Friday 9th December – King crabs for supper

The day started with coffee with Jerry and Sophie, they came to take photos of our Cruising guide book, so they could plan what they were going to do for the next few days before they head back to the UK for Christmas. We had plenty of stories to share. I was desperately loading up my blog in case we lose signal further down the more remoter islands.

We headed off to Banedup Island where we are picking up Luke and George, his uni friend, tomorrow morning. We had a little tense time as we decided to take a left channel around the shallow area between the two islands. It suddenly got a lot shallower and we slowly hit some sand so had to back peddle like crazy and pick up the dagger boards. Very kindly some local guys came from the bar/restaurant and guided us through the very shallow right hand channel and we made it into some open water where we could anchor. Mainly catamarans here, as it is way to shallow for many monohulls. It really is a magical spot with some lovely islands surrounding us.

Islands along the way

We hadn’t anchored for long when the dug out canoes came zooming in. The first was a couple of ladies with young kids who came on board and displayed loads of their embroidery and bead work. I just had to buy a few things! Then two men arrived selling enormous king crabs. Rowan bought one, cooked it and then spent a lot of time getting the flesh out.

I’m having beads tied around my wrist like the locals

The enormous King crabs

Cooked and ready to eat

We flaked out in the afternoon heat! My energy was restored as evening approached and it cooled down. I had to do a major clean up of the guest hull for our guests. Like I said everything needs wiping down as it is covered in a sticky dust. I thankfully only have the other guest room left to clean, currently it is full of boxes!

Rowan made a delicious supper of guacamole and crab served with Aden’s delicious focaccia.

Loads of the dug out canoes have rigging for small sails