Bark Bay Beach/Lagoon

After spending yesterday enjoying the waters of Bark Bay, today we decided to explore the beach, lagoon and waterfalls. After waiting for the tide to fill the lagoon, we launched the dinghy and headed for the golden sands of Bark Bay. We motored straight up the lagoon to the swing bridge by Falls river where Vela jumped on the paddleboard to make the most of the flat water.

We navigated the entirety of the two estuaries before landing on the golden sands and swimming in the warm waters of the lagoon. Amin and Cil both had a go on the paddleboard, but spent more time sitting down or swimming than standing up!

We headed back to Starling and made some lunch - beef burger patties on wraps (because the burger buns had started to go mouldy). By this time the wind had built, and it was reaching a point where we wanted to move Starling to a more sheltered anchorage.

We upped anchor as the wind was really getting up, and headed back down the coast for some shelter at Observation Beach, inside Adele Island. On the way, we recorded 34kt of wind at the top of the mast (which is notorious for under reading) and saw 41kt from the now cast at Separation Point. The wind was blowing us along at almost 5kt without a motor or any sails up.

Fortunately it was much more sheltered at Observation Beach, so we relaxed with a couple more card games while we waited for the tide to improve at Marahau. After a seamless delivery of Amin and Cil back onto dry land, we spent the night at Observation Beach, enjoying a moody sunset which cast some amazing yellow light onto the clouds.Read more