We intended to leave early for Airlie Beach but when we woke up it was rainy and miserable so we went back to bed for a bit longer. Ended up leaving soon after 7am. We went in between Long Island and the mainland which was quite a nice sail. It sprinkled on and off which made for a bit of a miserable sail.

Did some grocery shopping in the afternoon and also filled up with water. Normally the anchorage at Airlie Beach is very rolly but it was really quite good, until sometime in the night when the tide changed and the swell came back.

Went for a walk along the beach in the morning which was lovely before setting sail once again. We sailed with the spinnaker once again, jibing back and forth. A shorter day today, arriving at 4pm. Rick and Glad came over for sundowners. Sam caught two squid, one was so big he lifted it up with the fish net as he was worried it would fall off trying to bring it in the boat. The photo doesn't do it justice but it was very wide and the flesh was quite thick.

Left straight after breakfast for Scawfell Island. Finally there was some wind so out came the spinnaker which is the big colourful sail. We made good time with our maximum speed 8.43 knots and our average around 7 knots, the clean and freshly antifouled bottom was making a big difference. It was a long day, getting into Refuge Bay at about 5:30pm.

Woke up early Saturday morning and decided to get going again, the water was once again calm so we motored. Once anchored in West Bay of Middle Percy Island we jumped into the Porta Bote and headed to shore to look at the A Frame which is well known amongst the sailing community. Wow! It was bigger than I expected and so many things. You could look for hours and not see everything. We saw a couple of boats that we had met along our travels. We collected and opened some coconuts on the beach before heading back to the boat. I love fresh coconut. It was also the first time I'd seen soft coconut, I'd only ever seen it when it was older and hard.

This morning we heard from Rumba who were only an hour away after travelling for two and a half days from Bundaberg. We caught up with them for a bit when they arrived and then came back to enjoy Sam's coral trout for lunch. We then decided to walk up to the homestead which is about 4km up the hill. It was quite a nice walk and a lovely view about 3/4 of the way up, Andy's Lookout. We got some reception there so we contacted relatives as we had not had reception for a few days. We continued the walk to the homestead and are glad we did. We saw some kangaroos, goats and walked through thousands of butterflies. The walk also had lovely things along the way so you knew you were going in in the right direction and not just standard boring arrows. We took the short track back down which is only about 2km. Came back and made some Spag Bol which we brought over to Rumba to have for Easter Sunday dinner.

We left Pearl Bay just before 8am and motored the whole way to Hexham Island as there was no wind, the water was beautifully glassy. We arrived about lunch time and Sam tried a bit of fishing and was lucky this time with a Coral Trout! Hoping to catch some more Sam kept fishing, this time he caught a really big Queen fish, probably the biggest he has ever caught, looks like Giz will be getting fish for dinner too!

We then anchored the boat and Sam went off in the Porta Bote in search of more Queen fish. He caught so many his arms were sore, but they all went back as the first one was more than enough for us for a while.

Checked the pots one last time in the morning but no more crabs overnight so in they came. We then left to go around the corner to Pearl Bay. Fairly pretty anchorage but a little bit rolly. We had the place to ourselves until after lunch when they all came rolling in, two cats, two yachts, one cruiser and two smaller boats. Sam tried a bit of fishing but no luck.