Sailing with dolphins

While other mothers in the Southern Hemisphere were getting ready for Mother's Day lunch, this mother was making peanut butter sandwiches and a flask of tea for our sail from Mooloolaba to Noose Heads.  We set off at 9.00 am in overcast weather and with no wind to fill the sails we motored all the way in swells making Robert look distinctly green about the gills.  The only point of interest were 2 sets of shark fins passing by.

 We arrived 4 hours later, avoided the shark nets and anchored as close to the sheltered lee side as possible. Mother's Day festivities were in full swing at Noosa Heads and the sound of a running commentary on loudspeakers carried across the bay until dusk.

Eight hours behind, I received Mother's Day messages from Kristy and Jethro and even better, photos of the two together. I miss them so much and it was so good to see their photos.

After an uncomfortable night in rolling swells, we set off at 9.30 am in glorious sunny weather, again no wind. About 2 hours out of Noosa Heads a pod of dolphins appeared at our bow, leaping and keeping in front of the bow wave.  We were treated to this amazing spectacle for about 20 minutes.  The sea was so calm that we could sit in front of the foredeck and delight in the dolphin display about 2 feet away from us.  If I stretched my leg down, I could have touched them.  From time to time they reappeared around the boat until we anchored at Double Island Point in mid afternoon.  The bay was flat and calm and we watched the dolphins moving about the bay.

 
The sunset was the stuff of postcards.

The night was the stuff of nightmares as our calm anchorage turned into a rollercoaster of rocking swells, lifting the boat and dumping us into troughs. We barely slept as the boat tossed about and the sea slapped hard on the hulls. Morning brought calmer seas and sunshine and we could hardly wait to leave Double Island Point.