We stayed at Goldsmith Island for two days. The second day saw quite strong winds, so we decided to remain secure on our mooring the second day. However, a rolling motion set in on the second night; we had noticed that this was prevalent at many of the island anchorages we had visited. So, on Monday 27 July we raised anchor for the short, 14nm, passage to the next island, Shaw Island.

The voyage was notable for the gusty winds, which would increase to 25 knots, and then drop to 10 knots; sailing was interesting. Still we made progressed and were anchored within 3 hours.

Shaw Island is long and thin; some 5 nm north to south and between 0.3 and 1.6nm wide. Our anchorage was off the north west facing beach. The beach was shallow and so we had to anchor a way off, over 500m. This gave us good shelter from the wind-driven waves, but the wind was still noticeable. There were a few other boats in the bay including one that had anchored closer to shore. The tide had gone out and the bow was now sitting high and dry. Fortunately it was a catamaran and so sat upright; just embarrassing!

We had a large charter catamaran next to us and watched as their dinghy went close to the rocks to fish. A short time later a canoe departed for shore. We thought this was brave in the strong, gusty wind and moderate cross current. However, in this time of COVID19 the canoeist was well protected by a facemask!

On the other side was a large cruising motor boat; triple decked with all the toys including jet skies and central console launch. The launch had already gone ashore and the smartly dressed occupant in white uniform (paid crew?) had erected a couple of blue beach shelters. Perhaps the owners were planning to rough it with a beach picnic later.

Shaw is another continental island. The usual description applies! The north west coast consisted of several beaches interspersed by rocky headlands. All were fronted by shallow, turquoise sea, and backed by green bush. The island was not particularly high, but steep in places with the rock outcrops clearly visible.

We took the dinghy ashore and walked a few beaches. Helen hunted for shells but, like the other islands, found the pickings slim. Back on board and we had intermittent internet access. Our friends Brian and Gillian on Maxedout contacted us to tell us that they were at Cid Harbour. Their anchorage had plenty of space and was well sheltered with practically no boat motion. Outside, the wind blew past Tai Mo Shan and the chop gave a joggling motion. It was late afternoon, so we would wait until morning to head to the calm of Cid Harbour.

Pictures. Our neighbours; poor peasants and the well protected canoeist: beach (Helen in the background, with her footprints the only ones on the beach) and stream.