We dropped anchor in the dark after switching the navigation lights on as we rounded the point to enter Port Esperance. The southern shores of the bay are lit like an amusement park at night as the workers at the fish farms work into the night. It was only an hour later that LeMaris pulled alongside and tied to us where they joined us for Happy Hour to toast the commencement of our trip.
11th August
We woke with a mission on our mind. . . .To go hunting and gathering from the shores of Rabbit Island. The tide was low at 5.50am but we decided that 8am would be early enough for us to gather our stocks of oysters. Most of the oysters are only attached to small rocks so Alan gives them a gentle bash with his hammer and off falls the rock. Once the buckets were full, the tender was lifted by the boys to avoid the oysters on the shore from puncturing the inflatable.
It wasn’t long before we pulled anchor (10.55 am)and headed the 18.5nm to Recherche Bay arriving at 2pm. Well, we had forgotten that we needed to stow a lot more things. With 2-3m swells from the South and 25knt winds from the East causing confused and lumpy seas I locked the refrigerators and placed anything loose above floor level on the floor until we arrived in The Pigsties. Can’t fall any further!!
Early to bed and an early 4am rise!
P.S, I did need to turn the Phone Booster on tonight so we will need to see how far it gets tomorrow!
