Sea Freya Afloat

After arriving back at Airlie Beach we spent a few days socializing and reprovisioning before Hamish’s arrival. Then we set off for Hook Island and Macona Inlet where Tim scrubbed the bottom of the boat to remove the build-up of crut. This took three 30 minute dives in gorgeous clear warm water. On our final morning there we saw a little shark swimming past us so we are now a little edgy about getting into deep water especially after this week’s shark attack which was just around the corner. It is breeding season for turtles so we were seeing plenty of them and some came pretty close to the boat. We snuck into the beach near the airport to collect Hamish from Hamilton Island. We got caught and spoken to fairly sternly! As Hamilton Island is privately owned you are supposed to arrange to go in at a cost so we spent a night in the marina there the might before Hamish’s departure. We showed Hamish the Whitsundays Freya style, we think he enjoyed it! Walks, climbs, snorkels, swims, spotting turtles and feeding Batfish. We had lots of laughs, drinks and good food.
We were sad to see him go but it was time to move on. We left Hamilton Island and did a 33 hour run down to Great Keppel Island. We stayed 4 nights but didn’t go ashore as it was pretty windy and rolly. We left GKI and headed for Gladstone via the narrows. The narrows are a stretch of water between Curtis Island and the mainland which is all mangrove trees and it dries out completely at low tide. They have a cattle crossing where they herd the cows to and fro when the tide is out. We were a teensy bit early with the incoming tide so we had a surprise stop to take photos!We managed to get through the rest and had a lovely still night at Targinie Creek before heading into the Gladstone marina. We have friends here who have been showing us around and they have lent us a little Dhiatsu Feroza to get about in. That’s part of the beauty of this lifestyle, the people you meet along the way.Last night we welcomed more friends into the marina and went for an all you can eat Chinese buffet.We are looking at leaving here on Monday to hopefully get another few days at Lady Musgrave Island. Turtle nesting season, very excited.Happy Halloween from Freya