| The passage from Vanuatu to Australia was a bit lumpy... |
| ...with steep choppy pyramidal waves that punched and thumped us for 9 days |
| Other than the waves, we had great weather for the passage from Vanuatu to OZ |
| We'd planned to stop at Chesterfield Reef mid-way to break the trip up -- that's all you see from sea: just a line of ominous white waves breaking on the reef |
| Closer in, Chesterfield Reef is home to colonies and nests of thousands of shore and seabirds, and the water was quite calm |
| Though the weather on the Reef was fine, a storm was predicted, so 15 min after anchoring at Chesterfield we pulled up the hook and beat it to OZ ahead of it |
| Off we set again W into the lumpy chop |
| But within a day the seas had subsided and the clouds full of dust near the Australian continent set up some great sunsets |
| Land Ho-- our last passage landfall |
| Sunset in the Bundaberg Port Marina |
| The day after we arrived in Australia, who should meet us there but Pam and Steve from San Diego, on vacation in OZ !! |
| We haven't seen each other for over 2 years but we're still as relaxed and comfortable together as ever! |
| In Bundaberg we met the crew of m/v Indulgence and they encouraged us to visit Lady Musgrave Id and Fitzroy Reef in Great Barrier Reef National Park |
| Just one of many reciprocal Happy Hours with Graham (R) and Jenny, and Mick from m/v Indulgence. |
| Lady Musgrave Id and reef are part of the Capricorn Group of islands in the S Great Barrier Reef National Park |
| The water inside the Lady Musgrave Id atoll |
| No, this is not us leaving a dirty wake! Each spring, the vast amount of coral spawns beneath the surface, filling the sea with their eggs and sperm. |
| Feeding on spawn causes an algal bloom that slicks the sea surface for miles. Dead algae clumps together in long drifts |
| The edge of the reef on the Great Barrier Reef |
| Approaching Fitzroy Reef from the Coral Sea |
| Inside Fitzroy Reef the snorkeling was great around patch reefs |
| Barb navigates us out of the narrow passage from Fitzroy Reef back into the Coral Sea |
| The return trip back from Great Barrier Reef to Bundaberg had barely enough wind to fill the spinnaker |