EGsail2016: The second half of Gabrielle's week and an amazing dolphin feeding experience.

We did sail round to Macona - very quickly in a stiff breeze. Next day we had a lovely sail across to Cateran Bay, picked up a buoy and had a wonderful snorkel. The highlight of the snorkel was a huge shoal of hardy heads. They are a small fish about 15-18 cm long and were quite an amazing sight. The water was 26 degrees and the coral beautiful. The sail back to Macona was also great and Gabrielle is a natural helmsperson. We anchored once again in Macona and it was one of the warmest nights so far - a beautiful balmy evening. After dinner there was suddenly a lot of fish activity in the water. It was like our night at Keswick Island with hundreds of small gar fish swimming around and frequently jumping out of the water. However, on this occasion about 3-4 bottlenose dolphins appeared and had a wonderful feast of them. The dolphins came right up to the boat so we could easily have touched them. What a sight it was! None of us wanted to take our eyes off the action so we didn't go and fetch a camera. It lasted for quite some time. Much as I dislike the expression, it really was an OMG occasion! Next day there was very little wind so we mainly motored up the Eastern side of Hook island and anchored for lunch in Maureen's Cove. It looked very pretty and initially there were no other boats but the snorkelling was a bit disappointing. There was not nearly as much coral nor as many fish as in Butterfly bay, the next bay along. As we had been to Butterfly the week before with Lawrence, we thought we'd try a new one. However the water was 28 degrees and very clear so it was not all bad! Just as we had started cooking our damper for lunch in the solar oven, the clouds rolled in and we had to finish them on the stove. We motored back after lunch to Airlie Beach by which time there were a few storm clouds around. It was good to have showers and we enjoyed a lovely meal ashore. We were sad to say good bye to Gabrielle this morning. She was truly both a great sailor and sailing companion.