Blue Pearl Bay was our next destination to continue our search for more coral to explore. Located on Hayman Island it was a mere 10 miles where we once again enjoyed the luxury of a public mooring before slipping off the back of Bella bound for nearby snorkelling areas. Just out of interest Hayman Island was once a National Park but in the wisdom of the 1960’s government the entire Island was handed over to the late Sir Reg Ansett and granted special lease over the entire area. Blue Pearl Bay is the only area where visitors are tolerated, but only within the high water mark where there remains a sign post warning to alerting security if you’re not a guest. To add the resort which is situated on the SE side has excavated a 25 berth marina through the reef in its 1980’s renovation. Berthing at the marina is only open to those vessels taking a room on the resort. At a glance the vegetation on Hayman was markedly degraded in comparison to nearby Islands that remain in National Park. Enough of the politics, we discovered that Blue Pearl was better for the numerous and wonderful fishes, but the coral we saw at Butterfly was slightly more colourful. So now we’ve seen it all colourful tropical coral and fishes. As the mooring was uncomfortably close to the reef we decided to make passage to Cape Gloucester 25NM further north, which had the added benefit of making the following days passage to Upstart Bay only 50NM. At Gloucester Passage we discovered a lovely Eco-Resort called ‘Montes’ overlooking the bay where they held a sign above the beachside restaurant saying ‘Welcome Ashore’ and had moorings available for use. We enjoyed a delicious Seafood Platter for two while the dogs watched on from the boundary of the decking area and the kids climbed the Cotton Wood trees on the beach. What a nice spot.
The 50NM to Upstart Bay was mostly motor sailing with very little wind. But as it was so calm Chris was inspired to cook up a batch of pancakes to get the kids stirring for breakfast and make our way through the remainder of the bucket of Caribbean Maple Syrup left by our French predecessors. We’ve almost perfected the batch quantities and this time only just had sufficient to share. It continues to amaze us both how much the kids consume. We’ve discovered that the dogs make for a good guard dog to nothing but the blatantly obvious, barking only at a huge container ship as we pass the stern. Previously at Pearl Bay Max even jumped ship onto a passing kayaker who came to say hello only to smother the man with affection and then assumed his position on this sailors lap while he enjoyed a ride around the bay. On his return only moments later he displayed the same affection for us which left us feeling a little cheated.