A Lovely morning at Thomas Island and a leisurely trip to Shaw Island in the Afternoon

Tuesday 27^th June 2017

After a bit of rolling at our anchorage, but nevertheless a comfortable sleep, it was another overcast morning.

Most of the boats here seem to be waiting for the change of tide before moving on, but we see a few leave early. Maybe they haven’t seen how ugly the seas can be with wind against tide.

We decided to put the dinghy in the water and go ashore. We will leave after 1 pm when the high tide is reached and the run out tide starts running north, with the SE wind.

There are 3 beaches at Thomas Island and we head off to the largest and most westerly of the beaches. Once ashore, the effects of Cyclone Debbie can be seen, but the natural beauty of this Island is something quite special.

Looking out over our anchorage, the tree in the foreground uprooted by the cyclone

The beach is steep and the shoreline strewn with shells and is some cases large parts of coral that the cyclone obviously washed up in the tidal surges.

Carole exploring the rich array of shells on this beach

One of the first things you notice is how strong the wind must have been, stripping the trees of leaves, and more obviously the many bush orchids that were  in the trees.

Trees have been stripped pretty bare

Despite the carnage, the orchids are coming back

As we walk along the beach and Carole is collecting shells ,which are abundant, we actually find a green lobster that has been washed ashore recently (not yet smelly), and trapped in the sand..

Carole admiring and sorting out what she had found

What a waste of a lobster

It is a very scenic and unspoiled place, with turtles in the bay, and a lot of coral close to the shore . Sadly it is only a good anchorage if conditions are mild.

We had a comfortable nights sleep, but as the SE breeze built this morning, it was pretty rolly.

We motored around in our dinghy to the eastern most beach and met up with a Tasmanian couple, Ian and Margaret, from their yacht “Tiara”. They had also anchored overnight and are heading for Shaw Island this afternoon , as we are. Perhaps we will catch up again with them there.

The trip to Shaw Island only took a little over an hour, and as we motored into  the anchorage at Burning Point, we were not alone in seeking a comfortable anchorage . A few boats that were anchored near us at Thomas Island were there as well , as were a  Etre  Jeune, a Hanse 445 we met up with in Mackay, and a boat flying a CCCA burgee, “Strega” who we hope to catch up with tomorrow if they are still here.

There are lots of boats here and a bit of anchoring discomfort.  We ended up pulling up our anchor and moving in the afternoon as we felt we were too  close to a smaller ketch anchored near us that seemed to have so little chain out, that at some stage there was the potential to end up too close for comfort.

As expected, even though the breeze had picked up, this place offers a relatively flat water anchorage under almost any strong breeze from the south.

We will probably stay here for the next 2 nighrs.