The Abrolhos Islands – squalls, lightning, and lots of lobster. 

After spending five days at Dongara catching up on jobs, meeting friends and fixing the loo (more on that later), we departed in the very wee hours for our 13 hour sail to the Southern (Pelsaert) Group of the Abrolhos.   The seas were a bit rough setting out, but the conditions improved and we were greeted into the Island group by a pod of dolphins – which means more video!  I can’t promise this will be the last, but this is such an improvement on my last video, I just had to include it. 

The weather at the Abrolhos was not our friend.  Over our week there, the wind howled almost every day, included rain squalls (a nice clean boat!) and a lightning storm.   During the storm, we sat in the dark with all the electrical equipment switched off, commenting to each other that each bolt seemed closer than the last.    

Lightning is not friendly to boats and their electronic equipment.   Our mast was the tallest thing for miles, appearing very attractive to lightning which can run down the mast and through all the electrical equipment.  We wrapped all our portable items – mobiles, tablets, satellite phone – in tin foil and put them in either the microwave or washing machine, trying to mimic a Faraday cage.  Luckily, we survived the ordeal. 

As the weather was problematic for diving in the Southern Group, after two nights we sailed to the Easter Group, securing a mooring at White Bank.   The small sand island next to our boat was home for some sea lions, fairy terns, and a pair of ospreys.  We jumped off the back of the boat to snorkel and dive, and the sea lions came to visit and check us out on every occasion.

One day we took an adventurous 14 km round trip in The Guppy (our dinghy) for a dive on one of the established Fisheries trails – a rain squall while we were diving filled the dinghy with lots of fresh water, and it was a huge effort to hoist it out of the water to drain, once we returned to Mad Fish. 
But the best diving we encountered was directly off the back of the boat into some coral gardens brimming with fish, the visiting sea lions, and lots of lobster under every plate coral.   I snared 6 lobster over two dives with little effort, and we enjoyed quite a few lobster meals over the next few days. 

On day seven, we sailed to the northern group, mooring in Turtle Bay which would have been lovely in good weather.  But the wind was fierce; it was an effort to get a mooring, and we spent a very sleepless night in 27 knot+ winds before setting sail at 5 am the following morning.  The story of that sail and our arrival into Shark Bay will be the topic of the next blog. 

Finally, on the loo maintenance, the touch pad failed and we got a quote for a replacement for $450 and at least 10 days postage from Queensland.  Bugger that, the clever S2ee brought a couple of push button switches and a plastic storage container from the local hardware store for a much better solution. 

Until next time…. Love to all

Naomi and S2ee.