I saw that Clint is not buying into my turning a new leaf on life perspective that I wrote about yesterday. I think he knows me just too well. However, apparently the weather gods, who are the ones that really count, did take notice and decided to reward my new outlook of life. Today was a mostly sunny day!!! Yea!!!

With the sun out we took this opportunity to drop our mooring ball at Stonehaven Anchorage and motored the 1.5 nm over to Langford Island. We grabbed another mooring ball that is right next to the little island and in front of its reef. After lunch, I donned my stinger suit and took my snorkeling gear and the dinghy over to the reef. Mary Margaret decided that she would stay on the boat and continue reading. That is her favorite pastime. Plus, it was a bit cold out with the wind blowing and both water and air temperature in the 70’s. I think she wanted me to first check out the reef to see if it was really good. As it turned out, it was!

The water was murky with visibility of just 20 feet but the reef was awesome. It was one of the healthiest reefs I have seen. There was a good mix of hard and soft corals and lots of small fish who were making this reef home. I took a number of pictures and will post some of the better ones. If the water had been clear, they would have been remarkable. However, I am no longer one to complain since turning my attitude around…

We have decided to spend the night here at Langford Island so Mary Margaret can get a chance to dive on the reef tomorrow. The anchorage is protected but what we discovered this evening is that as the inflow tidal current picks up it is contrary to the wind direction. Thus, the tidal flow and the wind battle it out regarding which direction Leu Cat will face. As a result, the mooring ball bangs against the hull as one or the other dominates. Thus, we will only spend one night here and then return to Stonehaven tomorrow after our dive. If the weather continues to improve, then we may make day trips to this site to further explore this great reef.

Before we left Stonehaven Anchorage this morning, we waved farewell to S/V Infini. Mike was anxious to explore Nara Inlet and see the Aborigine site that overlooks that inlet. However, this afternoon we got an email saying that they are anchorage in front of Airlie Beach instead. As they tried to make it to Nara Inlet, the winds were 25 to 30 knots in their face and they were bashing into 2 meter, short period swells. It just was not worth it so they sailed over to Airlie Beach Instead. They are waiting for an autopilot part to arrive and have made arraignments for an electronics guy to install it at the Airlie Beach Marina when the part arrives this week.

We have not heard anything from S/V SeaMist so we are not sure where they are. We hope to see them before we leave the Whitsundays at the end of the month.