Left Pancake Creek... a little boring here.... the channel is very tide effected, running at 3 knots... this makes it a little uncomfortable at night...

Next destination is Lady Musgrave Island, for our first view of the Great Barrier Reef.

Lady Musgrave Island is actually a Cay, a small island surrounded by a coral reef. Many years ago, a small channel was blasted into the reef allowing boats to enter the lagoon.

At low tide, the entire lagoon is sheltered from the ocean (Lady Musgrave is about 35nm off shore), and it is very calm.... but, at high tide, and if there is a strong wind, the conditions within the lagoon change significantly!

We experienced this every 6 hours (ie the change between high tide and low tide). During low tide is was just fantastic.... crystal clear water and very calm. But when the tide increased and the ocean started to extend over the coral, the waves started to increase.... the first night was the most rough, but as soon as the tide turned, and started to drop below the coral the conditions went back to calm.

Entering the lagoon is interesting. I read up on the details of approach, and what to do within the lagoon, but when you get in there, you really need to look out for all the reefs!! Monica, Erik and Glen were on the front of the boat, with their polarized sunglasses on, looking out for reefs... no problems.... we make it to anchor.

We explored the small island, full of birds, nesting and shitting everywhere....

We went off and snorkelled (Erik and Frank) on the first day, and then the entire family on the second day.... It was great... very clear, lots of fish and a large number of varying types of coral... see the photos....

We also spotted a large number of sucker fish (the ones that swim underneath sharks, and suck onto them.... We did not see any sharks this time...

The boys caught a few sucker fish and many rock cods...

That's about it for the moment....
Frank, out