mating.
As it turns out, they were!

Friday 10th

Work and School.

Kristie had a nap during school time, which didn’t bother the girls too much.

Lunch.

Afternoon client meeting for me, then Kristie and I jumped in to snorkel the Clam Garden.
In addition to all the usual suspects, we saw an eel, octopus, black tip reef shark, and epaulette shark.

Off to the Marlin Bar for Pizza night!

I filled up 3x jerry of water and took them straight back to Lazuli and emptied them before coming back to join the others at the Marlin Bar.

Enjoyed a good social time with the other yachties.

Pizza was delicious. Took some home for leftovers.

We did a 2nd water fill up before getting in the tender to come home.

Kristina’s wanted to write about Whale Sharks as part of her daily writing

Title: Save the Whale Sharks.

Whale Sharks are one of the coolest and most unique species that swim in our tropical oceans.
Imagine a world where these gentle giants didn’t exist.

If Whale Sharks went extinct it would have a big impact on the stability of the food chain.
Being filter feeders, they feed on small organisms, contributing to the balance of the marine ecosystem.
So with out Whale Sharks this balance would be destroyed.
Which means if you don’t help the whale sharks you can say goodbye to fish and chips.

Many travellers from all over the world (including my Mom) spend thousands of dollars to see these majestic fish.
This is important because it raises awareness for environmental conservation and creates jobs for local businesses.
By paying to go snorkeling with these amazing creatures, you get a once in a lifetime experience and help many people in need of some cash.

Over the years illegal hunting has happened causing whale sharks to become endangered (* this hunting is still happening in some places today).
We are on our last chance before whale sharks become extinct and are no longer alive for future generations to see.

Even though these giant fish are a great attraction and thousands of people every year are lucky enough to experience swimming with them, it is important to remember that these wonderful creatures are a treasure that must be valued and respected.
We need to act now so that they don’t become extinct!

Saturday 11th

We sewed/glued up the patch on the bimini. The starboard side had a decent rip in it where the infill joins the zip.
We need to get it replaced, but time has prevented that so far.

Lazy morning on devices.

Lunch.

Kristie geared up for a dive. We took the tender around to North Point and tied on to the yellow mooring there.

She got out to the end of the reef, and then turned around and came back quite quickly!
Got to the surface and was super keen to get out of the water ASAP after spotting a 3m+ tiger shark.
(The researchers later assured her it’d be there for ages, and as she wasn’t a turtle she’d be fine! Kristie didn’t feel like testing that theory)

Family snorkel back at the Clam Gardens. The girls loved the clams, and we saw a school of bump head parrot fish.

Sunset drinks on the beach. We hadn’t planned to go to the Marlin Bar, but then a bunch of others all went so we decided to join them.
We had to go back via Lazuli and get the girls first!

Kristie enjoyed her steak, the girls shared a seafood basket, and I enjoyed my schnitty.

Filled up water on the way back.

Sunday 12th

Pancakes for breakfast.

We got geared up for a little walk; up to Chinaman’s Ridge and the lookout there.

Good views back over the resort and Watsons Bay.

Emma found a survey mark at the top and took a photo for Uncle Scott.

It was hot, not much breeze on the walk.

Girls had a quick swim in their clothes when back on the beach.

Back to Lazuli for Lunch.

We ended up with a bit of a rainy afternoon. We didn’t go into the beach (only a few of the hard-core went in to the beach for drinks), just had sip’s and dips by ourselves on Lazuli.

A bit more rain during the night.

Monday 13th

We’ve been away from shops for over two weeks now, so I could reorganise the frozen food and put it all in our main freezer and turn off the 2nd freezer we have (a 40L Engel).

Work and School.

A bit more rain.

Lunch.

We all got togs on and took the swim mat into the beach.
Kristie had organised for Kylie and Kaia to join us on our beach for a swim.

We were all in the water for about 3 hours.

Said goodbye to Kylie and Kaia and went back to Lazuli for a very speedy change (the others were already heading into the beach for sunset drinks!)

Left the girls on board and went to have drinks on the beach.

Andrea offered around some free bars and cookies that they’d got from a friend staying at the resort. Thanks, they were yummy!

Back onto Lazuli, and tender up just as it started to rain.

Mackerel and chips for dinner. Also Yum. We now only have one bag left, and the Mackerel season doesn’t open until the 9th of Nov!

Tuesday 14th

Work and School. Very hot.

Kristie jumped off Lazuli and swam over to have a long snorkel along the wall. It was about 150m from Lazuli to the wall.

Lunch.

Time for a family walk to Blue Lagoon. We took togs so we could have a swim on the other side.
It was a hot walk. You end up walking down the side of the runway, and the breeze was very intermittent.

Once down on the beach there was a good breeze. The tide was down so it wasn’t too choppy.

The swim was lovely, but the sand wasn’t as nice as over at “our beach”.

Got changed and explored the beach.

Headed back up the track and timed the walk back so we were at the top of the runway when the plane took off.

It was burger night at the Marlin Bar, and as Emma wasn’t a fan I ended up cooking sausages and pasta on Lazuli and took them in with us for her to eat.

Enjoyed a few drinks with the yachties, then caught up with Research station people.
Got a bag of carrots and an apple from Kylie. Thanks!

Filled up our 3 water jerry cans and got back to Lazuli to have the girls in bed by 9:30pm!

We had a spot of heavy rain at midnight which woke us up (had the windows open to cools us down.)

Wednesday 15th

It’s been windy, but today was more windy; the wind generator has been working overtime.

Kristie decanted the water from the jerry cans into the boat tanks.

Work and School.

Kristina finally woke up at 9am (we’ve been having a few late nights).

I emptied and cleaned our composting toilet. Wanted to make sure that was done before we left and headed down the reefs.

Lunch.

Tender to Marlin Bar at 1:30pm. Kristie and the girls got a lift over to the research station to spend the afternoon hanging out with Kylie and Kaia.

While I did work, they all had a good time:

• They made kapok squish balloons - we had a few that had opened up and they stuffed the fluff into some balloons.
• Had a swim
• Enjoyed a bath in the dive tubs.
• Played lego in Kaia’s bedroom

The girls got a lift back to Marlin Bar and I picked them up. Took the opportunity to fill up more water.

Strong wind and a bit more rain overnight.

Thursday 16th

Work and School.

Kristie snorkeled along the wall again and saw 4 reef sharks cruising around. She also spotted a blue spotted ray hiding under some coral.
It started raining while she was snorkeling. But had cleared up by the time she got back to Lazuli.

Lunch

More work.

After work was finished, Kristie and I jumped in the tender and headed around the corner to turtle beach.
We anchored the tender on the beach and jumped in for a snorkel. There was better coral cover than our previous snorkel sites, a couple of white tip reef sharks, an octopus and plenty of fish.

Sunset drinks on the beach with the usual crowd.

Friday 17th

Work and school.

Lunch.

After lunch, I dropped Kristie off at the Clam Gardens for a quick snorkel and then headed back to Lazuli to jump on some work meetings.

I ran the girls and Kristie to the Marlin Bar at 3pm for one last play with Kylie and Kaia (Kaia and her parents were flying to Sydney on Sunday so we won’t see them again).

They set up on one of the tables and spent two hours crafting (necklaces) and having run on the lawn.

Took the opportunity to drop off more rubbish, filled up water and headed back to Lazuli to work a bit more.

I came back in at 5pm for drinks and pizza.

It was another fun night mixing with the yachties and research peeps.

The night concluded with a skipping show from the 3 girls; and then a few of us adults they roped into having a turn.
Lots of laughs.

We missed some action with a boat dragging out the front. One of the cats ended up having to drop anchor and move out the back as another boat was drifting on to it (and the owners were at the bar!).

In bed by 9:30

Saturday 18th

At some point during the night (about 3am) Emma got a bit scared and came to sleep in my room. She didn’t bring her pillow :(

Decanted water from the 3 jerrys we’d filled up last night.

I’d always said I’d do Cook’s Lookout again when the weather was good and we’d get a view.
Kristie and I set off (the girls we most adamant they would not do the walk again!) and we did Cook’s Look walk again.

We made better time, and ended up with good views out to the reefs.

We knew Vellamo were due into Lizard Island sometime today. We could see a yacht approaching and a quick check of AIS (Marine Traffic) confirmed it was Vellamo.
We snapped a quick photo to send through to Traci.

2:38hr and 4.6km for the walk up to the top and back.

We had taken togs, so had a quick swim to cool off before heading back to Lazuli.

Late Lunch.

Kristie and I jumped in to go snorkel along the wall. We saw a flat worm, a pair of octopus, and a stingray.

Back for 5pm Sunset drinks on the beach.

Sunday 19th

Time to go exploring, without the girls.

Tender into the beach, and saw a turtle swimming around (we haven’t seen many - and some have suggested the local tiger shark could be the reason ;)

We planned to get to Coconut Beach. Bowen had said the other night that he found a bunch of Nautilus shells on the beach when he was there a year or so ago.

We hiked down the runway, around Blue Lagoon. We saw a decent sized shark swimming around in the shallows.

The track up is quite overgrown, but well signed with thongs up the hill.

Got to the top and saw the steep walk down the other side.

There was a trail of thongs up and down.

There’s a rope that’s been set up to help get up and down the rock face.

It was a little dicy getting down.

Once we were down the was lots of rubbish on the beach. We walked the entire length and only found one Nautilus shell.

Getting back up was ok, my watch reckoned it was about 20m from the sand to the top of the rope.

Walked back down and checked out the other beach before Blue Lagoon.

Decided to take the sneaky/scenic/forbidden track back to the beach rather than walking down the runway. It’s a much nicer walk!
(We’d seen one of the resort staff walk it, but apparently it’s closed to the public!)

There is a freshwater bore pump at the end of the track.

All up the walk took us 3:43hr, and 9.7km.

Made it back to Lazuli for a very late lunch.

Hoot turned up.

We’d last seen Bride and Andrew in Gladstone, and after that they spent more time in Bundy with Andrews Mum.
They finally got their boat ready and came up, express!
They took about 7 or 8 weeks to get from Brisbane up to Lizard - top effort.
We didn’t think we’d see them, and they didn’t think they’d make it this far north after leaving so late.

They invited us over for quick ‘anchor drinks’ on their boat. So good to see them up here!
We didn’t stay too long, as Kristie wanted to snorkel the Clam Gardens again (I could have kept going with the anchor drinks ;)
They had also brought some supplies - fresh food for us - from Port Douglas. Much appreciated!

Back to Lazuli to get the snorkel gear on, and went to the Clam Gardens.

We were a bit late for Sundowners on the beach.
Probably the biggest gathering we’d had since we got here.

Jan had set up some night lights, music.

Lots of good chatting and drinks. One of the tenders floated off when the tide came in; there were plenty of helpful comments from everyone ;)

Made it back to Lazuli (and the girls) at 7:50pm to start cooking dinner.
The girls complained it was a bit late for them!

Monday 20th

Work and School.

Lunch.

Kristie filled the dive tanks now so we didn’t have to do it at the Cod Hole.

I did more work.

Kristie snorkeled the Clam Gardens again. Such an easy snorkel with something new to see each time. She saw a white tip reef shark, maori wrasse, moray eel (along with everything else that’s usually there).

5pm Sundowners on the beach.

Back to lazuli at 6:30 (which is still probably too late for the girls)

Kristina’s continued to write about Whale Sharks as part of her daily writing

Information Report: Whale Sharks

Appearance:

A Whale Shark is the worlds biggest species of fish. They can grow up to 14m long.
They have a broad, flat head with a mouth that can be 1.5m wide.
Like most species of sharks the females grow bigger than the males.
Each one is born with individual spots and strips making it easier for marine biologists to keep track of them.

Habitat:

Whale Sharks are most often found around the equator.
They live in warm tropical oceans and can be found in both deep and shallow waters.

Diet:

Despite having 4000 tiny teeth these creatures are filter feeders.
Their diet mainly relies on plankton, tiny crustaceans and small fish.

Threats:

Whale Sharks are an endangered species meaning they’re one step from becoming extinct.
Their main threats as adults are humans. Humans are destroying the Whale Sharks habitats by polluting the ocean with rubbish.
Illegal hunting is another problem edging this species closer to the extinct mark.

Breeding:

Whale Sharks can live up to 150 years of age. Their life begins as a small pup approximately 60cm long.
It takes 25-30 years for them to reach adulthood.
Female Whale Sharks then give birth to up to 300 live pups!
She will then leave them to fend for themselves and the cycle will start again.

Interesting facts:

One of the bonuses of being a Whale Shark is that their skin is 30cm thick, making it hard for foes to bite them.
They are also one of the 15 species of fish knowing to give live birth.

Emma also did an information report as part daily writing

Information Report: Dog face pufferfish

Appearance:

The dog face pufferfish are oval shaped and can grow up to 33cm.
They have two small dorsal fins and a small tail.
These pufferfish have four strong teeth that from a beak.
Their body’s are covered in small black blotches, and they have dark patches around their mouth and eyes.

Habitat:

Dog face pufferfish live in tropical waters at coral reefs.
They don’t live anywhere under twenty-five metres deep.

Diet:

The dog face pufferfish is an omnivore. Most of their food is on the sea floor. They eat plants such as alges and sponges.
They also eat animals like mollusks, invertebrates, coral and crustaceans.

Threats:

Dog face pufferfish are slow which means their predators can catch them easily.
Their predators are tiger sharks, octopuses and sea snakes.
Climate change can also hurt the pufferfish by destroying the coral reefs.

Life Cycle:

Dog face pufferfish start their life as an egg.
After four to five days they hatch and continue growing as a juvenile fish.
Adult dog face pufferfish grow up to thirty centimeters and can live to ten years of age.

Interesting Facts:

The dog face puffer can repel predators by inflating itself with air or water to look big and hard to chew.
Something else used to repel enemies is their TTX poison and if swallowed injects the deadly poison into the predators.
Dog face pufferfish are territorial and like to live by themselves.

Tuesday 21st

Work and School.

Lunch.

Time for a family snorkel at the Clam Gardens. The girls and I jumped off the front of Lazuli to cool off as soon as we had our wetsuits on.

Traci and Matt had just seen a Cuttlefish so they pointed us to where it was. We found it and had fun swimming down and watching it change colours.

The girls also enjoyed the numerous clown fish.

Eventually they both got a bit cold, so I dropped them back to Lazuli and then come back with Kristie to continue snorkeling.

Back to Lazuli to tidy up as we were expecting guests.

Kristie picked up Kylie and her husband Chris to come back for sip’s ‘n dips on Lazuli.
We gave them a tour, then enjoyed a good catch up over drinks and cheese.

Kristie dropped them off to the Marlin Bar then came and got the girls and I.

It wasn’t Burger Night tonight, there were wings :) Nice spicy wings that both Kristie and I ordered, and she couldn’t eat.
I was full by the time I’d had half of hers as well - Andrew got the other half.

A few more drinks, then filled water and headed home at 8pm.

Wednesday 22nd

Work and school.

Baked damper scones, went well with butter and jam.

Kristie decanted water.

Hoot had gone off exploring around the coner and came back via us to arrange the afternoon exploring with us.
On the way back they were flagged down by Gary and Fiona as they were rowing their tender back to their boat.
Andrew towed them back to their boat… He stripped the carby and then realised the breather had been shut! Doh.

Lunch.

Set off with Andrew and Bride to go snorkeling at Palfrey Island. Kristie and Kristina in their tender, Emma and I in Lapis with the swim mat.

Emma had a quick snorkel and then a long play on the mat. Kristina stayed dry on the tender. We enjoyed the snorkel.
Not amazing, but something different.

Over to the beach to climb the rocks and get warm.

The two girls got a quick lift home with Bride and Andrew. Quite a bit slower for Kristie and I!

Got back to Lazuli and unpacked. Took a while to realise the girls were still on Hoot (I just assumed they’d been dropped off on Lazuli!).
I went over to Hoot but couldn’t see them there either… turns out they were hiding from me!

Kristie cleaned the clears.

5pm Sundowners on the beach. Opened the coconut I’d carried back from Coconut Beach the other day.
It had a bit of milk in it that tasted ok. Bride and Andrew also opened one of theirs, and the flesh on theirs was better.

Back on Lazuli it was time to tidy up to get ready to leave for the Cod Hole tomorrow.

We have really enjoyed our time at Lizard Island. It’s such an amazing place, and we haven’t come across anything like it in our travels.

There is so much to explore, and you can understand why everyone (with a yacht/boat) tries to get up here.

• You could snorkel at the Clam Gardens every day and not get bored with it.
• The sand and water at Watsons Bay is better than anywhere else we’ve been!
• The water is warm ~ 27C
• There’s a lot of the island to explore and walk around.
• There are numerous beaches to explore.
• The Marlin Bar is fun and a good excuse to get off the boat and have someone else make your dinner.
• Even though it is pretty much windy all day and all night, the bay is supper protected and comfortable in 25kts!
• Even when it’s 25kts it is still lovely in at the beach (Watsons Bay).
• The sunset drinks every afternoon with the other yachties is a great tradition that must be kept!
• The research station is worth a visit (bonus play dates with Kaia 8yrs old)

Anchoring at Lizard:

• There’s lots of room - but the further out you go the more wind/chop you get!
• Good depth - we in the 2nd row of boats and never saw less than 3.2m at the lowest tide we had for the 2+ weeks there
• Hoot got in close (in front of the 1st row ;) when they turned up and had ~2.2m at low tide (too shallow for us)

Internet at Lizard:

• Starlink works perfectly out here.
• If you have an antenna at the top of your mast you’ll get a 4G, but you probably need to be out a bit and not tucked in close to the beach.
• Climb the hill and you’ll get 4G
• Go to the Marlin Bar and use their free Wi-Fi
• Use your boat friends Starlink (thanks for the drinks Traci :)

We enjoyed hanging out with all the other boats here.
We probably had 25+ boats in the bay one night while we were there.
Some had been there for 3 months, some got there after us.
Some had been coming here every year for 20+ years, and some like us were first-timers.

Thanks to all the yachties that made our time there memorable.

• Wyworrie - Glen - who was our closest boat neighbour and his flashing strobe guided us home from the bar at night!
• Samantha - Shawn and Andrea - they were there for 3 months! (thanks for the resort bars & cookies)
• Nohea - Jim and Jude
• Vellamo - Traci and Matt
• SeaRaz - Steph and Chris
• Kaimana - Linda and Nate - thanks for the medical review of Kristina’s foot!
• Loukia - Gary and Fiona
• Hoot - Bride and Andrew - thanks for brining us food and fuel!
• Amazing Grace - Lorraine and Brent
• Alexandra - Jan and Mark
• Joy and Anastasia (on a Ketch we can’t remember the name of)
• Bowen and his dad on a Lagoon - thanks for the tip about finding Nautilus Shells at Coconut Beach!

Tomorrow we (and also Hoot + Vellamo) are off to Ribbon Reef #10 and the Cod Hole.

Lizard Island - we will miss you.

Kristina’s Poem about Lizard Island

All year we have been coming
To this Island big and grand.
With clear and pretty water,
And warm and lovely sand.

We walked up to Cooks Look,
It was very steep and hot.
We went up for a view,
But clouds were all we got.

We’ve been for many snorkels,
With fish and clams galore.
Coral and a cuttlefish,
We hope there will be more.

Twice a week we went,
Over to the Marlin Bar.
They had great food and great drinks,
And it wasn’t very far.

We went to the research station,
And got a tour around.
We saw the research they had done,
And some of the things they found.

We met a new friend Kaia,
And played with her so much.
Such good friends is what we are now,
I hope to keep in touch.

Now down the Ribbon reefs we go,
We’re sailing happily.
It won’t be long till we get home,
And see our family.