segment 40 : Shaw Island to Hamilton Island

segment 40 : Shaw Island to Hamilton Island
Friday 19th Oct 2012    12 NM

WE woke about 7.00am and enjoyed a morning at leisure, and said goodbye to SILVER MINX for a couple of days.

As we were saying  goodbyes to SILVER MINX  Capt Barry noticed a turtle and a  large bat fish swimming around the boarding platform of LAST WORD .Capt Barry tried , unsuccessfully, to net the fish (which would have worked if the fish had fit into the small net),  and then tried to catch it on a line, but the fish was too wily and just swam up the bait then, at the last second , diverted.
Probably just as well,  as Capt Geoff reckoned that if I had managed to catch it, it would have taken me skiing.

dive ... dive .... dive  (a turtle heads for safety) . It was swimming around on the surface just off LAST WORD

This batfish is nearly 3 feet long and spent about an hour playing around just off LAST WORD'S  swim platform

Rear admiral Julie spent the day working on the Bead Them Up website, and Capt Barry did some share trading, paid some bills and blogged, then we up anchored, mid afternoon, and headed back to Hamilton Island.

Capt Barry covered two thirds of  this trip trolling at idle speed , then for the second section doing a speed run at 2300 rpm , 23+ kts in a 15 to 18 kt E wind to clean out the exhausts and properly heat up the engine oil to burn up the impurities etc.,and we were soon tied up in LAST WORD'S usual berth at Hamilton Island.

After giving LAST WORD  a quick tub we organised to have drinks on LAST WORD, with some friends holidaying at Hamilton Island for several days, Sue and Ian Campbell ( who were accompanied by their friends Berty and Rick Henwood).

After drinks we caught up with more new friends , Steve and Angela Marshall, who own a new , very smart, Riviera 53 fly bridge cruiser ( with two VOLVO pod drives ), and enjoyed dinner at Romanos Italian restaurant.

We then repaired to LAST WORD , where the four of us enjoyed a couple of extra drinks, made plans to take our boats out in a day or so  , and finally retired just after midnight.

The next day we spent at leisure in the berth at Hamilton Island, Julie working on the infernal Bead Them Up website problems , and Capt Barry reading and dicking around ( ie doing odd jobs that rear admiral Julie classifies as  really achieving nothing more than wasting time, eg reorganising the rope locker).

TRIP 1.1 hrs, 74 L