Forgot to mention that we did dive the Goss Passage between Beacon Island and Long Island. It was an ok dive, with lots of fish and some big bait balls, but it was chilly especially if you dropped below 14m or so…

So from Long Island, we headed to Turtle Bay at the top of East Wallabi. The airport is there, so we started to see more people on the beach (flown in for a day trip to the Abrolhos!). We had an explore ashore but there isn’t much to see. Our attention turned to the reef. We snorkelled it and found crays, got the noose and bag and went hunting. Took a while to work out the technique but we ate crayfish that night - having got 3. Next day we bagged another 3. The next just 1. At that point a weather change was coming so we moved around to anchor near Pigeon Island, which is where the professional cray fishermen have their homes.

One of the super yacht crew that Laura had talked to suggested Shag Rock as a good spot. Nina and I headed down there in quite lively conditions and we found loads. We bagged 3, then returned as we could see a squall approaching. Fortunately it missed us.

The next day, the 3 of us headed down, and got 6 including 2 monsters.

By this point, it was non-stop lobster - nearly every meal (except breakfast). We hadn’t got sick of them yet… We moved back around to Turtle Point anticipating our move to Shark Bay, but couldn’t resist taking another 3 with us…

Whilst at Pigeon Island, we took the dinghy over to West Wallabi island, home of the oldest European buildings in Australia - built by Wiebbe Hayes and the soldiers from the Batavia to defend themselves from attack by Cornelisz and the other mutineers/murders.

It was interesting to put yourself in their place and see the land and what they had to deal with. Its not changed much since then! It was really interesting to breathe more life into the book we’d read.

So our time in the Abrolhos was coming to an end - next up was Shark Bay - an overnight sail up the coast, and the South Passage entrance which had an interesting description in the guide about waiting outside the bar and timing your run through the waves….