After a quick perusal of the contents of the refrigerator, we decided on a last trip in to town. Counting the days before we would see another store versus the supplies, we were coming up short in the yogurt and cheese department, but not short on snack treat, thanks to Maree! It was a very pleasant morning for a paddle. The water was smooth, the air was warm, the sun shone down, and there wasn’t a breath of wind. We pulled our kayaks up on the beach and had a chat with today’s life guard. Yesterday, when Maree was with us, Lars had inquired from the guy on watch, if it were safe to swim off our boat out in the bay here. The lifeguard said,”no, because there are big tiger sharks here in the sheltered waters of the bay. Because it is so murky, it’s not a good idea to swim out there, if you want to swim, come in here next to the beach.” Then Lars asked him about snorkelling out on the reef. The answer was better, that out on the reefs are mostly clearer water with just white tip and black tip sharks, not so bad. The question Captain asked last was about crocs. Well, we would be in croc country from here on out, and salties are known to swim up to 1000 kilometres off shore in search of food!! Not a heartening reply! Then the lifeguard mentioned it was best to wear a stinger suit while in the water because of the toxic jellies. We had thanked the lifeguard and gone on our way with Maree, who is from Australia, and she verified what he said was true. Today Lars asked about the shark lines on both edges of the bay. The lifeguard replied that yes, there were lines out there, but no, it did not keep the sharks out completely. Oh well. We popped into the shop on the Main Street, garnered some provisions, which included two fresh, hot pies. We carried the pies to the beach and sat in the soft sand enjoying the decadence of second breakfast on a gorgeous beach one last time before we head off deeper into croc territory, where eating a fragrant meat pie on a beach might not be a good idea! By 13:00 we had the hook free of the excellently holding clay, and were motoring out of the bay straight into a light north wind. This silly, extremely light wind came from the north until about 20:00, then it shifted to the west, still remaining less than three knots in strength. How weird! Both Captain, and I had checked the weather gribs before we left. Both models showed south wind all day and night, upwards of 25 knots! Aren’t we surprised! At least we fuelled up in Mackay, and have had excellent sailing up until today. We are motoring just outside the edge of the starboard side of the shipping channel, but tonight traffic is light, and it is a pleasant journey under the waning moon in a clear sky. I am sad to be leaving Magnetic island. It was my favourite place on our entire World arc journey, thus far, and the time there flew past so fast!
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