HOME RUN

HOME RUN

Position: 19D57'.660S 157D55'.500E

Countdown to Australia - 420 nautical miles

Monday, October 31 - It's Halloween today but we didn't have any neighbours children trick or treating in our anchorage off Chesterfield Reef. Colin from the yacht Papillon did deliver a freshly caught mackeral to our boat for lunch though. Arthur cooked it on the BBQ in foil and it was definitely a treat to eat. We've all had such a nice visit to this remote reef in the South Pacific. Yesterday morning we took the dinghy over to the deserted island and watched a green turtle returning to sea after a night of egg laying. We photographed different species of booby birds nesting with their eggs and young chicks, frigate birds and terns. Mid morning Arthur and I went scuba diving on a huge isolated coral bommie about 1 mile out from the island. Before we started our descent I looked under the dinghy to check the current and saw a good size black tip reef shark then a huge turtle swam underneath us. During the dive we saw some large reef fish, a sea snake and a variety of hard corals. Ian and Arthur then scrubbed the hull of Faraway in their snorkelling gear to make sure there was no growth for our arrival in Australia. We then took some beers ashore and watched a beautiful sunset. We got up early today to look for turtles again then went for a 2 hour walk along the island chain. It was a breathtakingly beautiful place and about as close to nature that we will get for some time now. We went back to Faraway for breakfast then out again for a 2 hour snorkel along the reef edge. Ian and I snorkelled almost as far as we went on our long morning walk and saw lots of unusual marine critters. We really enjoyed our last moments of solitude on the island. In the afternoon we made the painful decision to pack up and try and sail to Bundaberg. We said goodbye to the 2 other yachts anchored next to us then left our beautiful anchorage at 3:15pm and motored across the lagoon for 2 hours avoiding coral bommies and reefs then cleared the passage and set sail for Bundaberg just before sunset. The weather window isn't quite as good as we hoped for but we decided to take the opportunity to leave while there is at least a few days of some wind. We plan to arrive in Bundaberg on Friday, November 4. I'll keep updating Spot regularly so you can track our progress (and compass heading). I'm coming home.