Rodds Harbour to Scawfell Island

Lianne

I have been a little tardy in updating our travel on Pyrenees, a combination of no internet in many spots as we head further north and being just too tired after long passage days. The first long day started off in Rodds Harbour with a 4.15am alarm set for a 4.30am departure which did not happen (see Stuart’s notes), after a very lonely, eerie night in pitch black.

The scenery as we did the 70nm trek north was gorgeous, massive mountain range to the west, with stunning boulder style rock islands. This was highlighted by the rolling clouds that got darker and darker as we neared Cape Capricorn. Luckily only one bolt of lightning was seen, and it was well south of us. We did however put our safety vests on and tethered ourselves into the cockpit just in case the wind squalls in front of the rain got any stronger. As the seas were quite agitated, we decided it was best to boycott our planned anchorage at Hummicky Island and continue to Great Keppel Island.

• 

Spotting Great Keppel Island in the distance was a welcome relief, and as we passed the island on the Eastern side, the sheer cliffs, and little secluded beaches looked beautiful. The island is spectacular from this side and extremely rugged. As we passed around the Northeastern point the water was immediately crystal clear. A friend who grew up in the area says its gin clear water, and he is right!  We anchored off Svensens Beach and collapsed!

• 

Next morning, after a very rolly night and not much sleep we headed into the beach and went for a walk over to one of the East facing beaches. The walk is clearly marked and maintained by the few people that reside on the island. Goats roam and the coconuts are abundant. We did a tiki tour in the dinghy and found a little lagoon that meanders up behind a sandspit – it even had channel markers and at the end a boat was moored!!

 After moving the boat slightly further into the beach and setting R2D2 (the seabrake) to help stop the roll we headed for sundowners. Tonight, drinks were on the beach where a cabana is permanently set up for the yachties to use, complete with chairs, coconut spike, firepit and firewood. It was too warm for the fire, but we had a lovely afternoon chatting with Cat-man-do and two yachties that had been at the island for months and come every year. The trip back to Pyrenees resulted in my sunglasses going for a swim as we negotiated getting back on board with Pyrenees rolling in the swell! 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Next morning after a slightly (and I mean only slightly) better night’s sleep we woke to the bay being shrouded in fog. Waiting for it to clear I did some laps around the boat in TT (tender) looking for my sunnies. With the water being 3-6m deep you could clearly see the bottom but unfortunately no glasses.  (Overboard casualty #1)

The resort that had the advertising catch phrase of Get Wrecked on Great Keppel, was in a bay around the western shore and closed back in 2006(?) Such a pity as the island is very scenic, has lots of great walks and that water well I have never seen anything so clear before. I do wonder about all the closed resorts along the route north, Keppel, Lindeman, Brampton, South Molle, and others that I cannot recall the names, how they would be fairing today if they were still open with Australians travelling extensively in our own beautiful country?

With tidal constraints on us entering Rosslyn Bay (Keppel Bay Marina) we had to leave in thick fog and make our way with me on look out and Stuart watching the chartplotter and radar.  It was so thick we could not spot the flashing white light, indicating an isolated danger when we passed within a couple of hundred metres from it. Just as we got to Miall Island the fog cleared and we counted at least 15 fishing boats in our vicinity. We never saw their lights, if they had them on (many fishing boats don’t use navigation lights). As we approached the entrance clear blue sky made for an easy entry.

After refuelling at the local fisherman’s coop, we went to our pen. As we draw so much water we were put on the outer end of the arm, which was an easy dock, but our daily step count just took a massive leap as it was a 400m walk to the marina amenities. (And doing the washing means multiple trips). On our first walk down, the marina arm we were greeted by a turtle graving on the soft corals and weed growing on the floating pontoons.

This marina is the largest we have been to with approximately 1000 berths, a good restaurant, friendly staff and complimentary courtesy car, though the amenities are in need of upgrading. Three domestic size washing machines meant constant queues for the laundry and the bathrooms were well let’s be polite, below average.

We had a great few night, met up with some boats from previous anchorages. Met an ex-work colleague of Stuart’s as we walked along the dock and then later had dinner with him. Thursday was shopping for boat essentials in the Courtesy car with John & Di from Cat-man-do, which did not include any groceries! That night we were treated to a beautiful dinner in Yeppoon, with friends from Singapore’s mum, Lola who lives in the area. We had a wonderful night, enjoyed great food at a restaurant called Rocks, (which we highly recommend) and the company was excellent!

The next day I actually got the shopping done along with some cooking to restock the freezer as we are now planning not to go into a marina for 3 weeks. Afterwards it was a big meetup at Capricorn Cruising Yacht Club for, you guessed it, sundowners but we added dinner. It’s a great little club which only employs 2 people a manager and caretaker (who sits and chats with everyone), the other staff are all volunteers, including those that do dinner. $17.50 for a two-course meal, which you must book for and is only available on Fridays. Other nights you are welcome to BYO food and use the barbecue. Everyone is welcome and it is in a good location. Yeppoon was a great stop, and we will definitely come by on the way home, with fingers crossed we get a good weather window to spend some more time around the Keppels.

6am and a mass exodus from the marina got underway, as the Shoalwater Bay military zone has just reopened after being closed for live firing practice for a week and this area provides numerous safe anchorages to get from the Keppel Islands to the Whitsunday group of islands without having to do overnight passages. It looked like we were in an offshore race with the number of boats both in front and behind us.

We opted to go to Island Head Creek, slightly further north but well protected. We had 5 other boats for company and had a great night’s sleep after trying a spot of fishing. Overboard casualty #2 Stuart’s hand reel, and it was not the result of a huge fish

Another long passage was the order of the day, heading to the Percy Islands, starting off at first light and watching the sunrise as we exited the bay, cautiously following our track in from the previous night due to a number of sand bars within the bay. Once clear we had a good sail and with the winds coming from the West opted to go to South Percy Island to try and get some protection from the swell.   I was disappointed that we could not get to Middle Percy as it is quite iconic in the cruising yachties world, with an A frame with literally thousands of boat plaques on it dating back many years. Hopefully on the way home?

South Percy was lovely though and much more protected than Middle Percy. We had a quiet night with only 3 other boats and the bay was very picturesque, littered with reefs and very rocky beaches. I also managed to catch our first “keepable” fish here– no idea what it was but filleting was a nightmare, and it was full bones!

Another early start, it was dark, not a hint of light as we left and peering into the blackness left me feeling a little unwell.  As the day dawned, a cuppa and some breakfast and I was all good for the run to Scawfell Island.

 We hit a milestone today 1000nm (1852km) since we left Sydney and we entered the Whitsunday Group. Champagne was in order! Unfortunately, so was another rolly night.

• 

• 

We opted to stay here for two nights and the second we gave Rocky a rest and picked up a public mooring that had become free.  It was little less windy and closer to the reef which made getting to the beach impossible with the tides we had whilst there. Content though on the boat watching the turtles, which were constantly bopping to the surface and going out on TT for a run.  We were invited to Cat-man-do for dinner; we had the sundowner boat etiquette down pat but had no idea on dinner etiquette. Turns out its just like going to someone’s house – so I managed to make something that resembled a crumble with the last of our Anzac biscuit supply, frozen berries and some apples. I can also vouch for the UHT/Long life whipping cream – tastes great and whips very well. Dessert was a lovely finish to a yummy freshly caught Tuna curry.

Coming back to the boat was a well-choreographed affair, with timing our entry off the back of the cat into the dinghy, then pottering over to Pyrenees with PFD (life jackets) on. Then once there timing between the swells to jump aboard – not overboard casualties, though we did opt for not lifting the dinghy onto the davits till the next morning.

At this point I am thinking a new navigator might be in order, or I have to speak nicely to the weather gods as we rolled for another night. One thing though, with all the tossing and turning you certainly get to know how the boat reacts to different swells and currents. It also gives you faith in the gear we have aboard. Only once have we been launched out of bed with the anchor drift alarm blasting (it is so loud we probably woke half the bay) Turned out we were all secure with us not setting the radius as large as we should have with the amount of chain out.

TT in place and we continue our way north…..

Stuart,

Well, it’s not all peaches and cream on an extended cruise and I’ve heard others describe cruising as periods of great joy interspersed with periods of terror, it’s not been at all like that for us though, today was another thunderstorm test! We woke at 0430 after a brilliant calm night at anchor in Rodds Harbour only to see lightening on the horizon. A quick check of the weather service radar showed 2 storms heading our way and confirmed by Pyrenees radar. We waited for a gap between storms but were delayed 3 hours before our 67 nautical mile passage to Great Keppel Island (GKI). Light-ish breezes meant more motor sailing interspersed with some speed changes to help us miss 2 more storms at Cape Capricorn and at the Keppels with the former looking very ominous. We were pleased to get into the lee of GKI and calm waters. Unfortunately, the swell wrapped completely around the island, our first night was very rolly and noisy as bottles fell over and doors slammed. Next day after moving inshore by about 100m, I got to use our drogue in anger by hanging it off the spinnaker pole with a number of lines to hold the spinnaker pole out from the boat and blocks and lines to lower the drogue into the water. It did a great job of slowing our roll on our second night at GKI though it’s primary purpose on the boat is as a safety measure for slowing the boat in a following storm sea.

• 

• 

After 3 nights at Keppel Bay Marina catching up with old friends and work colleagues and new cruising friends along with mandatory washing and reprovisioning (including a new trolling lure which still hasn’t had a bite) we left at 0600 for a 60-mile day to Island Head Creek which is in the Shoalwater Bay Military area. Shoalwater Bay was shut for live firing exercises the previous week so we were in the company of 20 other boats who were like us delaying departure until we could enter one of 3 anchorages within the area. All are beautiful and protected but we must consult the government’s Notices to Mariners to check for closures and we will carefully plan our southward return to give us more time here. Island Head Creek was another shallow entrance where we needed mid-tide to enter which coincided nicely with our transit from Keppels and again our 0600 departure the next morning for South Percy Island, which was again successfully accomplished by following our back track.

• 

• 

The journey to the Percy’s was uneventful and only 48 miles which saw us anchored in a beautiful bay on South Percy Island and despite the seas on the journey north where we managed a few hours of sailing without a motor, it was a fairly calm anchorage despite the warnings in the cruising guides. Up at 0445 and weighing anchor at 0500 for a 68-mile passage to Scawfell Island which is massive and stunning and provides a great anchorage on its northern side. Unfortunately, not much wind today but we did motor sail half of the passage. The day was warm and was shorts and tee shirts nearly all day on a fairly calm sea. Due to the big tides and currents around Shoalwater Bay, we did have a continuous series of course adjustments to keep us on track but our major test for the day was judging the correct boat speed to cross the Hay Point coal terminal shipping lanes that were quite busy. Pyrenees is equipped with an AIS system that detects other vessels and calculates potential for collision including a Closest Point of Approach (CPA). A large bulk ore carrier travelling at 14 knots was apparently going to be within 3 minutes of us and 1.5miles. A minor course adjustment and an increase in engine speed saw that CPA increase to 4 miles which still felt way too close and there was a big sigh of relief from the skipper when we had crossed the shipping channel.

• 

Arriving at Scawfell Island marked two milestones for us. Firstly, we have now arrived in the Whitsundays where we have cruised previously on Pyrenees so are familiar with the region but also the sailing becomes line of sight as the passages are short and you can see the next island rather than having to rely on compass bearings. The most significant milestone though was that we have now sailed over 1,000NM since having left Pittwater on May 9. A celebratory champagne was in order and another beautiful sunset … maybe it is all peaches and cream?