Gypsy Cruising

24 August

Orpheus Island to Magnetic Island

The question for James and me this morning was whether to stay at Orpheus Island with the other boats (possibly in the next bay around) or to push on to Maggie.  I think we both felt we’d spent enough time at Orpheus and there seemed to be no weather related reasons for us not heading off today.  James was also interested in having a look around Magnetic Island and after having such a short time there myself on the way north I tended to feel the same way.

So we pushed off before breakfast for what ended up being a largely benign motor sail south.  We had the wind only 20-30 degrees off our bow almost the entire way but the water was quite flat with the exception of the last two hours or so.

Just south of Palm Island we saw the regular ferry veer off course and then stop, a pretty sure sign that they’d seen some whales.  I headed over to them and managed to get our own view of a pair of whales just cruising along.

The best photo I could manage of a couple of whales

I managed to hook two spotted mackerels along the way.  Sorry to say I couldn’t land either of them.  Chalk that down to inexperience but it was useful to learn from my mistakes.  I think I’m in a far better position now when I hook another fish in future.

Approaching Magnetic Island after a longish sail.  The last couple of hours were a little cloudy and lumpy, but this photo probably makes it look a little worse than it was in reality.

We reached Horseshoe Bay by mid afternoon.  We didn’t put the dinghy in the water – that will happen tomorrow morning.  However it felt really nice to be back somewhere that felt so comfortable and familiar, and a place where we’d enjoyed such a wonderful day on our last visit.