We arrived in Tumby Bay mid afternoon – one of the last of the boats to arrive and set about rigging and launching ‘TOAIII’. This done we hopped aboard the rubber duckie that was kindly running a water taxi service to shore and headed off to the local cop shop for dinner.

The hospitality of the “Happy Hookers” was exceptional. The local copper being called John Hooker and his boat The Happy Hookers. They put on a barbeque with lots of tasty meat, salads and dessert and at the same time raised funds for the local judo club which the family John, Helen, Emily & Luke are involved in.

As the temperature plummeted around 9pm we all headed back to the boats for a relatively early night. The kids turned up bright and early the next morning to do the “toilet run” and take those of us back to the ramp for our last look at flush toilets for 8 days! The things we take for granted…

Day 2:
Awoke to a stunning day (as it turned out the first of many). The weather forecast is for mild settled weather over the next few days. Finished getting the boat ready – main and no. 1 on, biminy up – we are definitely in cruising mode. We managed to navigate through the very narrow and shallow channel out of the little marina at Tumby and are currently on our way under motor though we are thinking of putting the sails up shortly.

Arrived at Reevesby Island midday and headed off for a walk along the beach to explore our little bit of the island. Saw the farmhouse and then headed back for half past on the beach.

9:30-10:00pm with lots of excitement here on Reevesby and we are the only boat still awake to see it. We’d just said goodnight to Colin after a yummy boat dinner John was taking the air on deck and said there was a helicopter coming with lights on. Then he saw a red glow a couple of bays south of where we were moored and said there must be a fire. It turned out to be flares and the helicopter circled round and landed. We put the radio on but heard nothing. About 10:30pm the helicopter took off and headed south to Port Lincoln. We are curious as to the emergency that has brought a helicopter to the island and hope to find out tomorrow what happened.

Day 3:
Awoke to a stunning dawn and beautiful sunrise. Crisp and cold but still hopped into the water which was also very cold. Learnt a valuable lesson this morning – take shoes into sand is at 6.30am – no… snakes aren’t a worry but cold feet are – the sand is incredibly cold at 6.30am.

The night was stunning too and it was a great excuse for wee breaks… getting up and going on deck to look at the stars, the lights of Tumby Bay twinkling in the distance, very low on the horizon, and the boats gently awash in the bay bathed in moonlight.

We also awoke to several boats hard aground this morning. Colin in ‘Pied-a-mer’ is the worst off as his boat is currently high and dry – his beach shack! I’m sure he will get a ride with someone today as we are going to Smith Rock to see a seal colony. We heard on the coastguard sked this morning that the helicopter came in to pick up a bloke from the yacht ‘Watermark’ which is currently on its way back to Tumby Bay.

A lovely trip down to Smith Rock after a short snook run during which we caught 4 - one each for dinner Monday night.

When we arrived at Smith Rock there were lots of seals in the water and without hesitation Colin was off with snorkel and mask swimming with them. He was closely followed by myself and even Annie didn’t wait long before jumping in to get as close as we could. We were certainly “fascinated” by their antics – the notes from our guide book were quite accurate. There really is no other way to describe this experience except in Helen Smith’s words as she came out of the water “that was the best!”

The seals are incredibly curious and happy to follow us quite closely as we swim with them. They look at you with the most beautiful big brown eyes on their little heads that pop up out of the water. They are also quite frisky jumping and cavorting just as dolphins do.

After a short morning tea break and our dip with the seals we headed off as intrepid explorers to circumnavigate Reevesby Island. We saw lots of dolphins on the way round and had a lovely afternoon sailing arriving back at Nicholas Bay where we dropped Colin off at his now afloat boat and then moved on to tonight’s mooring at Homestead Bay.

Half past on the beach tonight which saw Kieran leave a plate of freshly caught, cleaned & filleted snook on a pile of seaweed. To everyone’s surprise but mainly Kieran’s a pacific gull helped itself to most of the fish and Kieran & Di’s dinner! Survival of the fittest…

Quote of the day (from Colin I think)…“if I’d known it was for nature I wouldn’t have gone fishing”!

We also learnt the true story behind the dramatic rescue from the beach last night. We had visit from Phil on Inky II from Port Lincoln. He and his wife who is a nurse were called to the beach last night to assist. Seems the owner of ‘Watermark’ a large catamaran that was recently moored at the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron had a seizure and was unconscious for several hours. A helicopter was called in from Adelaide and he was flown to Port Lincoln and later to Adelaide.

The funniest sight of the day – Helen & Rob Smith and JP in the small dinghy ‘Osprey Chick’ rowing to shore trying to tow ‘Paradise’ into the beach to set their anchor.

Day 4:
Awaking to another day in paradise. No boats got caught by the low tide this morning. JP collected some razor fish and is going to pickle them. The weather forecast this morning is for more of the same through to the end of the week now – hard to take.

Sailed to Spilesby Island – a late start after part of the group explored the farmhouse on Reevesby. Enjoyed the fact that I got to helm a fair part of the way until JP caught a snook and wanted to tack and gybe back to get more. We managed to convince him that it was time to learn to sail in a straight line (???) and we continued on arriving at Spilesby about 3 1/2 hours later. We were greeted by the news that there were just three blocks of land left for sale – Spilesby is a privately owned island. We were then given the royal tour of the island by Brian & Chris from ‘Fifi’ who had anchored at the island the night before.

Quote of the day goes to Colin (again) when he patted Kieran on the back and said “watch your back mate, there’s a car coming” at the T junction at the top of the rise above the Spilesby Hilton! I think there is one car on Spilesby – there is certainly a cat… I saw it with its owner on the beach when we arrived.

We decided to anchor here overnight and then explore another seal colony and dolphin colony nearby tomorrow.

Talk about seeing it all though… on the walk back to the boats we found a penguin in a cave on the beach and saw seals swimming in the bay. We had caught more snook on the way to the island so we cooked up a heap for half past and an early dinner on the beach.

The decision to stay on Spilesby overnight caused some problems and later some consternation for Pt Lincoln Coast Guard. Helen Smith had left Rob, together with Osprey, painting at Reevesby and had sailed with Colin for the day. Helen & Di (Winsome) got on the radio and tried to contact Rob. They got in contact with another Helen on Osprey who said she had Rob right next to her. It eventuated that he was having half past with the Happy Hookers back at Reevesby. When it came time to do the radio sked for Pt Lincoln Coast Guard both Helen and Di called in and tried to explain the situation to Mick (I think he is still confused about it to this day!).

Tonight there is phosphorescence in the water. I rinsed one of the buckets out and as I threw the water back into the sea it looked as if there were stars in the water. Beautiful!

Quote of the day – Colin referring to Rob Smith (Albert) staying on Reevesby to paint said “this would be referred to as his ‘Reevesby’ period”!

Day 5:
Quote of the day: (from Annie I think)… “Don’t catch too much fish we’ll just have to eat it!”

Yes we’ve awoken to another day in Paradise after a rocky night out in the bay. Well all the excitement happened before 10am today. We circumnavigated Boucaut Island and had two dolphins swim with us part of the way. As the rest of the group caught up we had four dolphins swim with us. So we stopped and had breakfast with the dolphins swimming around us – perfect. As there wasn’t much wind we decided to try to sail to English Island tomorrow. Colin did sail off but only made it to Stickney Island. After much discussion and indecision we decided to hang around here so we dropped a line and caught a squid very quickly (caught by Sally or was that Sue?) I caught the next one but then JP set up the other line to hunt for the elusive giant snapper.

So far it has proven very elusive but we have snagged 3 skate (fiddler) well obviously we are above a skate park and a few more squid. At this point I guess we have to acknowledge that JP caught most of the big fish however as I have only ever caught 4 fish in my entire life – 2 squid in one day was very exciting.

Total fish caught today – 6 squid caught 2 lost… 6 skate/fiddler caught – all kissed and let go by JP!

Day 6:
Well time again to update the journal – today I’ve decided to call it ‘7 Days in Paradise’. Here we sit, bobbing around on a gentle swell having lunch and watching the seals cavort and play, almost to show us how great they are. They are amazing, fascinating.., how do you describe them. They are the most interesting and interested creatures. Their curiosity is amazing and they seem to love to do things with you.

We are currently at English Island having sailed here this morning from Spilesby. There are two islands close together here and the body of water between the two is known to the locals as White Pointer Alley – there is no way any of us are getting in the water here today!

There is a group of seals in the water curious to see what all the boats are about. There are also groups around the island and occasionally a seal will lumber off the rocks and into the water, then cross the little bay towards us leaping out of the water and diving back in…

Helen broke out ‘Osprey Chick’ and rowed closer to the island. She took Di, then Annie in to get a much closer look at the seals. As she rowed round the group of seals in the water leapt around and dived under the dinghy.

Helen then brought the dinghy over for Graham and Gwyn to have a go, then John and I took a spin towards the island. They seem to enjoy coming to the surface, turning on their side and looking up at you. Either that or they all bob up and stare straight at you with their big brown eyes.

We’ve had a quick lunch in amongst all this excitement. Mal has caught another fish (a leatherjacket this time) and we are now getting ready to sail back to Reevesby.

Again today a lot of the excitement has happened before 10am. As we headed out of the bay at Spilesby this morning a dolphin brought her baby up to the bow of ‘TOAIII’ to show it off to us. They were both beautiful – it was quite wonderful to see the mother and baby swimming round the bow of the boat. With crystal clear blue green waters it was so easy to see them swimming with us before heading across the bay.

Quote of the day: heard at half past – Kieran to Colin “I bring out the best in people”. Kieran had been stirring Colin up about rowing ‘Pied-a-mer’ to the shore earlier. Helen had lent Colin ‘Osprey Chick’ and he decided to row ‘Pied-a-mer’ in to the shore. I think it was done just because it could be! He did manage to do so after some time, a fair bit of effort and much encouragement from the half pasters gathered on the shore.

Day 7:
Well this is it… well in fact this was it. Our last day in Paradise. After today we sail (weather permitting) back to Tumby Bay, retrieve the boats and then start the trek home. So here I am – April 24^th, in bathers and at the helm of ‘TOAIII’ bringing us back to Homestead Bay on Reevesby. Yes we are under motor not sail but I’ve sailed ‘TOAIII’ from Judith Shoal to Blythe Island today. I’m back on the helm because we have the paravanes out again – oh no not another b….y snook – seems we’ve caught masses of them, they are huge and not hard to catch either! Annie & John are pulling them in hand over fist. I think that’s the 6^th one for today!!

We had the usual awakening to ‘another day in paradise’ bit around 7.30am this morning and breakfast of bacon and eggs cooked on the barbie on deck – very greasy (and black, possibly fishy?).

So after a reasonably early start a small group headed off to Judith Shoal in search of the giant elusive snapper - and it was. We settled in about 17m of water in a bit of swell about mid shoal mid morning but to no avail. We upped anchor – took two of us to do so – and looked for another spot. JP was on notice that he could move only once, as lifting the anchor with two of us was just too much like hard work! Still no luck. Nothing on the fish finder and nothing on our lines either. Not even a squid or skate! General consensus was time to go sailing!

We raised the anchor, hoisted the sails and headed for Blythe Island. This is much the loveliest island though smallest in the group we visited, Blythe is a sandy atoll – reasonably high covered in boxthorns and scrubby growth. I managed to wrestle the helm from JP and sailed all the way there (an easy reach). I think JP enjoyed the opportunity to stack a few zzz’s (I know Annie did). I really enjoyed the moment too.

We arrived at Blythe mid afternoon and cautiously crept in close to the shore – it was very shallow and rocky where we came in but just round the corner was a deep little bay where the rest of the boats pulled up onto the beach.

We joined the others and wandered round the island for a short circumnavigation – it is a very small island! There was a small group of seals on a rock a short way off the shore basking in the sun. Mostly this group wasn’t interested but a few hopped into the water and came for a closer look at us. They are just so gorgeous I just want to jump into the water with them. I wandered round the corner and there was one big sea lion lazing on a rock – didn’t move an inch. Round the corner further there was one lying on the sand occasionally opening his eye to check my progress and see how close I was to him… otherwise he wasn’t moving either!

Back at the boat we sat and watched the seals for a while longer but they seemed less interested in us and more in enjoying the warmth of the sunshine though there were a couple frolicking a bit further out and a couple came close to the boat for a while.

So back to the snook and our final return to Homestead Bay. We keep putting the snook into the bucket on the deck but they are feisty fighters round here. The last one in the bucket is trying to leap out and in fact does so and leaps into the cabin… Annie & I are mortified – we have to sleep with this smell tonight. JP doesn’t care – he just finds the whole thing amusing. One of the big ones we caught this morning managed to kill itself on the deck thrashing about… it left blood and gore etc all over the deck though!

Our final Half past is a bit later tonight as we all arrived back fairly late from Blythe Island. As usual we gathered to watch the sunset from the beach. Last night’s sunset was the most spectacular but tonight is more poignant being our last. In fact even though it was getting colder (and darker) no one wanted to leave. Richard brought up a light and Helen Smith took a small group off on a penguin night walk. The rest of us just wanted to stay around and be sociable – our last opportunity after all.

Quotes of the day: Helen Smith saying “I’m best after dark” not sure what she was referring to… Penguin walks perhaps?

Colin to Kieran – “take your hand off my buttock”… this when we had Colin standing in a hole on the downside of the beach and Kieran and I on a mound up the beach so we were level with Colin… the first time Colin has been on the same level (height that is) with the rest of us. He’s chuffed and so are we!

As we made our way back to ‘TOAIII’ Helen said “there’s one of the little ones” and as we ran up the beach she was gently shining her torch in the vicinity of a penguin. Poor thing was pretty frightened and wanted to make a dash for the water. He did in the end and swam off into the darkness.

So here we are… last night on Reevesby – the wind has picked up and swung round to the SE so it may be a slightly less comfortable night tonight a bit colder than last night certainly and we can hear the penguins calling (well tonight we know what they are).

So we’ve had it all – seals, dolphins (with baby), penguins, snook, sting rays, skate or fiddlers, beautiful sunsets, flat seas, great sailing from island to island, circumnavigations, walking, eating, drinking, early morning swims in crystal clear water, late afternoon dips and showers on the deck (even the opportunity to wash my hair which was wonderful). Most importantly we have done all this in the company of delightfully wonderful people. How very lucky we are to have all this on our own doorstep… ssh… I think we should keep this our little secret, just you, me and the rest of the TSASA who have made this the trip of a lifetime.

I’ve taken one last look at a star filled sky, listened to the chorus of penguins in the sand dunes and gone to bed. Day 8 yet to come – this is life, this is living, this is the best!

Day 8:
Reevesby, Partney, Marum, Kirkby, Spilesby, Blythe… they roll gently and so easily off the tongue this morning after a week spent sailing amongst them and a bit sad as they disappear slowly over the horizon. The mood was subdued as we awoke to our last morning in paradise. After the usual short walk up the beach in the early morning sun I headed off to the other beach. More wind this morning and lots of surf on this more exposed beach… but I just had to do one last thing and that was to sit in the chair trying the Canute thing of trying to stop the tide. I had as much success as he did so I headed back to the boat for a quick breakfast then it was up with the anchor (last time!), hoist sails and across the bay, out through the islands and back to Tumby Bay. What a lovely sail back, a bit of a swell so we rolled round a bit but we averaged about 5.5 knots and once we had the boat settled Annie and I lazed on the bow enjoying the rock and roll of the trip home.

After navigating the narrow channel several of the boys were there waiting to do the ferrying to pick up cars and trailers. So we rafted up along the ramp and I headed for the first luxury of civilisation – the flush toilet. Sheer luxury.

Then the task of retrieving the boat and de-rigging. The Tumby Bay boat ramp hasn’t seen such activity – wherever you look there are boats on trailers and people stowing equipment and rigging ready for the road trip home.

Then it was off for our next luxury stop – a hot shower at the caravan park and at $3 what a bargain. There were lots of oohs and aahs coming from the ladies showers as we washed 7 days of saltwater, sand and feralness from tired bodies and windblown hair!

We took a short brisk walk along the jetty before dinner where we got the last quote of the day from a little old man at the end of the jetty. As we came up I said “hello little fishies, specially the giant elusive snapper… we know you are out there!” he said, “Plenty of fish out there, just a lot of water around them!” Can’t argue with that!

We all piled into the pub and had a lovely meal. Graham and Gwen took on the task of creating and presenting awards that were mainly presented in absentia. In particular a tide stick for Colin so he wouldn’t be caught with a beach shack again.

‘TOAIII’ decided to hit the road as soon as possible so we, ‘Electra’ and ‘Second Wind II’ headed off after dinner and put a few miles between Tumby Bay and us. We spent the night on the hard on the foreshore at Cowell.

Day 9:
We are on the road, Whyalla is behind us and Port August is not that far ahead. We managed a pretty early start and will stop shortly for breakfast and a badly needed coffee. Home is not that far away – my own bed, hot showers, flush toilets, a stove/oven and microwave – all the little luxuries we take for granted but would we have missed this adventure… no way. To quote Helen – “this is the best!”