We are looking forward to the small island hops. Most of the islands are within 10-15 nautical miles of each other. Keswick Island was only 16 nm, approx. 4hrs so there was no need to leave at first light, we also wanted to use the tide. We untied the lines at 9am, with 5-10kn NE & calm seas we put up the main & sailed with an avg of 4kn. While we were happy sailing we put out our fishing line, a great time to trawl when boat speed is slow. Within an hour we caught a fish. Identified as Spanish mackerel, that’s one more dinner.

We decided to put the motor on as the wind had died and we could only manage a couple of knots. We had settled in when Dean spotted a couple of whales right on our bow. They were just sitting there, a mother & her calf. This is our closest encounter yet! I didn’t realise how big they are. We also had a few in the distance breaching. I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of watching them.

We decided to anchor in Victor Bay in 10m of water, you need to be careful when anchoring off some of the islands as they have fringing reefs with very high & low tides.  While it was high tide we went ashore to explore & have a swim, at low tide the reef is exposed so access is difficult.

 

 

This anchorage was very calm with very little rolling.

16.34 nm, 3 hrs 40 min, avg speed 4.46 kn, total motor sailing 2 hrs 30 min