A Perfect Day at Lady Musgrave

Thursday 21^st September 2017

It was a very peaceful night anchored in the lagoon at Lady Musgrave. And there have been a few arrivals and departures this morning, but conditions are still exceptional.

A large racing boat, "Whitebirds" (used to be broomstick), came into the lagoon on the high tide.

High tide is at 8.47am, so after breakfast we took the opportunity to head ashore at high tide so we can get our dinghy right up on the beach and walk around the island.  Amanda has paddled their stand up paddle board into the shore and Brian soon followed in the dingy, so we eventually met up and walked around the island together. At high tide the beach space is a lot more limited and there is a fair bit of obstruction in the way of fallen trees across the beach.

The beach at high tide, with the reef covered

Brian, Amanda and Carole on the beach near the camping area

Amanda tried out one of the campers hammocks

We soon came to the camping ground, where there was a lot more activity today, with paddle boarders out in the reef and general activity around the camp site, which has a reasonable number of occupants.

Continuing on with our circumnavigation, we can check out the campsite later when we come back in this direction along the island walk trail.

Pip and Marg met up with us along the way and we continued completing our circumnavigation, and took the trail back through the centre which departs from near where we left our dinghies.

The bird nesting , mainly Black Noddies, was still a frenzy and we saw quite a few other birds,  along the way. Arriving back at the campsite from this direction, exposed the hazards of camping here with the bird excrement coating the tents a highlight. It is amazing some of the campers are brave enough to hang out their laundry.

Black Noddies all over the pathway

A tourist boat has arrived whilst we are on our walk and all of a sudden the number of beach walkers has multiplied exponentially. We headed back to our dinghy and headed over towards the trawler that has been wrecked on the reef of the southern side .

There are little reefs and bommies everywhere and as we get closer to the fringing reef, we spotted a large sea turtle, just cruising around. As we got closer and we were spotted it immediately dived. We followed it in the dinghy for a while, and it came up for one mighty gulp of air and took off.

Trawler wrecked on the reef

The trawler is well and truly up on the reef and recovery is a challenge. Later this afternoon, a tug from Brisbane appeared in the lagoon, and sent a team out in tinnie to assess the situation. They spent several hours our there so it will be interesting to see if a salvage attempt follows.

We went back to the boat for lunch, and a bit of a break from the sun.

After a rest and waiting for the low tide to settle at around 3pm, we were back in the dinghy to go snorkeling at a section of reef that we had noticed on our way back from looking at the trawler. Brian and Amanda were also soon there, and the coral and sea life made the snorkeling very worthwhile. 

We did see coral that was alive and colourful, did not see any huge fish, but lots of colourful smaller ones and  the beautiful clear water made the whole experience very much worth the effort.

Sundowners were on Mica tonight, whilst we discussed tomorrows plans. Moonshadow is heading to Bundaberg for a few days, and we may well do the same, but Dalwhinnie and ourselves are considering staying here for another day, depending on the weather. It is expected to be 10-15 knots from the NE later tonight, so we will see how that feels. We may also head off to Bundaberg in the morning if it is uncomfortable here, as the wind is expected to build on Saturday to 15-20 knots from the North.