Two On The Loose

Nara Inlet to Coral Sea Marina

Lianne

We left the cocoon of Nara Inlet early and headed over to Coral Sea Marina. After waiting for permission to come into the fuel wharf outside the marina entrance , we refuelled and safely put Pyrenees into her pen. As planned the riggers arrived on the boat first thing Monday morning to head up our mast and check out what has happened with our halyard. Not good news which I am sure Stuart will explain in detail.

We spent the couple of days re provisioning, doing the obligatory run to Bunnings and of course the washing! To get relief from boat chores we headed into town for the Shag Islet Cruising Yacht club drinks night (yes there is such a club, well patronised by cruising boaties, and the funds raised support Prostrate cancer research). Another night into town with local friends, Sea Lanes and friends of theirs who were in town inspecting a boat to purchase. Airlie is a lovely little town, and an easy walk from the marina. It unfortunately like many tourist areas in North Queensland is suffering with no overseas or local tourists, and many of the shops are boarded up.

As the boat could not be fixed immediately (no parts in the local area) we headed off under strict instructions to be gentle with our girl , and not sail. So, we are officially a motor boat till August 10^th! Next stop Whitehaven Beach

One of the amazing rock formations in the area

As you approach Whitehaven from the North, its craggy rocks, and deep bays. Then Hill Inlet with its turquoise waters appears and from here the 6km expanse Whitehaven Beach arcs southward. We have been here numerous times before, and this time, like the all the times before takes my breath away. The aqua water and the white sand is nature at its best. Anchoring at the Southern end, we notice that a few boats we had met before were here too and it was not long before the call for sundowners on the beach was made. One of the nice things about being on the beach, is that other cruising boats see you and just join in, even if they have never met you before, all up we had about 9 boats at drinks, with no one else on the beach.

Although we have been to Whitehaven before, we have never anchored overnight as conditions had not been favourable. Last night was perfect and we both got a great nights sleep. Up before sunrise we headed to the beach so I could do some photography whilst the beach was empty and Stuart walked to one of the lookouts – he certainly got the better shots, though I made friends with lots of seagulls!

After a swim and walk along the beach, the day boats were starting to arrive and disgorge passengers onto the beach signally time to head back to Pyrenees and to our next anchorage. Whilst lifting TT onto the davits, we had a visit from Gladys the grouper (named by the catamaran Alexis, as she turns up every day at the same time no matter what 😊) We managed to get some photos of the gentle giant that hangs around the boats, probably waiting for a free feed.

Next stop was Maconna Bay, via Solway Passage or as I call it the boiling pot. A narrow passage between Haselwood Island and Whitsunday island that can get some very interesting tidal action! This track took us through Fitzalen Passage , past Hamilton Island and back into Whitsunday Passage. It was the long way around but who cares. Maconna is a lovely protected bay on Hook Island, our first time here and it has some large reef areas that you have to give a wide berth. Anchoring is a little unnerving as the reef always looks closer than it actually is. Stuart even took us over to the reef in the dinghy to put me at ease as I was concerned we were too close. We had a little tiki tour of the bay and tried to spot the dolphins who had surfaced amongst the boats just prior to us launching the dinghy, to no avail.

With time to potter we headed up to Stonehaven, spying a whale in the distance and decided a few days here would be nice. The moorings are only 24 hours, so on our second day we switched moorings and managed to get one of two that is inside a little lagoon, fringed by reef. Stunning! Stonehaven is such a favourite anchorage for me. We finally got the paddle boards out and explored the reef on them. Snorkel and masks strapped to the front of the boards, so we could grab them if anything interesting appeared.

Sundowners was on Pyrenees, mainly as she has the largest cockpit and there were four boats that had been at Whitehaven anchored nearby. Lots of stories, with many people still trekking north and swapping anchorage tips on places we have all been, with G& T’s flowing of course.

Passing Langford, a little island which is more a sand spit and hardly visible at high tide, we made our way around Hayman Island to Blue Pearl Bay. Hayman, in my opinion, is one of the least pretty islands in the Whitsunday’s. In comparison to the others it is quite arid and the beaches are hard work to walk on or to land the tender, being coral rubble. Hayman is still showing the wows of Cyclone Debbie in 2017 more than the other islands, with many bare trees still visible.

Blue Pearl Bay, is on the northern side of Hayman (opposite side to the resort) and is a popular spot for snorkelling and on the outer limits fishing. With our previous failed attempts at fishing we decided to snorkel instead. The water is still cool (for us) so wetsuits were in order to extend our time in the water with the masses of fish. Parrot fish were prolific, munching on the coral, damsel fish, butterfly fish and a very large cod hiding under a bombora. We delighted in watching the fish stop at a cleaning station.

Later in the day, I was experimenting with an idea I had for photography, but had to abort as a large angel fish thought my subject would be nice for afternoon tea, and I did not want him to get hooked up. After a while when I figured the angel fish had wondered off, I tried again. This time a turtle thought it would be good to see what was happening. Needless to say I stopped again and photographed the turtle instead!

From Blue Pearl Bay, it was an easy trip around the Western shore of Hayman , then down to Hook Island and into Butterfly Bay. Reefs line both shores of Butterfly so you are spoilt for choice of where to snorkel. Cyclone Debbie caused quite a lot of damage to the coral in here as the bay faced straight into its path. As you snorkel there is a lot of dead and broken coral It is though, very heartening to see the way the coral is recovering with new shoots appearing everywhere and the soft coral thriving.

The afternoon (prior to sundowners) entertainment was watching a charter boat come in and head deep into the bay. We thought it was going to turn around behind Sea Lanes, but luckily Sea Lanes realised they were not turning and called for them to STOP as they were heading to one of the many bommies submerged in this bay. Narrowly missing it, they turned back to a mooring near us. The mooring lines are huge and are difficult to get onto the cleats, so with some yelled instructions they got the boat onto one. Stuart did his good deed for the day and went over to ensure the boat was all secure and to ensure they had a safety line onto the mooring. They were very appreciative of the assistance and we found out how little instruction these charterers are given!

Off to Maconna, by circumnavigating Hook Island was thwarted by the swell and our need to be gentle with Pyrenees, so we turned 180deg and headed back through Hook Passage into calmer waters. Whilst navigating back through the weather forecast changed, so we changed our destination to CID harbour. Enroute whales! A mum and bub were taking a leisurely swim down Whitsunday Passage, we think possibly nursing the baby. We watched them for ages, when we thought they disappeared we put the motor back into gear and started heading south again. No sooner had we done this than they appeared again, 100m off the stern of the boat. Straight back into neutral and we got front row seats as they made there way across the passage. When they had gone again, we steered towards Cid Harbour, and in the distance, just off Cid Island we could see a couple of whales breaching. Too far away to capture but still wonderful to see.

The next four nights we stayed in Cid as the wind gusted outside the Harbour. We moved spots once, to get a bit more clearance from the other boats and hopefully get some data coverage (to no avail). We were one of the closest into the shore, which gave us some nice protection and ensured no boats came close. By the second night I counted about 45 boats hiding out here. We spent the days pottering on the boat. Even though we are in paradise, there is still ovens to be cleaned, floors to be swept and stainless steel to be polished. Hard work deserves sundowners on the beach, watching magical sunsets with Champagne, (supplied by Pyrenees) and Caviar (supplied by Sea Lanes). 😉

With Pyrenees booked in for the repair work, we headed across the bay towards Airlie whilst the weather was somewhat calmer. Our plan was Funnel Bay for tonight, but it was living up to its name as we passed by it early this morning, so we are in a little known anchorage called Bluff point. There are no beaches, just rocky shores and mangroves. Great thing though, we are tucked in out of the wind with only us and one other boat in the bay.

Stuart

From Nara Inlet we headed into Coral Sea Marina for repairs, refuelling and reprovisioning. We had a new depth sounder and log installed which provides boat speed through the water which helps with navigating in these waters where the current often flows quite quickly. The broken halyard turned out to also include a damaged genoa foil (track that the sail slides into) and a damaged forestay all of which needed parts to be delivered and the work couldn’t be started till mid-August. The end result is no sailing until the work is finished so more motoring for the next couple of weeks. Whilst in port we replaced the filters on our trusty water maker as they had been in fairly constant use for the last 3 months.

From Airlie Beach we headed east to Hook Passage steaming between Hook and Whitsunday Islands where we encountered some mild tidal overfalls with small breaking waves where the wind waves stand up against the tidal current flowing in the opposite direction before heading south to the iconic Whitehaven Beach where we anchored for the night. The next day we continued with a clockwise circumnavigation of Whitsunday Island passing through Solway Passage and Fitzalen Passage before anchoring in Macona Inlet which required careful navigation through a narrow channel before entering a quite wide bay. Macona provided good protection from winds coming out of the north and a very peaceful night.

As the wind shifted around and went very light, we headed north to the Stonehaven anchorage at Hook Island where paddleboarding and snorkelling were in order. The snorkelling was continued at Blue Pearl Bay off Hayman Island where we spent the night on a public mooring buoy. Next day was off to the northern end of Hook Island to Butterfly Bay and though the winds were out of the North East, they were very light and we had a peaceful night and more snorkelling.

A return to strong south east trade winds saw us take shelter in Cid Harbour for 4 nights which is a no swim zone due to sharks. We recorded a maximum wind speed of 33 knots here but our fabulous Rocna anchor held strong along with a good length of 12mm anchor chain deployed.

We were due to head back to Airlie Beach on Sunday but decided to cross Whitsunday Passage early Saturday morning as the forecast showed a slightly lower wind speed Saturday. I’m not sure that eventuated as it was quite bumpy on the crossing until we passed through Unsafe Passage between the Molle Islands – it is in fact quite safe for yachts and smaller ferries! The Molle Channel was a lot calmer than Whitsunday Passage due largely to the lower tidal currents

Gladys: the friendly Groper at Whitehaven

Our intended anchorage at Funnel Bay near Airlie was very windy and had what would have been an uncomfortable sea running down it so a plan change saw us venture to Bluff Point which we had never been to, 3miles north of Airlie and nicely protected for the 25-30 knot southerly blowing outside. We had another fairly calm night at anchor here before heading into Coral Sea Marina at Airlie Beach where Pyrenees will be berthed for nearly 2 weeks whilst we have a land break on Hamilton Island.

Townsville to Nara Inlet via Orpheus Island

Lianne

Champagne cork popped and our first guests, (and possibly only with all the lockdowns in Australia), were welcomed onboard Pyrenees. We hardly gave Richard and Nadine time to put there bags down before we had the lines cast and we headed back around to Horseshoe Bay. Lunch and bubbles en route.

There is no free ride for our guests, as soon as we had the boat safely anchored it was all ashore for the job of putting our new dinghy wheels on TT which Richard and Nadine bought with them. Just to make sure everything went well, Nadine and I left the boys to it and went for a walk to the small strip of shops in the Bay, ended up in the pub out of harms way waiting for the guys to join us. Back out to the boat for sundowners and maybe another drink or two.

The next morning it was a long slog out to Orpheus, unfortunately not a pleasant sea. Discussion was had on whether mask and snorkel would be appropriate safety equipment as the boat twisted and rolled in the swell! We opted for Pioneer Bay and were lucky enough to grab a public mooring whilst being watched by the water police. No sooner were we all secure and they were alongside and wanting to do a safety check. Of course, Mr Organised, had everything that was asked for plus more and Pyrenees (I should say Stuart) passed with flying colours. Whilst the safety inspection was being done down below, the rest of us had a good chat with the other officer about the area and how long they patrol for at a time (out for a week). Not pleased to hear that just around the corner was a creek with crocs!

Next day was explore day! Out in TT an where did we head ?– yes – around that corner in choppy seas, towards the creek! After an initial freak out by two of the party (I wont embarrass Stuart and Nadine by mentioning their names) after seeing something in the water and the other two in the party confirming it was a rock , we headed back into Pioneer Bay and onto the beach. We had heard there was a walk to an old homestead but it had become overgrown. We fossicked around and found a path and in a short time we found the old stone hut ruins. There is not much information on the hut except it was an old Shepherds Hut from an early European Settlement.

Further on from the hut, we found a trail marked with pink tape around trees. This led us across a dry creek bed and up a hill. As we climbed higher the vegetation changed from scrubby bush to open grassland. All the time we had a very loud chorus of bird song but we saw very few except for a massive eagle that was riding the thermals above us. At the top of the walk we were on the “seaward” side of the island looking East over sheer cliffs.

We retraced our steps and went back to the beach, interrupting some skinny dippers before we all jumped in – clothed! The water was beautiful. All the cruising guides and notes, mention that Orpheus has a giant clam garden, so we headed over to the southern end of the bay to see if we could locate it, ready to come back later in the day to snorkel over them. We were trying to find the area when in the distance I spotted a fin. Then two. We cut the engine, drifted and watched, it took us a while to work it out but it was a Manta Ray! It was doing sweeping circles in the bay feeding. One sweep was right beside us and it was larger than TT! We estimated its wing span to be about 3.5m. Truly amazing to watch and we were all disappointed when it swam away.

That afternoon,, we headed back over to the same area and found the clams. I have to admit I would have loved to have grabbed one of the old shells and bought it home with me! There were so many, and the coral was in really good condition, making a great snorkel. The reason for so many in this one spot is unknown, but the story that seems is often told is that the clams were bought o Orpheus as a clam farm was going to be started. Just love that they are in a protected marine park and wre there for everyone to enjoy. The University of Queensland also has a research centre in this bay, so I am sure the health of the section of the marine park will be well looked after.

It was movie night on the deck of Pyrenees, much to the surprise of our guests! Rugs and red wine accompanied Top Gun – an oldie but such a great soundtrack and with the wargames in full swing just south of us it seemed an apt choice.

All to soon, it was time to head back to Townsville. The run back was much calmer that the sail out and when we got in, long showers before a walk up into town, a well earned beverage and then dinner out. After discovering our restaurant booking had been cancelled at the Thai we were heading to, we found a great restaurant and feasted on a 5 course degustation dinner paired beautifully with an array of wines. A sad farewell the next morning at 4.45am, as Richard and Nadine departed for their flight home.

Decision time for us – so we headed back to the safe bolthole of Horseshoe to read weather forecasts and compare what they all were saying. All modelling showed a good weather window to head south. We had planned to go further north to Dunk Island and I really wanted to get out to Fantome Island and photograph the old Lock and Leper Hospital Doing this though meant some long days, timing the tides correctly and not necessarily being able to find protected anchorages from the southerly trade winds. After weighing up the options and the weather, we decided it was time to head south towards home (well eventually)

Prepping the boat, our decision was a wise one as we have snapped the genoa halyard (layman’s: the rope that holds the front sail up). The sail is still up but needs attention so calls to Airlie and we have a rigger booked (boats!). Now to get back there.

Early start and we retrace our steps to Upstart Bay. Eleven and a half hours later we are in and anchored after a long motor into the wind. A few other boats sailed in that night and the next morning we headed for Cape Gloucester. It was wildlife day heading down, our first sighting of the day was a whale breaching about a1.5nm miles off the port side. With another boat sailing behind us (Sea Lanes) we radioed them to advise there was a whale. No sooner had we done that than another whale was cruising leisurely south a few hundred metres from us. To keep us entertained we also had a few dolphins pop up. When we were almost at our anchorage, we had a pod of Snub Nosed Dolphins just off our beam. It took a while to work out what they are and after looking up on Mr Google we found out that they are found on the Northern Coast of Australia and are nearing extinction.

Mooring that afternoon at Cape Gloucester was a disaster. Numerous attempts to grab the mooring line/chain in strong winds. Finally grabbing one only to find the mooring line was wrapped around the block cain. Loosing a boat hook as I could not get the line up onto deck (we retrieved it!) Swapping Stuart to the bow and me to the helm – still no luck. One last go and we were going to anchor but we got it and definitely needed a drink. Absolutely the worst mooring we have ever had/done in 16 plus years of boating!

Seafood plates were calling so into the eco resort for dinner. Unfortunately on the way back to the dinghy, I slipped on the path. Legs out from under me, straight down onto my hip, shoulder and then wham with my head. Took a while to overcome the shock, get up, somehow get into TT and back on board the boat. Stuart aka Dr Manley, was shining lights into my eyes, forcing hydra lite into me, making me have a conversation and all I wanted was bed!

_{Cape Gloucester and the endangered Snub Nosed Dolphins}

Quite sore and sorry the following day, so pleased that we are sitting out some weather here for a few nights. Taking it easy doing some photo editing, catching up on emails and resting. We dined at the resort again this time with Sea Lanes, the boat that was with us heading down to the Cape and enjoyed their company and stories of sailing in their local area of Cairns. Believe it or not we all got really cold and started to head back to the boat. This time Stuart went for a big slide, but luckily managed to catch himself before he fell.

From Cape Gloucester we had an easy passage down to Nara Inlet, with Sea Lanes leading us through a narrow channel and then following us into Nara. A few whales on the way and a couple of dolphins. Nara is a very protected anchorage and we were surprised by the number of boats in as we arrived just on lunch time. The bay certainly filled up!

Next morning we headed over to the aboriginal caves which are a short uphill hike from a tiny beach at the end of the bay. The Ngaro people are the indigenous owners of The Whitsundays and Nara inlet is sacred to their culture. It has been well protected and signed posted for the two-legged animals that visit and the electric fence keeps the four legged visitors, primarily feral goats, out. The drawings date back thousands of years, and it is wonderful to see this heritage so well looked after. I was amazed at the clarity, still what I remember from visiting almost 14 years ago.

^{The walk to the Ngaro Indigenous Caves at Nara Inlet}

With winds expected to increase we decided to stay in Nara and had a movie night with Sea Lane, American Graffiti was on the “big screen” and a feast was produced from the freezers of both boats! A great way to finish off this leg of our trip.

Stuart

Our first guests of the trip arrived Monday at lunchtime and after obligatory welcome champagne’s we cast the lines off and headed to Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island. Richard and Nadine had brought a package for the boat with them which was a set of retractable (Beachmaster) dinghy wheels for the tender. We have been enviously watching others roll their dinghy up the beaches above the high tide level which due to the large tide ranges up here can be a long way. We all travelled to the beach where Richard and I fitted the wheels to TT and had time for one beer at the bar before heading back to Pyrenees for sundowners and a beautiful sunset – yes, another one!

Next morning, we weighed anchor (a little later than planned) and began the 38 mile passage to Orpheus Island. The first 27 miles of the passage were quite rolly with a metre or so beam sea until we were in the lee of Great Palm Island. We caught one green wave on the transom which almost came into the cockpit but otherwise it was just uncomfortable. The last few miles were in relative calm seas with Richard and I on watch whilst the ladies caught up on some sleep down below. We managed to pick up a public mooring in Pioneer Bay so were very secure on a quite reasonably windy evening with winds over 25 knots as Lianne and Richard skilfully picked up the mooring line. The Queensland Water Police watched us pick up the mooring then came alongside to conduct a vessel safety equipment check which we passed with flying colours. The 2 guys were really nice but did tell us about all the croc’s around …. maybe I shouldn’t have teased them about the State of Origin 😊

^{Stuart’s new best mates}

Our first morning at Orpheus started out with rain and the wind direction had changed to be coming directly into the bay during the night though not particularly strong though it did create a small chop around Pyrenees. We explored the bay in the tender including a walk up to the peak of Orpheus Island with views over Pioneer Bay and also out to the Coral Sea. It was quite warm after our walk, so we took a welcome swim at the beach before continuing our exploration of the bay over towards a university research station where we looked for giant clams but were lucky enough to see a very large manta ray feeding. We drifted with the engine stopped for some time and the manta ray did its final sweep into the bay passing around the 4 of us in the tender. What a graceful and beautiful creature that we were so blessed to see and at such close range.

The gorgeous (huge) Manta – unfortunately tide caused a lot of silt in the water.

Thursday was our return to Breakwater Marina of 46 miles and we’ve now covered over 1,000 nautical miles since leaving Southport and nearly 1,400 miles since leaving Pittwater in May. There was less than 5knots breeze so we ended up motoring again to make sure we got our guests back to Townsville for their very early flight the next day and of course some reprovisioning. We dined out a good restaurant on the other side of the Ross River about 15 minutes’ walk from the marina enjoying a 5 course degustation with matching wines 😊

After fare welling Nadine and Richard at 0445 the next morning, we managed a little more sleep before doing some boat chores whilst waiting for the tide to rise for our exit from Breakwater Marina to head out to Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island. It was a beautiful day and nice breeze promised a good sail but we snapped our genoa halyard (hoists the sail to the top of the mast) so spent an hour tidying that up and will now need to head into Airlie Beach for an appointment with a rigger to go up the mast and work out what went wrong as part of the halyard is twisted around the top furling drum. It wasn’t a great start to our afternoon and the breeze (as forecast) turned to the north and created quite a sea coming into the bay so we ended up deploying quite a bit of anchor chain as Pyrenees and the 30 other boats in the bay, were moving around quite a bit. The wind eventually turned to the southeast and dropped around 9pm so sleep was OK.

Saturday was spent cleaning the boat including scrubbing along the waterline to remove some dirt. It was a beautiful sunny day so we capped it off with a swim off the back of Pyrenees and sundown champagne. The wind was almost non-existent so sleep was easy though possibly too hot. We are close to halfway through our 5 month trip and have recorded our northern most anchorage of Orpheus Island and although we didn’t quite reach our target of Dunk Island , we feel it’s time to start heading south. The weather looks good for Monday and Tuesday to start retracing our tracks south to Cape Gloucester but also we are halfway through our 5 month voyage so it makes sense to start the southern migration. Sunday was spent preparing Pyrenees for the 110 miles she’ll cover over 2 days to get us back to the Whitsunday region and into Airlie Beach to get the halyard repaired. It’s hard to believe we are halfway as time has flown though we have been busy getting ready for passages or doing the miles. We’re looking forward to a good block of time in the Whitsundays and sitting at anchor, fishing and paddle boarding!

Our passage from Magnetic Island to Cape Upstart started with an 0430 wake up alarm, coffee and a reasonably calm anchorage. We weighed anchor at 0500 as planned and steamed out in darkness between anchored yachts and a trawler that had just arrived and was still storing it’s catch. The seas increased as we came out of the lee of the island and we proceeded to punch into a 1.5m sea and 10 to 15 knots of wind all directly on the nose of Pyrenees until we eventually rounded Cape Bowling Green after 5.5 hours. It was then another 5 hours into Cape Upstart before we anchored behind the massive headland which provided us with great shelter from the trade winds. They eased as forecast over night and our 48 mile passage to Cape Gloucester was motor sailing with the mainsail in a beautiful 10 knots of southeast breeze that shifted east as we past the Abbot Point coal terminal which meant a gybe in towards the loader which is quite a large structure and a long way from the shore when you get close to it. The wind proceeded to keep shifting left and built into a 15 knot nor’easter as we sailed into Cape Gloucester. Unfortunately the wind was funnelling through Gloucester Passage where we were mooring at the resort and was blowing over 25 knots as we tried to pick up our mooring. It took us 5 attempts which is very unusual for us but of course the wind eased an hour later. We have now sailed over 1,500 nautical miles since leaving Pittwater in May which is quite a milestone for us.

Our 3 nights at Cape Gloucester confirmed the reviews of the anchorage that it was quite open to almost all wind directions and provided very little protection and we found with shifting breezes Pyrenees was rocking around whenever the wind picked up. The upside is you are at a resort that welcomes yachties and let you use their moorings for free if you eat ashore which of course we did. We have fond memories of a night here with Mark and Fi Hellyer in 2016 that probably makes us want to come back rather than pick a protected anchorage at the end of the bay. The reality is that I need to have phone and data coverage for a conference call so we had to choose here, complete with bar and restaurant 😊

^{_{Many of the foreshore rocks have been defaced over the years by visiting boats at Nara inlet, – Pyrenees far left}}_.

With winds forecast to shift to the north after Cape Gloucester we motor sailed to a bay called Nara Inlet which provides extensive shelter from any wind coming out of the north, east or west. The winds outside the bay were around 20 knots and as is often the case, these spill over in gusts or “bullets” into some bays and Nara is no exception. Though the waters were completely calm we did have a reasonable amount of wind at times which helped keep the boat cool in what were summer wind temperatures in Sydney terms – you gotta love Queensland winters!

Cape Gloucester to Townsville

Lianne:

A pretty easy day for our trip to Upstart Bay including a leisurely start. We had one spot Abbott Point where we had to keep one eye on the ship at the coal loader and the other at the six at anchor awaiting fill, to ensure we did not meet in the shipping Chanel but otherwise nothing, not even other boats to keep us company. The seas were a bit all over the place and towards the end I was feeling a little uneasy. It certainly was not rough just wind sea and swell all competing with each other. A good cup of tea and some ginger and things were better plus seeing Cape Upstart in the distance helped!

Abbott Point Coal Loader – between Gloucester and Upstart

And for size comparison – that catarmaran is about 45ft long

As we entered the Bay a few fishing trawlers were having a well-earned rest before heading back out for a night’s work and small fishing craft were all over the bay. A few years ago, when we stopped here, there were a few fishing shacks on the beach. Today, quite substantial houses have been built, along with some modest holiday homes but everyone has a fishing craft of some form and many “communities” have a tractor which they use to launch or retrieve the boats from the steep beach.

The beach at upstart
Great Southern Land – cane fires burning

A few boats were already anchored, and we joined them a few miles up the bay. Rocky was not his usual settled self, and we did drag, Luckily, he settled in after a little while and held tight for the remainder of the night. I have got out of the habit of saying good night to him…maybe that was the issue 😐?

I tried my hand at fishing again and only managed to catch two of these…. anybody know what they are?

An early start was in order for our leg to Magnetic Island and we were both bleary eyed after little sleep worrying about Rocky. The weather forecast looked okay, but it was predicting a few hours of rough seas, so for the first time in 3 weeks I took seasick tablets just to be sure I was okay (yes, I get seasick). It was a little ‘messy’ out of the bay but as we got near Cape Bowling Green it seemed to ease and we had enough wind to cut the engine and get a decent sail in.

Cape Bowling Green is quite an enigma in the coastline. It is as its name suggest flat, very flat and very long, just like a bowling green! With sand flats all around it, it juts out and seems to take forever to get around. The rest of the coastline is granite rocks and if you delete the water from photos, you could be mistaken for thinking it was the Snowy mountains!

On these longer days I always have our meals pre prepared so I can limit how often I have to go down to the galley. The only problem is we tend to eat constantly when doing these passages. Coffee/Tea when we wake, then boat muffins (Lianne invention) for breakfast around 7 with more tea/coffee. Next up is morning tea #1 usually fruit (more tea/coffee), 11am morning tea #2 which is vita wheats with vegemite or if it’s cold a cup of soup. 1pm lunch of premade breadroll for Stu and a rice bowl for me. We try to be in an anchored by 3 but if not, a little chocolate is required, just to keep our energy levels right before we are anchored and having sundowners.

Magnetic Island can be seen almost as soon as you have daylight and further into the trip you can spot The Palm Group even further north, where we will head to shortly. Magnetic is huge in comparison to many of the other islands and is a common cruising stop over. As we rounded Horseshoe Bay there was at least 40 boats in the anchorage and in the morning at least half had moved on. (And by sunset it had filled with a new flotilla of cruisers)

After catching up with ‘Happy Hour’, who we had not seen since Fraser Island, for happy hour on Pyrenees we got a much-needed great night’s sleep. With TT already in the water and some mundane duties like paying bills out of the way whilst we have data access we went ashore. Of course, once on shore you meet more yachties and swap details for a meet up down somewhere on the water. Today’s chance meeting was with a catamaran that is from Pittwater, as they helped us drag TT up the shore (looking forward to getting some wheels on it soon!)

We had a great walk, around the community of Horseshoe Bay. A few little shops, plenty of holiday homes to rent and of course coffee shops! The first walk was the Butterfly walk, a winter resting area for butterflies. There were thousands of them in the short walk that looped you back to the beach. Lunch was at the Blue Marlin pub with a sneaky drink or two before doing the Conservation Park walk. Another short walk that takes you onto a boardwalk across a wetland teeming with birdlife and we even spotted some swamp wallabies.

The next day we booked into The Bungalow Bay Koala Park for their wildlife talk. It is only a small family-owned park, but the Ranger Rachel who took us around had a great love of the animals, even though one in particular did not like her. Every time Rachel walked near Shadow the black cockatoo he would try and lash out! With everyone else he was fine. They also had a visiting vet nurse Katie, who also assisted with the handling of the animals. The highlight of the day was definitely Pebbles the Koala for Stuart and Harry the wombat for me (such a chilled dude!)

On Thursday, the weather forecasts were showing winds dropping so we decided to make way to Fantom Island (part of the Great Palm Group). Unfortunately, the sea was horrible and re retreated back to Magnetic Island. It did give us time though to explore the Fort Walk the next day. It’s a short, 4km, walk at the top of the island and was where a camp was set up in World War II to protect Townsville. Little remains of the actual camp, though the lookout post and gun emplacements are still able to be walked in and around as is the communication tower, that today is still being used as a VHF repeater station.

On the walk, it is important to continually look up and around in the gums. The area is heavily populated with koala’s who are very blasé about people and are often sleeping in trees very close to the clearly marked trail. People place piles of sticks on the ground to mark where they are, but you can often smell them before you see the sticks, particularly the males. The island is home to about 800-1000 koalas, introduced for unknown reasons in the early 1900’s. Great news is they are thriving here and disease free.

With almost another week over, we head into Townsville a short motor from Horseshoe Bay and dock at Breakwater Marina with the roar of V8 super cars in one direction and rehearsals for a NAIDOC concert in the other. Marina time is always busy. Boat washing, laundry, shopping, catching up on emails and calls with family. Sundowners’ tonight was with the kids via Zoom, Stuart tried to make it into a wine appreciation night, but we were all laughing too much at the usual family jokes

We are awaiting our first guests who fly in to join us for a few days. Luckily, they are from Newcastle and have avoided the Sydney lockdown and Queensland is yet to close its borders to regional NSW. We think it will only be a matter of time. Our thoughts are with everyone back home in Greater Sydney enduring a COVID lockdown, that by all accounts is going to be extended again as the numbers of cases continues to climb. Stay safe everyone.

Stuart:

Passage 2 of our journey to Magnetic Island from the Whitsundays saw some better winds on our 46 miles to Cape Upstart where we have anchored in about 4m of water with the tide set to rise another metre which is quite small compared the 4m ranges we saw around the Percy Islands. The Percy’s sit just outside Shoalwater Bay which has the highest tidal ranges on the Australian East Coast. As we prepared for dinner the wind has picked up out of the north east but as forecasted it did ease later in the evening. We had some unusual issues with the anchor dragging in the stronger winds which were funnelling down a very large valley in Cape Gloucester. I suspect we were in a sea grass bed which can make setting the anchor tricky – eventually it set after 2 drift alarms went off. I struggled with sleep worried that we would drift again and woke up regularly to check our position … the last was at 0400 only 30 minutes before our alarm for our 3^rd and final passage to Magnetic Island.

Passage 3 started with bleary eyes in both of us but coffee did it’s trick with me and we were weighing anchor at 0505 in around 15 knots of breeze though out of the south west which of course was not in the forecast! The seas were very “confused” with a 1 to 1.5m south east swell mixing with the seas built by the SW winds resulting in Pyrenees pitching and rolling for the first 5 hours of the 67 mile passage. It is still pitch black at 5am so we motor sailed under headsail until after we had rounded Cape Bowling Green given the rolling as the mainsail is more difficult to carry in the heavy rolling with the wind almost directly behind us. From Cape Bowling Green, the wind was on our beam (port side) so we hoisted the main, turned the engine off and had a beautiful sail at around 5 knots listening to Triple M Townsville which plays a mix of music more like my playlist than I remember it being in Sydney ?? The wind dropped a few hours short of Maggie, so it was more motor sailing but with our destination in sight we were quite upbeat despite the lack of sleep over the past 2 nights. Horseshoe Bay was quite full when we arrived at 1545 so we ended up anchoring well out in the bay which promised another rolly night at anchor but the seas were kind or maybe we were just so tired we didn’t get woken.

Next day was a slow start after I managed 11 hours sleep, fixed by more Nespresso coffee and a shore excursion into the township of Horseshoe Bay was in order. We had a wonderful walk through bushland abounding in butterflies and a wetland with much bird life and swamp wallabies. We had lunch and rum’n’coke at the local bar before launching the tender back to Pyrenees only to find her rolling around again. Luckily a number of boats had left the bay and we were able to move about 400m closer to shore and subject to much less swell and wind. After a brief rain shower, we retrieved the tender to it’s sailing position on davits which hold it out of the water off our transom, ready for our next leg north.

After a good night at anchor and plenty of sleep (again), we set sail for Fantome Island which is 34 miles north east of Horseshoe Bay. The forecast was for winds to ease from the south east but as we headed out of the bay, the winds continued to build and a short sea about 1.5m high was starting to break and our course was almost side on to the waves causing an awkward rolling motion. Discretion being the better part of valour …. we turned back to Horseshoe Bay only 4 miles out and spent the next 2 days exploring Magnetic Island which is picturesque and bountiful with wildlife including koalas. We did the “Forts Walk” to WW2 gun emplacements that protected Townsville from naval attack and very close to the trail we say 4 koalas in their natural habitat. The winds did eventually ease

Saturday morning was a short 9 mile trip in to Breakwater Marina in Townsville where we have stayed in 2016 when Pyrenees was on her way home from SE Asia to refuel and reprovision ahead of being joined on Monday by our first guests of the trip. We took the opportunity to scrub the decks and around the waterline to remove some of our 9 weeks of passage grime. This is a job like painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge …. It never ends and I just need to go back to the bow and start again when I get to the transom 😊

Scawfell Island To Cape Gloucester

Some of the Rock formations – Cid Harbour

Lianne:

Our next anchorage was Goldsmith Island, part of a stunning group which takes in Ladysmith, Tinsmith, Linne, Lockmith and Farrier islands. We arrived just in time to get the link sheet up to cover the cockpit from the rain, but at the wrong time to get into shore so we stay all cosy onboard. Sundowners were on Pyrenees tonight and our guests had the joy of the swell wrapping around the point just as they arrived for drinks. Murphy was at play though as it settled down a little as they departed.

With the winds turning to the Northeast, we now had to decide where to head to for the next night. Thomas Island was our initial choice but anchoring there would result in the wind and sea coming straight in, equalling another rolly night. I tried to play navigator, as my current one is not managing to find a pleasant night’s rest – not sure if I should trade him in 😊

As many of the Whitsunday anchorages face NE or are affected by currents (more rolling) in spring tides (which we are at the height of) there was not much to choose from. So off to Cid Harbour, probably one of the most secure bays in the Whitsundays. We had a great sail up; the seas were a bit swelly but settled once we were in the shadow of Shaw Island. Then a wave as we passed Hamilton Island, and we tucked in at the end of Whitsunday Island to get into the Harbour.

We have spent many nights in this bay, and tonight it was like all our previous visits, providing a very calm night (yay) and turtles popping up their heads, though not as many as we had seen previous times. With the boat secure and a final goodbye to our “companion” boat Cat -man-do we got the dinghy off and headed out to explore.

Sawmill Beach was as rocky as we remember and a small break on the shore provided access for the dinghy. It was the sight of an old Sawmill back in the early 19^th century and a few remnants of train tracks are scattered on the beach, The Allied Forces also used the bay as a safe anchorage during World War 1. Many of the walking tracks on Whitsunday Island start or finish here, though they are known for being quite steep and strenuous. From Sawmill we meandered through the boats and went turtle spotting, though they are all camera shy.

_{Sawmill Beach}

A very quiet night, both on the social front and on the seas. We sat quietly and watched a tourist boat get caught out by the spring tide. It was stuck in the rocky shore of the beach and unable to be pulled to deep water. They had to wait for the tide to turn and the water to rise again – hope none of the guests had a dinner reservation that night!

As the sun set (always great from here) we set up for movie night. A homemade screen stretched across the back of the cockpit, my laptop, Stuart’s little data projector and a packed media drive gave us everything we needed. Of course, pillows, rugs and some nice wine added to the ambience! It is only the third movie we have watched in almost 8 weeks onboard. Most nights we play board games or read – (Stuart is the Backgammon and Sequence champ whilst I lead the Scrabble competition.) I think we are one of the few boats without a TV, it was a decision we made when purchasing her and to this day do not regret it.

We stayed at Cid for another night, before we headed over to the mainland coast. En route, we passed islands that people will have heard of Daydream, South Molle and North Molle. National parks had a helicopter flying over North Molle, dropping firebombs. It was interesting to watch as they ran the ridgelines and about 3minutes after they turned to another area, the smoke would start. As we reached mid-way along the Island, it was enveloped in smoke and by the time we had rounded the Northern point, the smoke was all but gone.

Just north of Airlie Beach, is Wood Wark Bay. It is well protected and surrounded by National Park on all sides except the southern end, which is a private holiday house (you and 17 friends can rent it). The vegetation is very lush and the beaches mainly coral rubble. We explored many of the beaches over the next day or so and I managed to get some photography in whilst Stuart tried his hand at Rock Sculpture Art! The highlight though was on our first night, as the tide went out, we watched (no pictures unfortunately) a pod of dolphins feeding in the shallows. They were very active, jumping and thrashing, we presume they were feeding on the fish coming out of the nearby mangroves.

_{Out an about at Wood Wark Bay} _{(and Stuart’s rock art)}

We had not planned on stopping at Airlie Beach (Coral Sea Marina), but some necessary sail repairs required a few nights stay. So, with a sailmaker organised we left Wood Wark and headed to civilisation for a few nights It is a lovely marina, a nice walk from the main street. Has a few restaurants to choose from, a laundry with a view and great loan cars. It is also the location that “Below Deck” Australian series is being filmed and we were pleased that filming ceased the day we arrived, otherwise the continual blasting of the boat’s horns would drive us silly!

We took the opportunity to catch up with friends who live there, and we have not seen for years. Cat-Man-Do also arrived, surprising us with a visit, but this time a true goodbye as they flew back to Tasmania and left their son with the boat (it is his, they were the delivery crew!) John and Di have become lovely friends and we will miss seeing their smiling faces as we arrive at anchorages!

With the sail fixed, and an engine service done we left the marina and decided Stonehaven would be a good spot for a couple of days. It is a lovely bay on Hook Island and looks over towards Hayman Island Resort. The anchorage has lots of coral bombies, all protected by no anchor areas. It also has the advantage of well-maintained moorings, so Rocky had a rest. Swimming and turtle spotting made it a very relaxed time. We reminisced about our many stays at this bay, the most memorable with the kids back in 2007 on the old Pyrenees. Whilst barbecuing sausages for dinner, Stuart stepped back and landing in the fishing tackle box and embedding a lure in his foot. He required a little bit of medical attention from the kids and I to cut the lure free, but we saved the sausages first!

The high hills dwarf a dinghy anchored at Stonehaven

Today we have started our track to Townsville (it is out of lockdown), and motor sailed to Cape Gloucester, and have arranged a mooring at the Eco Resort. Rich lush vegetation along the coast and scattered islands to sea provided our scenic vista for the 5-hour leg. As we were heading down the bay, I mentioned we had not seen many dolphins in the last few days and of course 2 popped up just as I said it! Still waiting on the whales though.

After grabbing one of the outer moorings, we launched TT and headed in for dinner at the resort. It was the new owners first night and many locals were there to support them. The staff did a great job, happy and welcoming and the kitchen produced a very large seafood plate (not platter) for each of us!

Tonight, also marked 8 weeks since we left home.

Tomorrow, we continue towards Townsville and keep our fingers crossed that they do not go back into lockdown.

Stuart

We spent 2 nights at Scawfell Island, the first on anchor and the second on a public mooring buoy which was right next to the fringing reef and just a little out of the wind gusts that kept spinning Pyrenees around her anchor on the first night. The islands with high sides tend to accelerate the winds around or over them so what appears at first glance to be a calm anchorage can be quite windy. This was the case with Scawfell which also suffered from swell rolling into the bay. We are getting used to rolly anchorages as it is part of the territory when anchoring off tropical islands though it is better when things are not falling out of lockers.

From Scawfell Island we sailed a comparatively short 29 miles to Goldsmith Island which promised serenity in the anchorage but was quickly affected by more swell rolling around the point and winds gusting over 25 knots which was well above the forecast and combined with a spring (big) tide to create a chop that kept us awake a good part of the night as it banged under our hull.

We checked the weather forecast and a couple of models predicted the swell would be coming from the northeast and roll straight into the bay at Thomas Island where we planned to go next, so a quick decision was made to press on into the heart of the Whitsundays to Cid Harbour which is a beautiful setting and also an anchorage that we have had many calm nights at. After 30 miles of motor sailing through waters that we know very well after 2 years racing the old Pyrenees at Hamilton Island Race Week and cruising 3 times through here, we arrived in 25 knots of breeze which was again well above the forecast 10 to 15 knots at Cid Harbour. The wind eventually dropped to forecast and after a long dinghy trip around the bay and a landing on Sawmill Beach we settled in for afternoon sundowners which was an old favourite of Pimm’s to watch a stunning sunset. The temperature has finally reached the brochure levels and we both have actually felt hot today in just shorts and t-shirt. How good is that!

We motor sailed across Whitsunday Passage to Wood Wark Bay in generally calm conditions, for 2 nights as Lianne needed phone coverage and we need to be in Airlie Beach Sunday night so we can get some minor repairs carried out to our mainsail and the engine serviced for a regular 250 hours given how much we have had to use it. Unfortunately, the internet reception was patchy but the anchorage beautiful and calm even with 20 knots of breeze blowing in Whitsunday Passage.

Watching the full moon rise at Wood Wark Bay

A short trip into Coral Sea Marina on Sunday morning saw us take the opportunity to top the fuel tanks again before we settled into our pen. It was blowing over 20 knots out of the Southeast which combined with a strong tidal current running in the opposite direction to a fairly lumpy trip around Grimston Point. We love Coral Sea Marina as the pens are spacious and the staff super helpful. Apart from the planned boat repairs, I’ve got some more fishing gear to buy that may lead to improved fishing results!!

Mainsail repairs completed but we were delayed getting it back onto the boat by a persistent strong wind warning. The sailmaker was happy to put it up in the marina Thursday morning at 0730 and so we departed at 1100 hours for Stonehaven which is an anchorage at Hook Island near Hayman Island. The wind has dropped enough to allow 2 days in the Whitsundays before we begin 3 days of passage making to Townsville on Saturday morning.

Passage 1 of our journey to Townsville was a light 33-mile motor sail from Stonehaven to Cape Gloucester where we moored for 1 night at the Gloucester Eco Resort. We had some light rain on the way across Whitsunday Passage but barely enough wind to keep the sails full.

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.

_{A few shots of Rosslyn Bay (Keppel Bay Marina) – I had a lovely early morning stroll with the camera.}

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.

A few of the boats we sailed in company with out of Rosslyn, to Shoalwater

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?

Great Sandy Straits to Rodds Harbour

Lianne

We departed South White Cliffs, and on the recommendation of those on board for the previous night’s drinks, we headed to Kingfisher Bay. It was any easy run North and as we approached to drop anchor, there were a few boats already positioned in the prime spots close to the wharf, so we opted for a little further down the beach. As we arrived around 1, we headed into Kingfisher Bay Resort for a pub lunch and a drink.

As the beach at Kingfisher has an exceptionally low rise and we were in the middle of spring tides (big tidal range) we did have to keep checking TT (The Tender) to make sure we wouldn’t be swimming to get back into it! And after dragging it up the beach we are realising why so many of the heavier tenders have beach wheels attached. Sitting at the Sunset bar, with another leisurely drink we watched the 4WDs loaded up with camping gear, line up and then drive along the jetty to board the car ferry to take them back to the mainland. An explore up the beach in TT gave me a couple of great photo opportunities with an old jetty, now in ruins whilst Stuart explored the beach.

A few different views of the old jetty at Kingfisher Bay

And some of the old relics from the Timber Logging days on the island litter the beach

After a quiet night on board, we motored up the coast of Fraser Island, enjoying not having to be on sandbar watch and the changing scenery. We soon discovered we would know be on whale watch, as a juvenile humpback surfaced 50ft from us, heading the other direction without a care in the world.

Fraser island must be fantastic to explore by car/4WD if the coastline is any indication. The scenery is constantly changing as is the fauna and flora. Arch Cliff was our next anchorage and there was just us and one other boat, “Spirit of The Wind”, which was anchored about 500m away. Obviously this area was named after the soaring cliffs of various coloured sands, which that night protected us nicely from the winds. As we watched yet another great sunset, you could hear the soft breaking of the waves on the beach….. and see the occasional 4WD lights racing down the beach to get a good fishing spot.

The Fraser Coastline is always changing…and stunning

On the move again, and this time crossing Hervey Bay to head into Bundaberg. We started off earlier than Spirit of The Wind, but as she is a cat, halfway there she overtook us, and we were happy for her to lead the way into Port Bundy. A radio call between the two boats a little later did reveal that she had one motor running the entire trip whilst we had finally got a proper sail in with no engine! Port Bundaberg entrance is clearly marked with 10 channel markers due to the large ships coming in for the sugar mills, immediately after the entrance there is a break wall, where a marina once was and approx. a mile further in Port Bundaberg marina, where we are booked for two nights.

The fuel wharf here can only take one boat at a time, so whilst we waited for Spirit of the Wind to refuel, we carefully watched the depth reading ….0.1m to 0.3m below our keel was a little too close for our liking but knowing it was a mud bottom helped a little (a mud bottom if you touch will not damage the boat). Fuelled up and into a pen – A bit of a walk to amenities but nice and deep – we had 0.9m under the keel! As this marina is 20km from town, we grabbed a cab and headed to the shops to reprovision, passing by the famous Bundaberg distillery home of Bundaberg Rum. We did not stop , honestly we did not. Stuart, (my rum loving hubby), wants to do the “blend your own rum” tour and it only operates Friday and Saturday. Today is Tuesday and we are leaving Thursday – so we are hoping days line up correctly for the trip back home later in the year.

After a very long hot shower, we headed to the marina café for dinner. The booking was originally for 4 (Pyrenees and Spirit of The Wind), it increased to 7 as another cat “Wind Cheetah” joined us and halfway through became 9 as the table beside ours “Cat-man-do” decided to join their table to the end of ours. We had a great night, good food, nice wine, lots of story telling and picked up some good tips as all had done the trip before. As we all departed sundowners were organised for tomorrow night.

I had an assignment due for my photography course so the day in port was spent with me trying to do intricate macro photography on a moving boat (unfortunately a pen does not mean its still!) and Stuart doing the chores. First up, off to his favourite shop, the chandlery to get a part for our water pump that had decided to split in half whilst we were off Arch Cliff. Luckily, we have a salt water pump, that has exactly the same part so we had dismantled that pump and used that so we still had running fresh water. Then a few loads of laundry and of course helping wife decide which photo to submit minutes before we headed for Sundowners and to get advice on Lady Musgrave Island.

^{_{Leaving Port Bundaberg on a very cold morning}}

Lady Musgrave Island is part of the Capricorn Cay National Park, located 51nm Northeast of Bundaberg and surrounded by coral reefs. On the Northwestern side of the island the reefs have formed a lagoon which is quite large and a lovely anchorage in the right weather conditions. The next 5 days were showing conditions to be perfect. We planned our departure for first light the next morning (Thursday) and departed into a soft sunrise, with the temperature at 7deg C (and we thought we were in Queensland). The trip was magic, cold but magic, motor sailing with both the sails up and a gentle sea. The weather gods and King Neptune were finally smiling on us!

Dolphins and a first glimpse of boats in the lagoon at lady Musgrave Island

As Lady Musgrave appeared in the distance, the marine life activity started to increase. Lots of seabirds and fish breaking the surface. A turtle appeared and some dolphins played around Pyrenees’ hull. Again, I failed to capture them, and they took off to visit the boat behind (there were quite few heading in the same direction). Camera away, chatting away and next minute a dolphin leapt right out of the water at our bow and as quickly as it had appeared it was gone! Such a great surprise and luckily, we both saw it, as I think if only one had we would not have believed the other.

Once you arrive at the Island, your journey really starts as it is another hour (for us) around the reef to the narrow entrance. Low tide had bottomed out an hour before we got there but the tide was still flowing out of the lagoon which is clearly marked. Once in, it is HUGE but littered with coral bommies, so the marriage savers (headsets) were on, and I was positioned on the bow so I could see what was around the boat and give Stuart directions to avoid the coral. One would think that with all the stress of some of our previous days, things would be smooth as by now, but no the tension coming in was high and we may not have played nice (as our home neighbour says to us) the entire time, but mostly we did! Slowly we edged in, dodging where needed and getting Rocky settled into a nice sandy patch so he or the chain would not do any damage of the coral.

It is beautiful, just as everyone said it would be, you are well off the coast, have a little sand island and this amazing lagoon. At high tide you see nothing but the island, an expanse of water and the other boats. At low tide, the reef is exposed, there is breaking waves on the outside of the reef, and coral heads protrude in areas inside the lagoon and off the end of the island. We spent three nights here. The first night there was only about fifteen boats in but by Friday night there would have been 50 but you would never know as it is so large.

Exploring the island was timed with the tides to ensure we could get TT safely in and out of the coral and to avoid the day trippers that come in on tourist ferries. A well worn path leads from the landing area, through the centre of the island. Its cool, covered by an amazing canopy of Pisona trees, and teeming with little Buff banded Rails (birds) foraging on the ground. The path forks and you can continue through the forest or head to the camping area, which takes you to to the western beach. The beach is littered with broken coral, clam shells and fallen She Oaks. Shorebirds warily watch you as you walk past but do not flee, and some areas are marked off as bird or turtle nesting areas. The water, well the colour is breathtakingly beautiful. You could have just as easily been on a beach in the Maldives or Tahiti and the colour or view would not be any better! We are truly a very lucky country.

The Lagoon is a great explore too, running around in TT, watching the Loggerhead turtles (endangered) watch you. Admiring the coral, which is so easily seen from above the water, but with finally some warmth in the air, wetsuits were on and we had a great snorkel on a few different bommies. Visibility was not great, but it was nice to get into the water and check out the tropical fish. We would have loved to have gone out to the breakers on the outer reef but it was too shallow even for TT to get through.

Social life was in full swing, with sundowners on Pyrenees with some of our dinner companions from Bundaberg and another boat all the way from Tassie with their 5 month old baby. Ten fitted snugly in the cockpit and we watched a beautiful sunset. The next night we headed to one of the catamarans and met some different boats and all the talk was where to next. Many were taking the opportunity to head to another outer reef, Fitzroy whilst the weather forecast remains calm. We have a deadline be in Yeppoon so we are heading back towards the mainland.

Straight from camera! Another stunning night as Sundowners were had on Pyrenees

It amazes us how social the cruising life is, everyone has been lovely and so willing to let us pepper them with questions regarding anchorages and places to see. It is all very civilised though. It starts at 4.30pm and everyone is super punctual, if not early. You bring a small plate of nibbles, or some chips or nuts, your beverage of choice and glasses. You chat, watch the sun drop below the horizon, finish your drinks and by 6.15 you are back on your own boat or your guests have departed. Best bit – no cleaning up, except for one plate and two glasses!

Heading out of the lagoon, on Sunday, was much easier…just follow the track on the chart plotter and Navionics app of our route in, as you wave goodbye to new acquaintances amidst calls of “ see you further north”. Our plan today was a 5 hour run to Pancake Creek, just south of the major port of Gladstone. As we were nearing our destination after motor sailing most of the way (very light winds currently), we changed course to go to the next anchorage north, Rodds Harbour as it should be more protected from the NE swell that is running at present. It is a little further but we think it will be worth it for a calmer nights sleep.

We are now safely tucked up in Rodds, which is a very expansive harbour surrounded by native bushland and deserted beaches. From the reviews we thought it would be more scenic or have we just been spoilt by our last few days at Lady Musgrave? We were stopping for 2 nights and after some quick calculations and checking what King Neptune has planned, we are shortening it to one night and heading off at 5 am tomorrow.

Till next week or when we can….

STUART’S VIEW

Departing South White Cliffs we motor sailed to the Kingfisher Bay Resort for bar food and cocktails ashore before exploring the old timber mill wharf. Paw prints were found but hard to tell if they were dingoes or someone had brought their dog ashore. We never saw or heard one dingo whilst anchored along Fraser Island so we definitely need to come back.

No dingoes but plenty of Eagles off Fraser Island

Next day we motor sailed and sailed for at least an hour to our anchorage at Arch Cliffs. The passage saw some negotiating between sand bars and over areas the chart described as “shifting sands”. We are becoming quite adept at picking a route through these areas and Lianne guiding me between the Raymarine charts and the Navionics charts – apparently, she’s quite a skilled multi-tasker and perhaps that is our success factor in the navigation between shallow spots! The anchorage at Arch Cliffs was a bit unnerving as we were a few hundred metres from shore due to the very shallow bottom, so it felt like we were anchored in the middle of the ocean. That said it was a lovely and remote location. Our friends on Spirit of the Wind were our only real company but also several hundred metres away.

Bundaberg was our next port of call and saw us reprovision the boat, undertake repairs to a water pump and kick back for a day whilst we sat out a strong wind warning. More meals ashore and a few more cocktails and though we didn’t make the rum distillery this time, there is a plan for the southward return 😊

Our good run with the weather took a turn for the better with calm winds and seas predicted for the next few days so we decided to depart the marina before sunrise and make the 53 mile trip to Lady Musgrave Island. We spent the most amazing 3 days there in a setting that we found more beautiful than places like the Maldives could produce. Our arrival at Musgrave was punctuated by dolphins escorting us and one jumping off our starboard bow … fabulous !! Finding our anchorage within the coral cay was a bit stressful after negotiating a narrow entrance through the coral, Lianne guided me between coral bommies and we set the anchor. As the wind rose above the forecast 15 knots, the words of the cruising guide about not being able to reset the anchor at night in the lagoon rang in our ears as Pyrenees started to move uncomfortably as the tide overtopped the reef and exposed us to the seas generated by the winds. Lianne was up on the bow playing out some extra anchor chain and Pyrenees seemed to settle into a more comfortable motion. The winds did drop as forecast in the middle of the night and we then spent to rest of our time at this magnificent spot walking, photographing, having sundowners with our new cruising friends and our first snorkel after a month of cruising. We saw turtles, plenty of fish and birds inside the lagoon and more dolphins on the day we left.

A few more of lady Musgrave including the entrance at low tide in the top right image

The need for internet and my NFP board role, forced us to leave our new paradise and more light breeze and low swell saw us motorsail 46 miles to an anchorage called Rodds Harbour. Again we are anchored a long way from shore but we are getting used to that with our deep draft Pyrenees. We can see why catamarans are so popular in Queensland. The anchorage is very protected and super calm so we should get a good night’s sleep ahead of our 63-mile passage to Great Keppel Island tomorrow. So, with full phone and internet access, we’ve started marina bookings further north, I’ve downloaded and read board papers and resisted the temptation to watch a replay of State of Origin 1 just in case they work out we aren’t from around here 😉

Mooloolaba to Mooloolaba to Great Sandy Straits

All the talk on marina, is about the bar. Unfortunately, not the bar that you go and grab a drink at, but the sand bar you have to cross to get into The Great Sandy Straits, the waterway that runs between mainland Australia and Fraser Island (the Southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef). We chat to people from all walks of life and from all sorts of boats as they passed by, and everyone has different tips.

Between the tips, weather forecasts and a highly informative visit from our new friend OJ, who has an amazing knowledge of the waterways of Queensland, we plan to leave Mooloolaba on Wednesday morning. On the Tuesday morning one of our neighbouring boats leaves to head north, and we go across to the beach to watch them go through Mooloolaba Bar. The seas were still higher than we were comfortable with and watching them go through the swell confirmed our decision.

We prepped the boat, all the safety gear back on deck, all the halyards in place and sails ready to hoist on Tuesday night and settled down for an early dinner. With alarms set for 4am we headed to bed. I got some sleep, but Stuart was up checking the weather regularly. When the alarm sounded, I was greeted with “we are not going”.

The waves off Mooloolaba entrance the week we decide NOT to go and a yacht heading out

The swell had not dropped enough across Mooloolaba bar and the notorious Wide Bay Bar, though forecast to have wave height drop, it was still too high for safe crossing. The day was certainly tense on board, had we made the right decision? Had we just lost our window of opportunity? After hours (and I am not exaggerating) of reading weather forecasts, comparing the different models we walked up to the marina office and could luckily extend for till the following Tuesday – just had to move Pyrenees to a new pen.

A distraction was needed, as the obsession with weather, the East coast lows and predicted dangerous surf conditions was not healthy. Friends to the rescue with a drive through the hinterland on Friday with our old mate Sandy. It is such a beautiful area up through Maleny and the Glasshouse mountains and we will certainly come back to explore more. We ended up in Brisbane and stayed with Sandy and her hubby Rob, who went to university with Stuart. Very relaxed evening at a local bar (the right kind) a few drinks and some live music. Next day, we were dropped off at the Westcott resort for our next sleepover with Greg & Vicky. Another relaxed day and evening, with good food and wine. They kindly drove us back to Mooloolaba on Sunday night and could not resist the opportunity to take them to our favourite little restaurant Riceboi!

View from The Hinterland and these yellow flowers were everywhere just like spring

Staying in Mooloolabah also meant we could watch the Lunar Eclipse and I could get the tripod out to capture the event, which would not have been possible for the boat. We froze on the beach , but the photos were worth it!

All settled back on board and really need to make a decision. With swells still predicted over 2m at Wide Bay bar crossing was not possible as above 1.5m waves may break across the entrance. We head to the beach and watch a swell that is not abating, so we walk to the marina office, who we are sure are tired of seeing us but after some chatting get approval to stay till Wednesday. We made contact with two other boats (Bella & Happy Hour) headed north and chatted with them re plans and all agreed Wednesday was it.

Tensions were back on Tuesday, lots of walks to the beach to watch the surf, including one at sunset – which had the same tide as what we would be going out on the next morning. We counted sets, we counted waves, we watched how they wrapped around the entrance, and I of course got some great pictures of guys surfing and waves off the break wall!!! Oh, and we watched Daisy the dolphin have her evening patrol of the entrance. With dark falling we went back to the boat and prepped her again – 5am alarm.

We have left the pen; 6am and we are heading back down the Mooloolah River, light is just breaking, and we know Bella and Happy Hour have already made it through the bar. We are in a small run of boats headed out. The power boats have a great advantage of being able to sit, wait and gas it out between the sets. Pyrenees is only doing 9knots at absolute full throttle, so we must time it right.

Edging towards the entrance, we have the marriage savers on (Bluetooth headsets) and start to move through, I make the call to slow down as there is a set starting to come through, we count and wait for the washback which last night indicated a break – we start again and again call to stop another set, then the wash back. We head out as quickly as we can, veer towards the beach to follow the back of the last wave then 500mn out turn east. Relief one bar down, one bar to go!

Leaving Mooloolaba and weather checks on the way – what did we do before internet?

There is a steady stream of chatter over the radio, and a steady stream of boats heading north – all going to the same place Wide Bay Bar. We contend with some decent swell, manage to sail for part of the trip and make good time. We reach Double Island Point and decide that as the swell has started to drop off, to make straight for the bar and not overnight at Double Island Point. High Tide is at 3pm so any time from 1pm should be okay and the wave buoys were showing wave height reducing

Wide Bay Bar has 4 waypoints that are issued by the Coastguard, and they are your path in and out of the Great Sandy Straits. At Waypoint A (Alpha) you log on so the organisation can track those going through. We arrived at Alpha, logged on and had a few boats in front, but we could not see a gap in the breakers. You are meant to be able to see breaking waves to your left and right at Waypoint B with a path through – this path was not visible. We watched as the boats ahead started turning back including some large cruisers and our friends on Happy Hour. At 13.35 we aborted our attempt to cross and back tracked to Double Island Point for a rolly night.

Double Island Point and the colourful sands of Rainbow Beach

Its Thursday, the sky is so blue, and the sands of Rainbow Beach are just beautiful in the morning light. High Tide is at 4pm, so it is a waiting game for the 35plus boats in the anchorage. The swell is dropping! 12noon comes and the procession out of the bay starts as its an hour back to the bar for most of the yachts and catamarans. We join in.

A few of the boats behind us on the way to Wide Bay Bar

Coastguard is flat out on the radio, logging all the boats in – nonstop one after the other we reach Alpha and call in. Quite orderly I must say as you know the name of the boat in front and once, they call in, you take your turn, no queue jumping! Just as we approach a squall is developing out to sea, we do not get rain, but it whips up the wind to 20 knots and the waves.

At Alpha and heading to Waypoint B I watch a large steel 70ft yacht have waves break in front of it and then behind it. It then gets skewed sideways by a wave, which was quickly corrected by the helmsman – I know Stuart saw the waves break near it and I am hoping he did not see it go side-on to the waves.

The next 45 minutes go so slowly but at the same time seems to race by. The squall had caused havoc with the wind and picked the swell up, so we were being pushed around quite a bit. Stuart did an amazing job steering Pyrenees to the match the swell and to keep us on our route through the waypoints. It was a constant watch for waves behind, making sure none were breaking, watching the plotter to keep course and watch the boats in front for any indication of what we were going towards. Delta – the last waypoint was a welcome point and a huge tick off the list. We had finally two weeks later than expected crossed Wide Bay Bar. I also know why there is hardly any photos of it – you just do not have time to take a shot – your far too busy holding on and assisting in navigating through.

With so many boats we moved quickly up to a place called Garry’s Anchorage and were surprised to be one of the first boats in for the night. We dropped anchor right off the beach and then heard the call from Happy Hour for Sundowners! A toast to the crossing, with each our own stories to tell and a very peaceful relaxed night (after we evicted the mosquitos)

I can not tell you how nice it is to sleep knowing that crossing is behind us – we had a nice bottle of red to celebrate and both slept so well. A little explore around Garry’s in TT and a visit to a few boats for a chat as that seems to be the norm, before a walk through the bush. Coming back to TT there is a congregation on the beach, all discussing how long they will be staying, where to next, and when did you “cross”.

We decide to leave that day, to follow the rising tide to Yankee Jack Creek as we have many shallow spots to navigate through and we have already heard that a boat was aground around the corner. That boat, happened to be the same one I saw go sideways and it was high and dry as we passed on the way to Yankee Jacks. It was two and a half hours run, with 26 reference points on our route to ensure we did not hit bottom. I spent most of the trip sitting in front of the chart plotter directing 2 deg. to port, or 20 deg. starboard or any variation of such.

Rocky the anchor was deployed and before we knew it, we had been invited to Cat Magic for Sundowners, as had the other 2 boats anchored here Happy Hour and Summer Breeze. They are all long term; long distance cruisers and it was a delight to sit and hear their tales.

This morning, it is beautiful weather, just like a brochure. This area is also called South White Cliffs, obviously due to the sand dunes on the banks and everyone raves about it. Its nice and we are bit perplexed till the tide drops. As the tide ebbs, the sand banks and island appear and the whole landscape has completely changed from one covered by water. Soldier crabs run everywhere, including over each other as they race to get out of your way whilst you walk over the islands. The sand is so soft you often sink up to your calves making walking a workout.

Clockwise: Sheridan Flats, South White Cliffs, South White Cliffs lone Mangrove, Soldier Crabs (everywhere), Footsteps to..

A few more boats are coming in, some have left including our friends on Happy Hour and as Sundown approaches it is our turn to host drinks….

Stuart …..

Mooloolaba is a great place, but we were delighted to see a weather window opening to continue north as the effects of a deep low off New Zealand started to reduce (large swells). Our departure Wednesday morning was stalled as we waited for a couple of little breakers across the Mooloolah River bar to pass. It was an uneventful trip to Wide Bay but despite falling seas, the bar was breaking heavily, so we anchored overnight at the spectacular Double Island Point. It is an open roadstead anchorage so open to the ocean and the swell and accordingly we rolled most of the night, but it was so good to be back at sea!

Sunset off Rainbow Beach “red sky at night…” A few well wishers in our rig

Thursday saw a beautiful day and low swells so about 40 boats made their passage across the Wide Bay Bar on a rising tide in mixed conditions. We were middle of the flotilla and crossed the bar just as a 20 knot squall from a storm sitting offshore arrived that caused breakers in the channel about 100m ahead of us which thankfully were gone when we crossed that shallowest section. We still surfed down a couple of steeper waves but no white water. A hard 100 degree turn to port saw us traversing the “mad mile” between breakers to seaward and on the shore of Fraser Island in quite deep water so safe, but certainly lumpy seas but no problem for Pyrenees.

We continued up The Great Sandy Straights to our first anchorage on the inside of Fraser Island at Garry’s Anchorage which was delightfully calm. Friday morning saw us launch the dinghy and a trip to shore for a walk and meeting some other boats …. It’s all very social and I’ve surprisingly been leading the way 😀 The afternoon saw the last of our serious tide gates with a 13 mile passage to South White Cliffs having us cross over Sheridan Flats where the deepest point is only 0.9m. Pyrenees draws 2.35m so we needed to wait until the tide was over 1.45m high … at 3pm we crossed this spot with 0.9m below the keel and with our track from this passage, we now have a successful route to follow on our eventual journey home ….. almost like bread crumbs! Saturday has seen walks on the massive expanses of sand banks that appear here at low tide and a spot of fishing. I caught 2 but not keepers 😣 So from here on, we are now less restricted with passages as there are no more bars to cross and it is all about picking nice anchorages to suit how far we want to go in a day if at all, and what strength breeze we want to sail in.

A few more nights off Fraser Island including Sunday off the Kingfisher Bay Resort where cocktails will be de rigueur before a quick reprovision in Bundaberg …. we might just need to visit the distillery to avoid a calamitous rum rebellion !!

Some Helpers with the lines, off marching, one of the Sandy Islets,

Lianne at the helm, Tough place to work!

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.

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).

Gold Coast Shimmering as we left the Seaway and headed north

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.

The log gets updated regularly of our location, speed and any interesting details

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.

Sundowners and the view west over Moreton Bay

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.

Rain squalls and finally the entrance to Mooloolaba

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.

A few shots in and around Mooloolaba, including Stuart with his latest purchase – a collapsible trolley (this marina has no fuel wharf so jerry cans had to be taken to the service station!

PITTWATER TO SOUTHPORT

I thought I would feel nervous, but strangely I was not. Months of planning, discussing, and preparation had made me quite relaxed about the journey ahead. As it was Mother’s Day, we had lunch at Pyrenees’ home the RMYC Newport with my parents, Stu’s mum Jean and the kids so we could be at the boat straight after and be ready for the crew to arrive.

With the last things stowed away, and family all on board (my brother Brett & wife Fiona had now joined us) it seemed very strange to just be waiting, there was nothing more we could do – we tried to find something, rechecking safety lines, dinghy fastenings, fridges, navigation route but nothing had been left undone. We did though have to find a way to secure the tulips Mel had given me for Mother’s Day much to Stuart’s horror of having a plant on board – Mel decided that was her job and tied “Lucky” into the galley, which then led to knot tying practice as we sat in the saloon chatting.

Last minute checks, Mel’s knot tying skills and Lucky!

The crew started arriving Warwick (Waz)- an ex-work colleague of Stuart’s and very experienced sailor who had spent a lot of time on our first “Pyrenees” racing her and bringing her back down the Qld coast many moons ago. Tim, another ex-work colleague, who has known Stuart for over 30 years. Tony – who was an Optus franchisee as I was, has raced regularly and is also a member of Marine Rescue and Mike, whom we have recently met through Stuart’s Monday night racing on a great little boat called “Poppyseed” Mike has had many years boating experience and was keen to get some more sailing time in, as he is loving it! All up lots of experience and a great group.

With all crew onboard it was time to usher all the well wishers onto the dock and as the last light fell across Pittwater, Pyrenees left her pen. Well lit with our new LED nav lights, and all the gear on the 3-hour watches kicked in with Stuart, Tim and Tony, who would later be tagged Team L & D (Lightening and Destruction) being first up. Team Messiah, which consisted of Warwick Mike and I headed down below; after a quick meal, to get some rest before 9pm came around.

My first watch, my first night sail and all was calm, so calm we could not put the sails up and motoring was to be the norm for the entire trip. It was a moonless night so quite dark, but visibility was surprisingly good. I was surprised how quickly the watch went; in no time it was back to bed.

3am, and PFD (personal floatation device) on, up on deck, harnessed in and we were just south of Fingal Head near Port Stephens. A few fishing vessels to keep an eye on and further out to see the ships hanging off or leaving Newcastle. The clouds had started to clear, and we watched the most amazing moon rise. A minute slither of a golden, almost orange crescent moon balancing on the horizon. It seemed sit on the horizon for ages, though it would have only been seconds. I just wish I could have snapped a shot!

Monday became a blur, sleep, eat, watch repeat. We had reached Killick Beach (near Kempsey) by the time Tuesday had rolled around and seen some beautiful coastline, a few dolphins but surprisingly little birdlife. Everyone had settled into boat routine and Pyrenees was a happy lady.

I still managed a few snaps whilst on watch – trying to capture dolphins playing but failed!

With clear skies, and the milky way fully visible we all (well everyone but Stu) got to witness some of a meteor shower. And I got scared out of my seat as a something broke the water surface about 20 metres off our starboard quarter. First thought was a whale, as it was so silent, which that close – no thank you! Then another break, this time closer and a flash of white headed to our bow. A lone dolphin!

Tuesday, not so much sleep as bodies got use to the rhythm of watches but we all tried when off watch to at least lay down and get some rest, failing that it was up on deck relaxing whilst the opposite watch did their stuff. Whales sighted (well Tim swears he saw one!) Seas were still calm, and we watched a beautiful sunset as we passed New Zealand Beach towards Evans Head and had our evening meal together.

6 – 9pm off watch but no sleep as the seas had started to change and Pyrenees was starting to lift through the waves. With our cabin at the bow, it was impossible to get any sleep whilst being tossed and turned involuntarily! I did learn though, if you had a moment of silence, the fall off the wave was coming and the crash landing! Time for watch and the call from deck was to rug up and don the wet weather gear.

The radar showed storm cells intensifying, lightening in the distance things were looking grim. We were all happy that sails were not up as they would have certainly been coming down! Strangely as we watched the worst cell at around 11pm, 6 miles out on the radar they started to dissipate. A small gap appeared in the cell; the red started to go orange. We all congregated and had a great laugh as we watched the cell split and all but disappear. I think we got about 3 drops of rain. Handing over the watch at midnight – nothing to report, two ships to our east, put on your wet weather gear as a precaution but storms seem to be moving to our south.

L To R – The huge storm cell in red at top of circle, then starting to ease off, all that was left after the Messiah’s did their watch!

I decided to sleep in the saloon, as the seas were still making our berth uncomfortable. Totally exhausted I was sound asleep when the inside of the boat lit up as though someone had just turned on a huge floodlight inside – no clap, no thunder. I waited but all sounded good so went back to sleep, to be broken by a rogue swell or lightening glow. 3am came way to soon! Team L & D called out for us to stay below and stay dry!

Not taking up the exceedingly kind offer (they really needed a break) we ushered them down below amongst snippets of how bad things had been, warnings of watching the storm cells, and being prepared to put all the backup nav gear and sat phone into the oven (it acts like a Faraday cage). Stuart kept popping his head up offering tea, coffee etc – he was still wired from the watch and had to be firmly told to lay down, even if he did not sleep (he crashed quickly!) We were off Cudgen Creek at this stage and the NSW Queensland border was soon to be crossed. Well, it rained a bit as we went up on deck, and we thought it would stay that way, but the Messiah’s were on duty! We watched the Tempest fall away to the south, have few failed attempts to the West and welcomed daylight with heavy cloud on the horizon and approx. 7nm south of the Gold Coast Seaway.

Clockwise: The Gold Coast putting on a show as we arrived; the morning after the Tempest: Surfers entering the seaway; Volunteer Marine Rescue at Gold Coast Seaway

An hour’s sleep (in our cabin!) and I joined Team L & D for the crossing of the Southport Seaway. The gold Coast was glowing in the morning sun as we waited our turn amongst the fishing trawlers. We got the green light from Volunteer Marine Rescue in Seaway Tower and as we entered the last thing, we expected was to have to keep an eye on surfers who use the seaway as a short cut from the Gold Coast spit to get over to the northern beach break!

A short run down past the spit, Sea World and Marina Mirage, our pen greeted us in Southport Yacht Club. A quick tidy up and out for a well-earned breakfast and many a story…….

Stuart…..

Skipper having a relax on deck, between watches

The voyage was a great introduction to overnight ocean passages for several of our crew with mild winds and seas which unfortunately meant no sailing. However, on our last night as we approached our destination, several storm cells loomed ominously and most slipped around us with the exception being an exceptionally large and active beast near Brunswick Heads. Lightning was both in the clouds and striking the ocean for what seemed like an hour with one so close it made the hairs on my arms stand on end.

It is always great fun to try and interpret the navigation lights on fishing trawlers and we encountered many as we made our passage north. It still baffles me why they don’t use AIS as most yachts do and all ships are required to. AIS does give you a good deal of confidence transiting through shipping areas like Newcastle and combined with our radar gave us a good picture of vessels and coastline around us on what were 3 moonless nights particularly in some periods of limited visibility.

Overall Pyrenees and her crew performed well in a 61-hour passage from Pittwater to Southport. Fuel consumption was spot on the Yanmar curves and at 1800rpm we made between 4 and 7 knots depending on how badly we were affected by the Australian East Coast Current… the worst of which was between Port Macquarie and Smoky Cape. This was remarkably close with predictions from the Windy app. Wind forecasts also from Windy were perfectly accurate particularly with the ECMWF model which I have found to be particularly good. Pyrenees as usual was up to the job and many months of preparation paid dividends with the only repairs needed in Southport being to the crew’s head …. in fairness to them, both were jobs we knew about in Sydney though they may never know that 😀

So, shorts and T-shirts are now in order having arrived in Queensland after several firsts for a number of the crew …. overnight ocean passages, bar crossings, using radar and AIS and sailing through a lightning storm which was worse than any I had been through in South East Asia (and we certainly saw a few there!). Thanks to the team for spending almost 3 days with Lianne and I in a confined 15m space.

And from the crew…..

Mike – Leaving Pittwater at 6pm Sunday on schedule like a well-oiled machine, we headed off into the darkness not knowing what lay ahead. Thankfully, Stuart put together a great mix of deck hands which made the trip the memorable event that it was. Possible whale sightings, many dolphins at different stages of the journey, near miss lightning strikes “how close was that lightning” helped fill the many stories that we will continue to talk about and remember for years to come. A huge thankyou to our wonderful hosts Lianne and Stuart, safe sailing for your journey ahead.

Mike and Waz – with the cloud forming out west which bought the storm

Tony – Some learnings about our friends this week…

1. Pyrenees, whilst a beautiful vessel, is really a synonym for huge lightning rod.

2. Lianne & Stu, of the A watch are candidates for lifesavers of the year with their magical powers to conquer the oceans, divide & conquer wild storms & whip up feasts fit for kings in the dark of night & morn.

We new friends, Waz, Mike, Tim & I were the motley fools who sought seatime & had no idea how much we would enjoy & learn from a quick non-stop 60-hour sail from Pittwater to the Gold Coast.

We conquered the acronym soup of AIS, Radar range rings, split MFD display, VHF, Skeds, LED headlamps & are the wiser seamen for it. Who knew we could learn to tell the difference between a 330m container ship & a 10m prawn trawler coming right at us 9 miles out?

We saw sunrises, sunsets & wildlife up close that others pay a king’s ransom to glimpse from afar.

We tested our stamina & ingenuity to problem solve as a team & triumphed over hurdles like Seahawk (Marine rescue tracking system), fuel range calculations, random total system resets & competition between crew for the most number of phantom throttle adjustments.

But the main takeaway for me besides all the fun was the feeling of achievement for having transited a vast portion of the east coast of the country in the absolute best & worst of conditions with some special people... Tony

Waz – Getting to the boat a little early as I tend to do, Lianne and Stu cheerfully ushered me on to the boat which was crowded with family and well-wishers. Stu was prowling the boat double checking (and as Stu is known to do, triple and quadruple checking) the preparations. The remaining crew began to arrive until we were all ready for departure well before the 6:00 deadline. The well-wishers were slowly farewelled and with a final check to make sure Mark (another sailing mate who came to see us off) was not stowed away somewhere we departed 5 mins before the deadline.

From that point the well thought out plan was put into motion.The AIS and Radar were switched on. The proximity alarms started to blare, and we were on our way. After several ear shattering minutes, we managed to turn off the alarms and a quiet energy remained with the crew in anticipation of the trip to come.

Stu had set up a track on the chart plotter which we were told to keep to one side of (we are sure Stu was silently monitoring this on his phone even while he slept!).

As to be expected Lianne’s provisioning was par excellent. Savoury mince the first night, pesto chicken pasta the next and Grandmas secret recipe beef curry the third. An assortment of cereals, yoghurt, coffee, tea, juice for breakfast, gourmet rolls for lunch. While the three hours on three hours off watches 24 hrs a day seemed gruelling, we all (well most of us!) got accustomed to it over the trip and meant that we had plenty of people available to manage sails (if we ever needed them).

The seas were small, and the winds were light (except for one watch!) and other traffic was mostly sparse. The only thing that was not well organised was the wind direction which was generally close to the nose the whole trip. This precluded the use of sails.

The watches consisted of Stu, Tim and Tony (team lightning and destruction (L&D)) and Lianne, Mike and Waz (team Messiah).All was well and the trip was calm until the last night. Team Messiah had safely handed the boat to team L&D. The wind was light the sea was calm. As sleep took team Messiah, the engine revved randomly as it had a tendency to do when team L&D were at the helm. Then what seemed like seconds later (though it could have been hours) there was a blinding light and a simultaneous bang, which awakened the dead.

Team L&D had insulted the gods and summoned a tempest. The heavens opened and lightning was all around, Stu swears the lightning was so close it made his hair stand on end. At the end of the watch team L&D were round eyed in delight and had to be prised from the helm. As team Messiah took control the clouds parted the rain stopped and the wind dropped. Several times the tempest attempted to return but dissipated just before reaching Pyrenees.

At the end of the watch, we were close to the end of the adventure and Stu and team L&D brought Pyrenees safely through the bar at Southport and into the marina.

Thanks for the adventure and enjoy the rest of your amazing trip!

Tim
Tony
The log was updated hourly with our position

Tim’s account – well he left this adventure to head straight off on another so we may be waiting a while!

A huge thanks to the “boys” for making the time to make the passage with us. Stuart & I greatly appreciate all that you did for us, the experience you bought and the banter, but mostly for making Lianne’s first night passages mostly uneventful!

Lto R Stuart, Lianne, Tony, Mike, Tim & Waz

Prelude

Getting Ready….

We had always said that when Stuart joined me in retirement, we would take his “other woman”, aka Pyrenees and cruise the Eastern coast of Australia for a few months. Retirement came a little earlier than expected, so last November we started the planning.

Of course, the now retired Engineer could not let old habits die, and everything was plotted on a good old spreadsheet! All the jobs that we, or anyone we spoke to could think of that would make Pyrenees in the best condition possible was somewhere in that job sheet. Some were super simple, like a new Wi-Fi modem; others like having the standing rig (the stainless cables that hold the mast up) involved cranes, electricians and riggers not to mention time. Being amid a world gripped by COVID slowed progress at times as parts in Australia were simply not available or companies went belly up after we had ordered parts.

Stuart in his not so favourite hiding spot – doing a steering check.
Replacing all the mirrors on the boat is a job I added that I will never be forgiven for.
New Cushions for our sailing spot and a new tender after our ‘little toy’ gave up life and had to be replaced

With the jobs under progress, the next spreadsheet was the passage plan. What did we want to see, where were the great anchorages? Many books, blogs and published passage plans were researched to give us an outline of our trip. Sydney to Dunk Island and return was the decision as it was doable in the timeframe, we had set. We will take in Moreton Island, The Great Sandy Straits, Lady Musgrave (fingers crossed), Pancake Creek, Magnetic Island, Whitsundays, The Keppel’s’ just to name a few. Oh, and for my sailor the Bundaberg Rum Distillery!

The passage plan was then turned over to me, time for planning the food (and yes it was on a spreadsheet 😊). Firstly, the nonstop run to the Gold Coast to feed and nourish our “crew” who are accompanying us on this leg. The Woolies (supermarket for our non-Aussie friends) trolley was overflowing with lots of goodies for around the clock munching and all the boat staples to stock the tubs in the bilge. Next was the planning for the first leg on our own, and with not knowing what the weather will hold – we are all mapped out for 18 days, plus a sneaky back up box in the bilge (chocolate included) for just in case we are out longer than expected. I presume of course; that my outstanding capability of over catering will be in full play during the trip, and we will not have to shop for the return leg home!

Time raced by in the last week – finalising the jobs, stashing the wine (had to take it so the kids do not drink it!), shopping, more shopping, and I mean Whitworths shopping! (boat chandlery) and cooking. The day before departure arrived, the last prep was a diesel mechanic short course for Stuart, me to take the cooked meals to the boat and prep the cabins for the “crew”. All done so what else could we do but have Pizza and a nice old bottle of red wine with the kids and Glenda (neighbour).

Tomorrow….