Southport To Mooloolaba

Lianne

A well-deserved long lazy lunch was high on the agenda after our non-stop trip to Southport. So, after refuelling Pyrenees (we had to wait whilst a boat took 3hours to take on 30,000l – happy not to have their bill!) and having much needed showers, it was up to the Yacht Club. Drinks all round, lots of laughter and storytelling. We had spent almost 3 days together but conversations with the other watch was limited to what was happening around us and on the radar. It was great to have everyone together, have others cook and have a drink (we had a dry boat for the journey north) whilst we relived the trip.

Before we knew it, the crew headed home and, we were on our own.

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We spent the next few days reorganising, cleaning, washing and of course doing some work on Pyrenees to ensure everything was set for the upcoming legs.  Some old friends joined us from Brisbane on Friday night, and we wondered up to Marina Mirage for a seafood dinner. A slow start the next day, unsure whether it was the “Bolly” or the homemade rum that was the cause! 

Stuart had been, as always watching the weather and our expected departure of the early hours of Sunday morning was not looking good. Strong wind warnings were being issued from Brisbane down to Brunswick Heads.  We made the decision to extend our mooring for a day and delay the departure till Monday morning. As our boat neighbour said, “you are better off being in here, wishing you were out there, than being out there, wishing you were in here!” This gave us the opportunity to catch up with Rob & Sandy from Brisbane that had also sailed with us in Asia.

Sunday night, all looked good for Monday, so alarms set for 4am.

With the marina in darkness, and with some cross current still running, we backed out of our pen and headed up the channel.  It is a maze of channel marks, cardinal marks, and isolated danger marks to navigate to head up the channel.  We were slightly off course, luckily going awfully slow as we as there were a few tense moments of very shallow water!

We cleared Gold Coast Seaway at first light and started the 75nm run to Tangalooma.  There were lots of boats to the south as we headed out and plenty exiting the Seaway to head out to the shelf to fish, but we were on our own heading north.  The wind was in our favour and we set the genoa (headsail) which gave us an extra knot. (It does not sound much but I assure you every bit counts!)  It was a beautiful clear blue sky with a small rolling swell but so cold.  We were both rugged up including beanies and gloves for the entire trip (thought we were in Queensland).

By midday (yes it was still cold) we were just shy of Cape Moreton, the northern tip of Moreton Island and the sight of the first lighthouse established in Queensland, built in 1857 from local sandstone by “good conduct” prisoners.  It marks the entrance to the shallow waters of Moreton Bay and arriving at high tide ensured we had enough depth to comfortably round the Cape.

Following along the shoreline of Moreton Island, we watched the 4wd running up and down the sand, dodged a few shallow spots with breaking waves and started to make sense of the many shipping channels that run in the bay. When we reached Tangalooma, there were a few other boats anchored in the bay, we found a great good spot just near the southern end of the wrecks and set Rocky (our amazing Rocna anchor) out with 35m of chain for company.  

Sundowners were had in the cockpit watching the last light over the wrecks and the glass bottom boat from the resort running around. Not long after we finished dinner, the winds picked up out of the South West causing quite a chop (not in the forecast). This combined with the wakes from the ships transiting the channels through the night equalled not much sleep and Stuart up on deck at the changing of the tide to make sure Rocky was hanging on tight!

Next morning, we had hoped to go exploring on Tiny Ted (The tender) but still lots of chop so waited for the wind change to the South east – by nightfall it had changed around and although it was a better night’s sleep, it was not good.  Tangalooma as an anchorage is very exposed, and maybe in better conditions it would be good specially to do some snorkelling around the wrecks but certainly has not made it onto our list of favourites.

To navigate Moreton Bay is a logistical puzzle with multiple shipping channels and very shallow waters, so we lifted Rocky around 7am to have plenty of light and plenty of time to make our next stop on the high tide. The winds were up around 20 knots and whilst we were crossing the Bay in the protection of Moreton Island it was choppy but not too bad. By putting up the Genoa Pyrenees was more settled though we had to furl it away a few times as we crossed the channels and dodged the 200m plus container ships.

Out of the protection of the Island, we had a ‘confused’ sea, which means it is horrible. The sea and swell are coming from different angles, tossing the boat around and producing some large troughs and nice big green rolling swells. Mixed with rain squalls – it was not fun. Deciding a coffee/tea was in order I headed below to do the ship’s log and make a cuppa.  Big mistake as I managed to pour boiling water over my hand whilst trying to fill the espresso press.  Luckily not too bad, but made wearing a glove unbearable. On a good note, though I did not get seasick – got remarkably close, especially when Stuart wanted me to winch the sail in harder – he thought it would take my mind off how I was feeling!!!!  

Our destination of Mooloolaba was in sight, and when you are not feeling the best, there is nothing better than being able to see the end point. Mooloolaba has a very narrow, shallow entrance and on our approach, we managed to have a torrential downpour, a bunch of dinghies racing just off the bar and two dredging rigs in the middle of the channel, as if we needed the challenge!

Easier than it was looking we crossed the bar, and we slowly came down the river, admiring some of the canal homes, past the commercial marina docking at The Wharf, a small marina we had booked into for a few nights to reprovision and get the timing right for the leg to Wide bay Bar (Fraser Island).  It’s very central with lots of restaurants and the beach in easy walking distance. We had a great meal our first night at Riceboi, they do not take bookings and even on a Wednesday at 6.15pm we had to queue for 30minutes to get in.  The food was fantastic, we love Asian food, and this is one of the best Asian meals we have had outside of Asia. If you are in Mooloolaba you must go.

We have extended our stay, weather and tides are not aligning for our leg to the Great Sandy Straights, or more accurately for us to cross Wide bay Bar at the southern end of Fraser island. Currently 3m swell over a bar that is only 5m deep at high tide, it is a no go for our 2.35m keel. 

Time to wait, wash, walk and find things to fix…

Stuart

Well, it has been an interesting if not frustrating week. After a nice stay at Southport Yacht Club, we headed north around Cape Moreton through the Inner Freeman Channel. Minimum depth of 5m and we crossed at the top of the tide so no overfalls or standing waves. We left in a sou’wester that was meant to shift to the south east during the afternoon but unfortunately this did not eventuate, and we were anchored at Tangalooma on a lee shore with 14 miles of fetch to the other side of Moreton Bay and accordingly rolled and bounced all through the night which was made worse when the tide changed and held Pyrenees stern into the waves. This was our first real experience with this on this voyage and certainly will not be the last. The winds did shift albeit 24 hours later than forecast so our second night at anchor was much calmer. It is an interesting anchorage but as the cruising guides all say – uncomfortable with any west in the breeze.

Wednesday we set sail across Moreton Bay towards Caloundra crossing several different shipping channels and easily avoiding several ships by watching our AIS system and the chart plotter. The voyage was interrupted by several rain squalls – the last as we were sailing up the coast from Caloundra to Mooloolaba where we also used the radar as a ship was heading our way after picking up it’s pilot off Mooloolaba. The seas increased as we came out of the lee of Moreton Island and it was bumpy for a while – at least until we rounded Point Cartwright. Radio call to the Coast Guard and a working dredge in the Mooloolah River entrance saw us amble up the western side of the entrance into the calm of the river and into our berth at Mooloolaba Wharf Marina. The hot showers were welcomed as we were wet and cold after 6 hours at sea – half of which was rain squalls.

And now we are looking at 6 nights here as our next destination is the fabled Wide Bay bar – unfortunately, weather conditions are not good to cross in the next couple of days particularly in our deep draft Pyrenees and then the high tides which we need to cross the bar in, are in dark hours so at the earliest we will be doing the crossing on Wed 26^th May or maybe even the 27^th. Plenty of other boats are in the same situation and we are meeting some of them in the marina here whilst others wait it out at Double Island Point which is about 45 nautical miles north of us and a very comfortable sail. We have filled our time here with some shopping, more boat maintenance and cleaning. Mooloolaba is a nice place to be holed up with plenty to do including dinner in Noosa last night and maybe we’ll head to the Holey Moley putting course in Maroochydore 😉 And how could I forget International Chardonnay Day is this Sunday, so I’ll be finding something suitable in the stores of Pyrenees to mark the occasion.

Fun Fact

Mooloolaba derives from the Aboriginal word mulu, meaning snapper fish, or mulla meaning Red-bellied Black Snake.  It is also one of the busiest seafood ports on the Eastern Seaboard.