Grassy Island, Gloucester Passage and Hideaway Bay

Grassy Island – while the winds were very light we took advantage of a calm anchorage on the north side of Grassy, then in the morning we greeted to a pod of whales breaching and playing just off Little Grassy Island.  

The day got even better when we turned into George Bay and another whale was just cruising up and down beside us.  We stopped the engines and just watched in awe.  By the time we anchored for lunch two more whales had come into the bay and we had good views of them too.  Just after the neighbouring boat left, a pod of whales came right up to us, then circled the boat.  The two adults and a youngster seemed to be checking us out.

Sailing downwind on the genoa through the Gloucester Passage another whale just casually cruised by, so we waved.  The passage is narrow but has channel markers to guide you and we managed to clear it in one tack, passing close to Passage Islet, aka “Shag Islet” the home of Shag Islet Cruising Yacht Club.   

At first we thought Bona Bay looked interesting to anchor, with only a stranded trawler sitting high and dry up on the beach, then two working trawlers came along so we opted to go back to Hideaway Bay.  Gloucester Resort provides free moorings and there is a Bar-Bistro looking over the beach which serves the best salt and pepper calamari.  Up the beach is Monte’s Reef Resort, which also has a great al fresco bar-bistro.

With no reasonable wind forecast we decided to try sailing around Gloucester Island at a very leisurely pace.  No sooner were we out of the passage than a Mayday call came over the radio – a jetski had overturned ne Middle Island, 5 nm off.  We were able to contact the guy in the water and Catlypso, who was heading to Bowne, also responded.  At 6 knots we were half an hour away, but a fishing boat was passing so we flagged them down and asked for their help.  They were able to reach the guy and get him on board, then right the jetski to tow it back to Monte’s Resort.   Emergency over, we thanked the fishermen and set sails again, at a blistering 2 knots!

Around the top of Gloucester we saw whales again, then dolphins, but a different species, not sure which.  A zephyr of wind allowed us to tack, but then the “iron sail” had to be deployed as we were becalmed.  A pod of whales near the island began tail-slapping so we moved closer, but they were still a few miles away.  Whales always put a smile on your dial!