We've had a busy morning. The cruising guide said the beaches here had good 'fossiking' so we have been doing just that as we are hoping to find a good sample of the indigenous nautilus shell. Only broken ones to date but we keep looking. They are of the same family as squid and octopus, but have their shell outside. As they grow they start a new chamber to live in, closing off the old one which is filled with a gas that keeps them afloat. We have seen the cross section of a shell and it looks like a plane's engine (G says a turbine blade). Made a good fire on the beach to burn rubbish and the oily cloths and newspapers from an oil change. Then prepared to smoke some fish - we caught a large Spanish mackerel yesterday. Having lost the BBQ grid overboard last time we did some smoking, we have had to improvise with an old metal in/out tray found discarded! Hope Australia can produce a new one.
Having checked out of New Caledonia (which has to be done in Numea) we are officially on route for Bundaberg but are making our way up the coast before heading west to Chesterfield Reef which will be a 2-day trip. A lot of the northbound trip has been inside the barrier reef so nice and calm, then we did an overnight trip outside the reef to a small town just south of here. With the wind behind us it was a fast but very rolly trip; even wedged in with pillows it was almost impossible to sleep.
Yesterday evening after dark we do what we often do in calm waters, shine a torch into the water beside the boat. This attracts tiny fish very quickly, then slightly larger ones come for a meal. Last night there were a lot of thread-like sea snakes, and a small octopus. It's always different, and always entertaining.
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