Day 17 - Great Keppel to Pearl Bay

It was a an early start for Day 17 with a beautiful dawn and very gentle breezes from the south. We had decided on Pearl Bay as our next anchorage as Uncle Alan (Lucas) describes it as one of the prettiest on the coast and I  have been there before and know how to get in safely.

The 'sail' up was a bit boring - not enough wind to actually sail so a motor was on for most of the day. We experimented with various combinations of main and headsail and finally settled on the genoa alone.

Landing the Mackerel Tuna

The BBQ Masters

 We decided to try the fishing lure that Tim gave to us as a 'Farewell Present' (as if that will sway the will!). We hooked a decent Spanish Mackerel but lost him right at the transom. Not long after we caught a magnificent Mackerel Tuna. He was well over legal size and weighed a ton (well - almost). Our fishing book says that they are 'very poor eating' so it was a challenge to see what we could do with him. I cut him into large steaks (no mean feat with the knives onboard - could have done with a chain saw). We then dipped the steaks in a range of spices and threw them on the barbie.

BBQ Tuna Steaks

We tried everything from Garam Marsala through to Clive of India Curry Powder. We were very pleasantly surprised - the meat was moist and flavoursome. Clive won the day for the best around taste.










It was a challenge to finish it all and we still have several steaks left. The meal was complimented nicely by a fine, chilled white wine and we then retired to the foredeck with some nice Para port (thank you, Pete) to look at the shooting stars, find a constellation or two  and see who could find the most satellites. Life is tough at sea!

The game plan is a very early start tomorrow morning to visit the Percy Islets.

Yet another sunrise