Day 36 6/10 (Wed) – Adventure cruising in Coffin Bay

Up relatively early to make it out of the NP (without hitting any wildlife) in time to make the departure of the Coffin Bay Explorer at 9.30 am. Not as easy as it sounds! Around 15 km from campground into town and speed limit in the park limited to 40. Fortunately arrived in time and looked like our expectations of a gentle cruise around the bay in the sun might be met. Change expected later with a front moving in, but likely to be well after our cruise had finished….. or not….! Wind and chop and increased almost before we left the dock and the rest of the ride was more like “Coffin Bay Adventurer” than “Coffin Bay Explorer”. Or skipper, Dazza, mentioned as we were disembarking that “this was probably about the worst it’s ever been”. Only one broken coffee mug though, and the urn of hot water didn’t fall over (especially once it was placed on the floor). Good fun though and got a great talk on oyster farming (plus as many as you could eat fresh oysters straight off the lease), a wild ride, lots of bird life, one lazing sealion and a fur seal cooling off with its flippers in the air. Decided oyster farming was not my vocation of choice.
Weather seemed to be moderating by the time we got back so after a pub fish & chip lunch we took a drive to Point Avoid. These white sand beaches and turquoise waters just seem to go on forever down here. Frontal weather continued to drift in though with black clouds highlighting the white of the beaches and blue of the sky in the sunlight.
Hair washing with the solar shower in the shower tent successful tonight and water reasonably warm (not as hot as I like it though). Even managed to take the tent down and put it away, albeit with much gnashing of teeth and twisting of limbs.