Breakfast (or a variation thereof) on Karragarra draws a crowd
and today was no exception. A colourful dozen left the barking
dragon boat for a more genteel plod. There was plenty of water in
the Garden Island passage marked by a distant communications
tower and the absence of the usual birds of prey. Once through
there was a curious sight of a muscovy duck being handled by a
couple of fishermen. Pelican, maybe, but a duck ? It was such an
odd sight, I had to check it out. Turned out this muscovy had
swum out of the mangroves of Garden Island and come so close that
it had entangled itself in their fishing line. They had been
freeing it, not feeding it. Undeterred the muscovy simply hung
around the other side of the boat. It even approached my kayak
when I went to find out if they had taken their pet duck fishing.
We pulled up on the sandy shore next to the barge landing point
on Karragarra. The morning warmed as the air filled with the
smell of bacon and coffee and the group was transformed into a
bakers dozen with Shane calling in via scooter. I almost had a
new kayak when the barge landed. The old girl was rescued by
thoughtful hands, although having to say it was crushed by a
barge could have made for an interesting claim.
We passed through the Lucas Passage on a full tide and were
intersected by familiar faces coming the opposite direction on
their way back from Blakesleys. Blakesleys has apparently been
commandeered by National Parks and delegated as a day use area
only. Like to see how that news goes down with some of the
regulars.
The morning remained quiet and still as we started to
circumnavigate Lamb, calling into a park neither Mark nor I had
visited before. Partly because it would be inaccessible on the
low and more likely because we would be further out looking for
the wind and had not noticed it. Near the top of the tide it was
a charming place with a pebbly shore, picnic shelter and tidy
loo.
We enjoyed a slice (mine was bigger than Marks only because I was
quicker) of Carol's lumberjack cake - a rich date and sultana
cake with a sweet shredded coconut topping. Today was genteel
food cruise with the next stop on the southern aspect of
Karragarra away from the noisy crowd so often encountered around
the Russell Island barge landing point. Dean and Ken were keen to
continue so we dropped the chequered flag for the all boy red
racing team and retired for lunch with the mossies in the park.
Mind you, the sign said you couldn't do much at this grassy
conservation area on Karragarra, furthermore, all approved
activities had to be completed by 10PM.
Back out on the water there was a useful breeze up until the Ws
where the water was starting to wear a bit thin. Thereafter the
breeze blew equally thin and it was a plod all the way back to
the ramp. Hard to believe the forecast was for a week of wet
weather after such a glorious day on the bay.
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