Sunday 5 May Great Keppel island via Pancake Creek

This afternoon we arrived at the northern anchorage of Great Keppel island after a two day trip broken with an overnight stop in Pancake Creek. The first leg was 60 miles of sailing and motoring, the second leg nearly all motoring in wind less conditions. It's nowhere as nice as sailing but far less demanding meaning more time to watch the sea (and less waves equals better visibility) looking for critters. I'm always on the watch for a tell tale spout blow from a whale as sperm whales should be beginning their migration up the coast very soon. No whales were out today and we had to make do with a dinner table sized turtle resting on the surface and the playful antics of a couple of large bottlenose dolphins. The dolphins were riding the bow so close we're sure their tail were on the hull. One was distinctive for having the last two inches of it's upper beak missing – you could see the teetch of his lower jaw.

As we arrived at Keppel I think I saw a dugong too – something large and dark flipped it's round tail and dived from the surface. Unfortunately those are the best things we saw at Keppel because the weather turned nasty and by the next morning an uncomfortable swell had worked it's way into the bay.