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Cruising Updates |
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Kalida November 2009 "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow - what a ride!"
Hang on, this was just another cruising day .With the festive season approaching quickly we thought we would send our Xmas and New Year greetings early, so we hope everyone has a great festive holiday in what ever country you are currently in.
Matthew and Natasha this year would like to have a pretty piece of coral for their Xmas tree and decorative fish as the trimmings. They think it out weighs a standard Xmas tree.
We are thinking of all our friends and the awe-inspiring people we have met this year. Take care
Matthew Natasha Allison and David SV Kalida PS You can view this email on the website directly http://www.rmyc-porthacking.com.au/hello.trim/Cruising%20Updates.htm Click on the latest edition of the Coast Passage newspaper. You can read about the Lizard Island games. http://thecoastalpassage.com/recent_issues.html
Kalida July 2009 Hi everyone,
Since our last update it seems we have done so much since summering in Cairns for the cyclone season. It’s been very interesting with all the different weather patterns from the torrential rain and flooding we received to the very high temperatures and extreme UV of 19. We also experienced going up a creek to hide from a cyclone and been eaten alive not by crocs but sand flies to exploring the tablelands and beyond. Cairns is a very friendly and fun town full of life and unusual things to always see and do.
As the months flew past and we thought of a departure date to head north we realized our lists of lists of boat things to do hadn’t really reduced in size much so we thought we better get into a few of the jobs. It’s always a pleasure to cross off a job from your list but it seems to be cross one off and add two more in its place.
Anyway we have started heading north and we are at Lizard Island currently as it’s blowing 25/30 kts with a strong wind warning out yet again for this area. Our trip after leaving Cairns was fantastic as the wind was only blowing between 10 to 15 SE the whole way as we dotted our way up the reef and the full moon at night lit the surrounds up for miles. About 20 miles from Lizard we had the customs vessel Storm bay call us on the VHF telling us they wanted to board us. As we were under full sail they came along side in their inflatable and there were about 9 guys all in uniform and guns etc and 3 of them came on the boat…one from Federal police one from customs and one from water police. We chatted for about 20 minutes and they got all our particulars and said to just let them know if we see any strange goings on around the area. On another boat we know on which they boarded they had the drug dog and it vomited on their deck, we were lucky as the children normally reserve that right.
When we arrived at Watson’s Bay at Lizard the kids were off in their kayaks and searching the bush area for remains of their old cubby houses. (So independent) We didn’t see them until 6pm. The water was so flat and calm we jumped over the side and took our new dive gear to a little spot we know where the giant cod live and sat on the bottom in about 5m water and watched nature at its best. The children have reactivated the “LINA” Lizard Island newsagent for the coastal passage delivering to all the boats here.
We have been trying a few different products so see how boat friendly they are for extended travels and so far they seem to be proving them selves as a good thing to get. We got ourselves a soda stream for soft drinks and this dramatically reduces weight and space. One of the other things we have tried is freeze dried mince. This is real mince not TVP (fake meat) and so far we have enjoyed many a meal and you wouldn’t know the difference. It’s great in the fact you don’t have to refrigerate it.
Even though our boat has all LED lights you don’t realize the technology advancement that takes place in such a short period of time. We just updated a few of our cabin led lights to some latter types and you don’t realize the difference in lumens and even less power draw. (Don’t forget there is a big difference between warm and white light in all leds)
Yesterday was an interesting day in as far as we have had extremely low tides, so we make the effort to go to the other side of the island and do some reef walking as that is when you really see some very unusual marine life. The corals and shells are just fantastic. On our return to the beach where we left the dingy we witnessed a shark feeding frenzy in as little as 400 mm of crystal clear water. There were about 6 1m long black tipped reef sharks rounding up mullet and eating them. The water was alive and if fish could scream I’m sure we would have been deafened with cries of help. Anyway hope all is well where ever you are. We will update you again soon. The Kalida Crew This is where we are currently http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=vk2hcg
PS You can view this email on the website directly http://www.rmyc-porthacking.com.au/hello.trim/Cruising%20Updates.htm LED light company Kalida November 2008 “Plans of mice and men”
“Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship. Allison was a mighty sailin' woman, the Skipper brave and sure. Four passengers set sail that day for a three hundred hour tour. A three hundred hour tour.
As you know we were on our way to do the Darwin to Kupang rally, but as Murphy would have it we didn’t make it further than Lizard Island. We left Cairns with zest and excitement and a strong wind warning. We got to Lizard Island on the back of 35 knots of wind and anchored for what was going to be a 2 day stop and ended up as a 6 month stay. When we were doing the normal boat checks prior to moving on we discovered we have a few cracked chain plates. To get back to Cairns to fix this against the relentless trade winds just wasn’t feasible so we pulled the plug and opted to try and recoup some of the money we had paid to join the rally and stayed at Lizard Island. Matthew was ecstatic as all he wanted to do was live at Lizard and never leave. The only drawback the children could see in fact was that their schoolwork could be sent to the research station for collection! No post would have made it paradise! For those of you who are not familiar with Lizard it is located in far north Queensland. It is a National Park covering 1013 hectares with 24 sandy beaches and a lagoon. For boaties this is the best anchorage in Australia with so much to do. It is the last place you can swim when heading north because the further north you go you will be eaten by crocs or sharks. For the children it’s just like in the movie “Nims Island” if you have seen it.
We watched all the entrants in the rally pass through the anchorage, and had many a dinner, drinks and parties on the beach with all of them. We had so many lovely people come over to look at our chain plates and offer advice and encouragement. It was hard to see them all come and go and to have to stay behind. Then we had the most amazing offer. Friends from Cairns arrived on a 52ft cat called Charmar and they said that if we got a weather window and could get Kalida into the marina in Cairns that we could fly to Darwin to join them for the rally. It was an incredible opportunity and we got excited all over again, but it was not to be – the wind NEVER stopped blowing. A few days after the rally left Darwin the wind stopped completely for 3 days and we had a total glass out. Too little, too late! We took the opportunity to go and spend a few days on the outer reef diving and fishing. It all turned out well in the end as my dad was very ill and I flew back to Cairns 3 times for a month each time until he finally passed away. I am so happy that I was there with him and not in some remote island in Asia.
In the beginning we were a bit stressed by the fact that we had only provisioned for the estimated 6 week trip to Darwin and were fast running out of food in a place where provisions were a long way away. We were down to our last packet of wheatbix, half a bar of chocolate and gasp – a fate worse than death – NO COKE (David was ok he still had plenty of wine) when the manager at the resort took pity on us and allowed us to have supplies sent in on the barge that services the resort. After that we managed just fine. We planted sweet potatoes and I was growing lettuce, basil, chives, coriander and parsley on board so we didn’t get scurvy. Actually, once we’d worked out the logistics of shopping once a month we did just fine. One day I was sitting on board when I heard someone calling out “Kalida”. I got the binoculars out and saw a strange man waist deep in water with a large box in his arms. I jumped into the dinghy and went over to see who he was. When I got there he thrust a huge box of fruit and vegetables into my arms and yelled out, “I’ve got to go my tourists might drown, but I couldn’t bear the thought of those beautiful children surviving on chips and coke!” I was thoroughly perplexed, but overjoyed with the fresh food. It turned out to be the start of a beautiful friendship. Apparently the children had befriended Greg on the beach and explained our predicament. He obviously asked them what we were living on and they turned around and said, “chips and coke!” Greg is a pilot who brings day trippers to Lizard for a gourmet picnic and snorkelling. For the rest of our time on Lizard he kept us in fresh food! Now that we are back in Cairns he has said that the next time he has spare seats on his plane he’s going to take the kids back with him for a visit!
We did many things to amuse us in Lizard; we fell into bed exhausted every night wondering what had happened to the day. I must admit a lot of time was spent talking and socializing. We had countless potluck dinners on the beach, parties at the resorts staff bar, sundowners, scrabble tournaments, movie nights, hikes and picnics and trips to the outer reef. The snorkelling at Lizard is brilliant with giant clams, turtles, stunning fish, manta rays, reef sharks and great visibility. If anyone has seen the movie Nims Island, that’s exactly what it was like for the children. We’d wake up early and get school done by 11 o’clock and the rest of the day they would run wild. We did a lot of hiking and abseiling. Matthew met the Australian champion kite surfer who piggybacked him while surfing for about an hour. It was amazing – watching them screaming along the lagoon at about 20 knots and jumping a 2 or 3 metres in the air. Matt’s feet didn’t touch the ground all day. He just kept on grinning and telling everyone that it was the best day he’d ever had. There is a research station on the other side of the island and they run a tour for the resort guests and yachties. We did the tour so many times that Natasha was given her own part to play. The children made friends with a local artist who gave them art lessons on her boat and Matt was having chess lessons with the GM of the resort.
The children created the first Lizard Island newsagent becoming distributors for the Coastal Passage Newspaper. They delivered over 150 while we were there. We saw all kinds of boats passing through the anchorage and met the most delightful people from all over the glove. The children continued to amaze us – kids who couldn’t speak a word of each others language still manage to play and have a great time.
We will share a few of many collated statistics…
Number of days we had less than 5kts x1 Number of days we had with 10/15 x5 Number of days we had with 20 to 30kts x180 maximum strength we had was 52ktsSE Longest distance the children swam at the Island 1.5kms Amount of diesel used in 7 months 40L the solar and wind power is magnificent Biggest Sting ray we swam with 1.5 m wide Deepest free dive the children managed was down to 7m as the Australian free diver was on the island and took an interest to show the children how to do it properly. Largest fish caught at the reef was 1.4m Mackerel. An unusual thing we saw whilst diving was a big meter long potato cod take the beads that were in a girls braided hair. The hair came away from her scalp and we were all shocked until we found out she had hair extensions in. Repeated sayings we heard. “It’s blowing like stink!” “Where does all this wind come from?” “Set your sailing plans in custard”
We finally had a window of opportunity to head back to Cairns, the relentless trade winds took a breath and some very light SE/NE winds came in. We had a fantastic trip – 5 days of totally calm seas, blue sky and 5 knots of wind to dot our way back through the reef. We took 5 days to get back staying at delightful anchorages along the way. We shared an anchorage with a 4m croc in Hope Island. We are planning on now spending the season in the marina in Cairns.
We will update with the next missive when we start planning it. Remember make your own destiny. Kalida crew
Ps You can view this on the website directly http://www.rmyc-porthacking.com.au/hello.trim/Cruising%20Updates.htm
Also you can see where the children have written into the Coastal Passage Newspaper You will find the issues in these 2 websites Issue number 27,29,31,33 http://thecoastalpassage.com/recent_issues.html http://thecoastalpassage.com/back_issues.html Kalida May 2008 Hi Everyone,
After spending the last 4 months in Cairns marina we have finally cast off our lines and embarked on the next leg of our adventure. We had lots of fun. I didn’t end up putting the kids into school because the local school didn’t have a good reputation and I weighed up the cost of buying uniforms etc for the local private school and thought it wasn’t worth the cost. So we carried on home schooling and I worked at night in a restaurant. I had lots of fun at the restaurant – the people I worked with were loads of fun and of course there were lots of interesting people coming in. The man who owned the restaurant is lovely. He is Austrian and has grandchildren the same age as our guys. Of course his grandkids are in Austria so I think he adopted ours kids instead and spoilt them rotten. We would go and eat with him at the restaurant regularly (5 star) – Matthew’s favourite meal is spatchcock and oysters! The kids loved staying in the marina as there were other kids to play with. They all went to school, but when they came home the kids would have a great time.
We left Cairns on Sunday. It was quite sad to go. We had a whole bunch of friends on the dock waving us off despite the early hour of departure. Our first leg took us to the Low Isles. We went ashore and explored the island. It was amazing. There were heaps of turtles playing around the boat. I don’t know what the collective noun is for a group of turtles, but it should be a huff or a wheeze of turtles. They sound like a bunch of asthmatic old men. Natasha found some giant clam shells on the beach which were big enough to use as chairs on the beach. Three other boats had sailed up with us from Cairns and we all shared a very civilized bottle of red and cheese and biscuits on the beach. While we were on the beach the water started to boil and the next second thousands of tiny fish were leaping out of the water and scooting along the surface on their tails. I walked closer to the edge to get a better look and saw two small black tipped reef sharks herding the fish. It was amazing to watch. The sharks were working cooperatively to hunt the fish. They were only about 1m away from shore. It was amazing.
From there we visited Hope Island and stayed there for a day to give the kids a break from vomiting. We have to find our sea legs again after such a long break. Actually Natasha is doing well she hasn’t been sick for 2 days and the conditions today were appalling. Poor Matthew is still pretty crook. I’ve been great – I seem to have got over my sea sickness. Then we went to Cooktown. I have wanted to go there for ages as it sounded like a really neat place and it is. We loved it. David stayed on the boat because it was blowing a gale and we were worried that the anchor might drag, but the kids and I went and explored. We went to the James Cook museum which was very interesting and then visited the musical playground which was a winner! It is a ship built as a musical instrument. It has drums, pan pipes, cymbals, triangles and a whole lot of other things that I do not know the name of. The kids had a blast. I don’t think the Harper’s will ever win any awards for their musical talent however. We left Cooktown this morning and just did a short hop to Cape Bedford. It may have been a short hop geographically, but the conditions today were horrible and the journey seemed to go on forever. Poor Matt threw up the whole way. The wind is howling and the waves were so big that they were breaking over the boat and sloshing around the cockpit. I spent all my time emptying vomit buckets and mopping up water from the cockpit. I am covered with bruises which I don’t even remember getting. We are supposed to be going to Lizard Island tomorrow, but if the conditions are still so bad we may break it up into 2 shorter days. I love Lizard it’s my favourite place in the world. We won’t be able to stay for very long though as we have a long way to go to get to Darwin and we want to be there by the beginning of July. We leave for Timor on the 25th of July. We want to be in Darwin for a few weeks to organize visa’s, vaccinations, provisions etc. The kids and I have been practicing our Indonesian in anticipation. They are such little troopers. We asked them again this morning if they would prefer to just stay at Lizard for the whole season instead of sailing anymore and they were both horrified. “What not go to Indonesia – no way!” The thought of throwing up for another 2000 miles just to get to Darwin doesn’t seem to phase them at all. I have a sneaky suspicion that it is going to be a very hard slog to Darwin. The wind up this neck of the woods just doesn’t stop blowing at about 25 to 30 knots night and day where dose all that wind come from. We are looking forward to rounding Cape York as we will have the protection from the wind and swells while we are heading down to Weipa before the gulf crossing. Well anything less than 30knts is good.
Well I will end my story here as this is quite a rocky anchorage and I’m starting to feel the urge to get some fresh air before I start making dinner. I’ll keep in touch as we go along.
Love to all
Allison, David, Natasha and Matthew S.V. Kalida Jura March 2008 Hi John and fellow trim members. Kylie and i have been cruising Tasmania now for the last month and a half. We are about to take our trim flag down to 43 50 south as we make our way Round to Port Davie. We took part in the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania's Flinders Island Cruise and cannot rave enough about this organised event or the cruising grounds of Tasmania. It is truly stunning, and very different to cruising the Whitsundays. If anyone is looking for an alternative cruising destination, February, March is definitely a great time to cruise Tasmania. We are loving it so much, we wish we had gotten here earlier and had more time to spend. Tasmanian's are really helpful and friendly and love there sailing. They all seem to have a boat and use it. If you would like to see a little more we have set up a blog site www.yachtjura.blogspot.com which we hope would entice some other members to turn right instead of left the next time they have some time to cruise. Bass Strait does not have to be that daunting if you have time to wait in Eden for a weather window. Happy cruising Kylie and Peter. Jura Kalida October 2007 Hi Everyone
I can't believe that we have been at Lizard Island for almost 5 weeks now. We have had a wonderful time and the weeks have flown past in the blink of an eye. It is almost time to turn around and head for Cairns. We have spent our days exploring the island by water as well as land - hiking to the top of the island (Cook's Look) and marveling at how intrepid the sailors of old must have been to battle their way up to the top to try and work out a way through the reef without the aid of a GPS! We have circumnavigated the island in the dinghy and explored all the little coves and beaches. Each place has it's own special character and appeal. The marine life is spectacular. We have all spent more time under the water than on top of it. We can swim to the reef from where we are moored. The kids think nothing of swimming incredible distances exploring the reef. I hope that I haven't included too many photos in my attachment, I know that other people's holiday snaps can get boring, but I wanted to give you a glimpse into the incredible beauty of the reef, the fish and the shells we are seeing daily.
We normally start our day at around 6:30 and try and do a couple of hours of schoolwork before it gets too hot. By 8:30 yesterday it was 41 degrees and not a breath of wind to cool things down. We had to do school in very short bursts between lengthy swims. The sharks come into the bay in the early mornings and early evenings so we avoid swimming at those times. Last week we had extremely low tides and were able to go reef walking which was a pretty unique experience giving us a very different perspective from snorkeling. Before we left Sydney I made some sails for the children's kayaks and they have mastered sailing them all around the bay. At around 5pm everyone usually goes ashore for sundowners on the beach. Sometimes we will do a pot luck dinner with everyone bringing a meal. It's great, you do get tired of eating your own food after a while. We have visited many of the outer reefs and done quite a bit of fishing (you can't fish at Lizard island as it is a no take zone). The other night we had a beautiful red emperor and we took it to the beach and cooked it for everyone on our little gas burner as nibbles with drinks. It was delicious. The children have built themselves a fantastic cubby house on the beach and made flags to hang in the tree saying "Lizard Island Kid's Club". David's mum and dad gave the children some beautiful silk kites which they bought in China. They have had a ball playing with them in the evenings. We met up with a group of 5 young Americans (age 24)who had clubbed together to buy their boat and sailed it out from New York. They were a lovely bunch of boys and played kites with the kids for hours. I don't know who enjoyed it more.
A few weeks ago the pilot of the seaplane found himself in a bit of a dilemma. He came to pick up his passengers who had been camping on the island and found that his starter motor had burnt out and he was unable to fly home. It was late on a Friday afternoon and he was unable to get anyone to come and help him until the Monday morning. David helped him to pull the plane to a safe position to secure it. By that stage the poor bloke was pretty wet and miserable so we brought him in some dry clothes, a blanket, food, chocolate and beer (the staples in life) and helped him bed down for the night. He wanted to stay on the plane to make sure it was ok, so he spent an uncomfortable night. The next day he flew back to Cooktown. David minded the plane for him until Monday when he returned with a mechanic and fixed the problem. When he came back he brought us a huge box of wonderful gourmet sandwiches with all sorts of fantastic fillings. He also told us that we could email the local supermarket with an order of groceries and he would deliver them for us, which was great as we had just about run out of fresh fruit and vegetables.
A marlin fishing competition started today. There are 42 boats competing and it has turned our quiet little bay into a huge marina. They will only be here for the week. We have been remarkably lucky this season as on average there have only been about 5 - 12 boats in the anchorage at a time. In past years there have been as many as 70 boats anchored here. There has been quite a turnover of people. One thing I love about living on the water is how friendly most people are. It doesn't matter what kind of boat you have or how big it is everyone has something in common. David has been doing a roaring trade in contra deals. The word has spread that there is a bloke anchored at Lizard who can fix computers, get your emails working in areas that supposedly has no connectivity and fix HF radios. It's really funny. We keep on having people approaching our boat bearing gifts of fresh fish or a loaf of bread, perhaps some fresh salad greens or even the offer of filling up our water tanks from their huge watermakers if he will look at a little problem for them. We have been taken out on some magnificent power boats to go game fishing and visit the outer reef. Maximum speed on one boat was 42kts in one hour, that’s a day's sail for us slower Sail boats.
Our family has been featured in the Coastal Passage Newspaper http://thecoastalpassage.com/recent_issues Click on the link to see us in all our glory. Go directly to recent issues page. The download is just under 2 megs.
The American boys I mentioned earlier were writing for a children's online magazine and they did a feature on Natasha and Matthew, but I don't have the link for that yet. They have also asked if the kids would mind sending them regular emails for the web site.
We are hoping to be back in Cairns near the end of October. We have had wonderful weather, for the past week there has been barely a breath of wind, but today it is blowing a gale and it's predicted to continue for at least the next 3 or 4 days. It will take us 4 days to get back to Cairns so we are hoping to get northerlies (or at least very light SE) at the appropriate time. We will be sad to turn around and leave Lizard, but are looking forward to a visit from my mum and dad who are coming up to Cairns to see us.
I hope that this email finds you all well. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Please excuse me if I don't reply individually immediately, but we don't get reception here all the time so we have to take our opportunities as they arise. We don't get voice reception on our mobile, although we can sometimes get text messages through.
Best wishes Allison, David, Natasha and Matthew SV KALIDA
PS If anyone would like to read updates via the web you can also access the emails we send via this link.
http://www.rmyc-porthacking.com.au/hello.trim/Cruising%20Updates.htm Kalida September 2007 Hi Everyone
We are at Lizard Island S14'39.728 E145'27.127 and very surprisingly have email. I think we must have hooked into the wireless from the very exclusive resort. Whatever the reason, we thought we'd best take advantage of the chance to communicate and let everyone know where we are.
The children and I had a brief visit home to see the family and celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary and my mum's 70th birthday. It was wonderful to see everyone. As soon as we got back to Cairns we did a huge shop and left for Lizard. We went via the Low Isles, Hope Island and Cape Flattery. We had a great trip although the last day was a bit lumpy and blustery so we arrived at Lizard with a very salt encrusted boat, and didn't need to put much sail away as we had a double reef in the mail and only about a meter of Genoa out and averaged 7.5knts. The wind seems to blow consistently at around 20 - 30 knots here, but it is a great anchorage and very calm. It doesn't bother us because it is so hot that the wind is quite welcome. Of course the other bonus of it being so hot and windy is that we have no problems with power. Between our solar panels and our wind generator it's like being plugged into shore power.
We are having a fantastic time. I was really looking forward to arriving here, but at the same time a little apprehensive that it would not live up to its wonderful reputation. Well, I need not have worried. It has superseded all my expectations. It is a marvellous place. There is so much to do and see and so many different facets to the island. The scenery is sensational as you can see from the photos in my attachment. The beaches are white silica and the water is crystal clear and teeming with fish so tame that we feed them every morning and they actually come and take the food out of my hand. There is a research station on the island and on Mondays they do a tour which we will do next Monday.
The diving is fantastic. We are surrounded by coral reef which we can swim to from the beach or the boat it is so close. The marine life is astounding. The water is so clear that it is like being in a swimming pool. I think I am even starting to overcome my fear of sharks a little. We have seen a couple but they have been very small ones (probably couldn't even nip off my toe) and I figure they are so well fed that they wouldn't be interested in a change of diet. There is the added bonus that you can see them coming from a long way off due to the clear water. We don't swim after 4 o'clock though as the bigger sharks come quite close to shore to feed. There are huge schools of large fish that hang around the shallows feeding on the smaller fish and you can see the sharks cruise in for a feed too.
There are a lot of great walks to do. We have been here nearly a week and we haven't even scratched the surface. Today we walked to Coconut beach. It was a little more challenging than we anticipated as part of the walk involved abseiling down a sheer rock wall (and that was the easy part) transversing the side of the hill to get to the ropes was far harder as there were a lot of loose rocks and a couple of our friends decided to give up and go back for a swim in the lagoon. We carried on with another family and ended up having a great day. It is a pretty isolated beach as it is not easy to get to and the shells were fantastic. The kids picked up 100's of cowries and Natasha found a big Nautilus which we have put up on display in the boat. Generally we have stopped letting them bring shells back as we are running out of space. There was all sorts of flotsam and jetsam to be found and the four kids spent most of the day beachcombing. They found cuttle fish over 50cm long. By the time we got back to the anchorage we were all hot and sweaty and couldn't wait to plunge into the cool, clear water.
The history of the island is fascinating and very well signposted. All the walks have little signs telling you all about the native flora and fauna and the history of the island. Natasha is doing a history project on the colonization of Australia and it is wonderful as we have followed Captain Cooks original route. We have walked up to the lookout that he used when he was trying to find a way out of the reef. The remains of Mrs Watson's cottage are still visible, a tragic story of the poor woman who used to live here. Her husband was away running his beche de Mer business and she was here with her new baby and 2 Chinese servants when one of the servants was attacked and killed by Aboriginals. Mrs Watson, the baby and the remaining servant escaped in a big vat which they used as a raft, but later landed on another island which didn't have water and they died of thirst. She kept a diary of the whole thing and it was found with her body.
Talking of dying of thirst - David has installed our desalinator and it is working beautifully so we will not go thirsty, we can make as much fresh water as we need now and don't need to cart jerry cans to refill. In fact there is bore water available on the island which you have to pump from an old fashioned pump. It is quite hard work. Tomorrow I will walk to the pump with my washing and buckets and do the laundry. It is too windy to hang the washing on the boat so I will string up a washing line on the trees. It is so hot and windy it will dry in no time. While I'm waiting for it to dry I will dig up the wild yams that grow around the bore. They are delicious; we have been wrapping them in foil and cooking them on the fire on the beach in the evenings to have with fresh fish. There are wild figs too which aren't quite ripe yet and my little tomatoes that I grow on the boat are flourishing so we won't get scurvy. Actually we have found that the seaplane that brings campers out to the island will pick up groceries for us if we run short. Just as well as you all know that fish is not my favourite diet although I am improving. We had spotted mackeral last night and it was delicious. Thanks to David's cooking skills he can really turn all sorts of food into a five star meal.
I've just read what I've written and seen how long it is - I hope that it doesn't ramble on too much.
Hope everyone is healthy and happy.
Regards
Allison, David, Natasha and Matthew "The Kalida Crew"
ps if you can not play the attached file let us know and we will send some pics instead Kalida August 2007 Hi Everyone
We have had a wonderful time since our last update. We called into the Hinchinbrook, just for a night enroute to Cairns and ended up staying two weeks. We hadn't planned on staying as there is nothing there. It is totally isolated and you can't get off the boat as the creeks are bordered by thick mangroves and mud with no sandy beaches and of course there are snakes and crocodiles. We only ventured in as the anchorage that we had picked out in the bay looked rather tumultuous and we decided that rather than a broken nights sleep bouncing around we would detour down the creek for a quiet night. We got there and fell in love. It is magnificent. The scenery is spectacular. For the first week we had it to ourselves and we took the opportunity to do a few chores on the boat, get ahead on the school work and do a little fishing and crabbing. Then the boats started to trickle in. First just Stardancer so the kids had their friends - Harry and Ryan to play with for a couple of days and then a couple more every day until there were 10 of us in the creek and all hope of work and school dissappeared amongst a flurry of entertaining and socializing. It was lots of fun. The children were even invited to a birthday party on a boat called Intrigue whose 17 year old daughter is doing her HSC via Distance Ed and she had to do a children's party as an exam. Of course our kids were only too happy to be her guinea pigs. She did a great job from the handmade invitations to the beautifully presented food, party games and lolly bags. The kids had a ball. In the end their were 10 children in the creek. They all had a wonderful time zooming from boat to boat for playdates and to do their school work together. It always makes it more fun doing art and science projects when there are others to join in with.
We are now in Cairns, and have fallen in love again! I know, I know, groan you say - they seem to fall in love with every new place they go, but isn't that half the fun of cruising. Each place we go seems to have something a little different and wonderful about it. After the tranquillity and isolation of the Hinchinbrook (for the first week at least) the hustle and bustle of Cairns seems so strange and foreign. It's a lovely city and the marina is located right in the heart of the city just a short stroll to the lagoon, bbqs and all the shops your heart desires. It's the biggest city we've been to for a very long time and it is nice to have easy access to goods and services again. We had to do a very big shop to stock up the boat. It was huge and we had to lug it all the way back to the marina pushing the trolleys. It then took about 3 hours to unpack it all. I didn't think that I was going to have room to store it all, but in the end I squashed it in.
The waterfront has been beautifully developed with a spectacular lagoon for the kids to swim in and plenty of free BBQS. There is even a free council run exercise programme run daily - yoga, tai-chi, aquaerobics and power walking. I had great intentions of joining them each morning at 7, but the intentions weren't quite good enough. We always seem to be so busy and have so many chores to do when we are in the marina. By the time all the chores have been done its always time to leave.
The children got together with their friends Harry and Ryan off Stardancer and dressed up as pirates and accompanied by Matthew's harmonica they sang Don Spencer's bush songs for the tourists. They made themselves $20 in about 45 minutes and it was on a quiet week day so they have decided that they'll do it again on the weekend when there are so many people about they will surely make a fortune. They took themselves to the movies with their hard earned cash. They looked so cute and they had a great time doing it.
The fishing off the pier is excellent. Someone caught a huge golden trevally yesterday and barramundi were being pulled in today. The kids do a little school work in the morning and then they dissappear with their mates to fish and ride their scooters up and down the breakwall.
From here we are heading out to the reef, then the low isles, Port Douglas, Hope Island, Cooktown and Lizard Island. I hope you are all well and enjoying life and good health.
Cheers from Allison, David, Natasha and Matthew "The Kalida Crew"
KALIDA July 4, 2007 Hi All
I have to start with my apologies for being such a poor correspondent. I do have good intentions of writing regularly, but somehow there just never seems to be enough hours in the day. I know that for all the non-boaty people on my distribution list you are probably reading this and thinking lazy sod, what does she do all day but lounge around and sip champagne, but you have to remember that in order to purchase the champagne in question (which as all of you who know me well is in actual fact coke) I have to probably walk about 5km to the closest shop and then lug 20kg worth of drinks and food back to the boat in my granny bag, then pack it all into the dinghy and bring it back to the boat by which time it is usually wet from spray or the torrential rain we have been experiencing for the last few weeks. Then I unpack everything, dry it, write on all of the tins so that if they get wet and the labels peel off we still know what we are eating. Phew, there goes a whole day. Then there are all the boat chores, although I must admit David does most of those, but you know what they say about cruising – its how to fix your boat in exotic locations. Once I have made the yoghurt, and the bread and taught the kids school for 3 hours and done the plethora of little sewing jobs I usually try to find the time for a quick kayak or a bushwalk before the evening socializing starts. We have really had a wonderful trip so far. We have made lots of good friends most of whom we have had to say good bye to when we left the Whitsunday’s as they are not going any further which is a shame, but luckily there are a few who are pressing on and I’m sure we’ll soon meet many more. Unfortunately we never really got to see much of the Whitsunday Islands this time as we were experiencing pretty much the same weather you had in Sydney which was not the best. In fact we experienced the coldest day that Airlie beach has had since 1902! We treated ourselves to 2 weeks in the Airlie Beach marina during the bad weather so we whiled away the time socializing, having BBQs, Scrabble tournaments, pizza nights and curry nights with all the other cruisers. I think that David has been named social director of the Whitsunday’s he organized so many events. It was lots of fun. I thought that we would be able to get really far ahead with the school work during all the rainy days, but in the end we were hard pressed to do the stuff we were supposed to do let alone any extra. It was like grand central station on our boat. Most of our friends were anchored in the bay so they would come ashore and leave their dinghies tied up behind us in the marina and pop in for a coffee or lunch before going for a walk around town. It was a common sight to see 3 or 4 dinghies behind us. For those of you from the Port Hacking Cruising Division who know Debbie and Ivor off Kareela – we have spent many happy hours with them. I really take my hat off to them they are cruising in a 29ft yacht with no refrigeration or oven and only 60L of water. That’s doing it tough! We have been catching lots of fish and have been enjoying plenty of fresh mackerel, sweet lips and coral trout. I was not overly fond of fish when we left home, but David is slowly changing my mind with all the delicious recipes he is conjuring up for me. Cajun sweet lips is my favorite. My little herb garden is still providing us with lovely fresh basil and coriander and I even have my first tomato that I’m tending like a baby. We’ve had a lot of trouble with bugs on the herbs and I don’t want to use any pesticides so I’m watching them like a hawk and cleaning the leaves with water and cotton wool to wipe any away at first sight. We have noticed that there is a very bad tendency for people not to light their boats at night. You would think that after all the recent publicity that anchor lights have been getting since there have been some fatal accidents in the past 6 months that everyone would light their boats up like a Christmas tree, but unfortunately that is not the case. We usually try to time our arrivals in daylight hours, but sometimes it is unavoidable. Yesterday we were having such a wonderful run that we decided not to stop at our planned destination but to push on to do the next leg. We arrived just after dusk but just before the moon rose which was a shame as a half hour later it was so bright we could see everything. We didn’t have any trouble as we always use our radar and nightscope, but sure enough there was a boat without a single light and another with just a dim garden light on the back! It makes me mad that people are so complacent about safety issues. Without the radar they would have been virtually invisible. We arrived at Magnetic Island today. It is magnificent. We are in a beautiful bay called Horseshoe Bay. At last the weather has warmed up and it is a lovely balmy evening, I’m still wearing a singlet and shorts. We have just watched a spectacular sunset with blood red skies and about 30 minutes later witnessed the most amazing moonrise I’ve ever seen. It’s a bright orange full moon. It is a lovely island. There are lots of excellent walks to do and some very good snorkeling including quite a famous wreck to dive on. There are plenty of restaurants and little shops everywhere and lots of accommodation. If anyone wants to visit us this is the spot to do it. You can fly to Townsville and then catch the ferry across to Magnetic Island. I would be very happy to stay here for a couple of weeks it seems like a great spot. From here we will be going to Cairns, but there are quite a few nice spots in between including the Hinchinbrook channel which is reputed to have some of the best fishing and a few crocodiles which I’m not quite as keen on.( I’m sure David and the children will try and catch one for dinner) There are lots of beautiful outer reef spots with fantastic snorkeling that leaves the Whitsunday’s for dead. From Cairns we are heading to Cooktown which has a wonderful history and is the last town on the coast before the top of Australia is reached at Cape York and Thursday Island. Captain Cook and his men spent 48 days there repairing the Endeavour (what did I say about cruising being about fixing your boat in exotic locations?). It was the first place in Australia where Englishmen spent more than a few days ashore and where the kangaroo was first sighted and named. One hundred years later, Cooktown became main port for the Palmer River goldfields and had a population of over 30 000, with 163 brothels and 94 licensed pubs! I hope that you are all healthy and happy and we do think about you and wish you well. The Harper Family SV KALIDA Trim makes it to Cid Harbour (Kalida June 2007)
Kalida (May 2007)
Kalida Part 1 Hi Everyone
We
are currently in Coffs Harbour. My brother and his family and my mum
and dad are all here to spend the week with us. They are staying in
a resort and
Laurieton was my favorite spot so far. It is a beautiful little fishing village. We anchored in the river which was so calm. Dolphin played around the boat each morning until we were getting quite blasé about seeing them. Although when we were leaving a pod of about 5 or 6 including a tiny baby swam in our bow wave for about 20 minutes, all the way from our anchorage to the end of the river. It was the most spectacular thing I’ve ever seen, I was so excited. We spent nearly a week there. My friend Ellen and I climbed the North Brother mountain. (We felt quite proud of ourselves). The view was unbelievable from up there. The next day we kayaked the length of the river and the men brought the kids in the dinghy and met us at the beach at the end of the river.(4kms) We had a great day there swimming and collecting shells to decorate a jewellery box. When we got back to the boat we checked the weather and decided that there was a brief break in the weather and we should leave right now for Coffs Harbour. We had been starting to worry that we weren’t going to get to Coffs before the family arrived. We had been hanging around for weeks waiting for them, but then the North Easterly winds started to blow and we can’t sail against them. It worked out well though, I gave the kids and early dinner and put them in the PJ’s and brushed teeth etc and they were asleep by 6:30 – pretty much as soon as the dolphins left us they went to bed and they didn’t wake up until 7:00 the next morning which meant they missed almost the entire trip. Of course David and I had to stay up and sail the boat all through the night, but it was a very pleasant night and we had a big block of chocolate to keep us going. It got very cold at one point though.
Once we leave Coffs we will start picking up the pace and head North more rapidly. Of course it is school holidays at the moment and we are all thoroughly enjoying not having to do school work. In fact I don’t know who is enjoying it more the kids or me!
I hope that everyone is well and enjoying the holidays.
Part 2 Hi Again, I’m sorry that I have been such a poor correspondent. My only excuse is that I’ve simply been having too much fun! I didn’t realize that I hadn’t actually sent my email from Coffs Harbour. We are now in Southport. We had a fantastic time in Coffs with the family. From there we sailed overnight to Yamba. We only spent the night in Yamba as the weather was good for sailing so we set off again early in the morning. Unfortunately that was Natasha’s birthday which was not too much fun for her, but she was really good about it. We spent the night in an awful anchorage in Byron Bay and didn’t get a wink of sleep as the boat rocked like mad all night. At about 2 in the morning we couldn’t stand it any longer so we got up and set sail for Southport. We got to Southport at about 11am and promptly made a birthday cake and took a whiz around the anchorage to round up some friends for a party. Luckily we found another family that we had met in Pittwater with 2 boys of 8 and 10 (Harry and Ryan are actually in the same class at Distance Ed as Natasha and Matthew) and a couple of other boats that we knew so we had a great party on the beach. Yesterday we went to Sea World. We had a fantastic day. We were there from opening time until they closed down the last ride. When we got back to the boat another crowd had gathered on the beach for sundowners. We have been very lucky with the weather up to now, but it’s looking very black at the moment and I’m sure it will rain very soon. As soon as I’m finished my email I’ll go and set up our water catcher in anticipation as we are starting to get a little low on water and I have washing to do. All the public taps have been switched off due to level 4 water restrictions so it is a little hard to fill up our tanks. Normally we just take jerry cans ashore and fill them from taps on the beach. (still need to install our water maker ) We will still be here until our mail arrives which will hopefully be on Monday, then as soon as the weather and tides cooperate we will head up to Mooloolaba and from there to Fraser Island where I would like to spend at least a week as we had so much fun there last time.
It’s great to finally be in Queensland. There are a lot more cruising boats here and we are starting to meet up with a lot of cruisers that we will be seeing a lot of over the next few months. We met up with a lovely couple in Pittwater (Ellen and Lloyd) and have been sailing with them all the way. It is nice to have the company especially on the long trips. When I say company, half the time you cannot even see each other, but at least you know that you are in radio contact and can have a little chat as we go. (It gets lonely at night on passage especially around the 1am to 3am times)
I hope that you are all well and thank you for all the wonderful emails we have been getting. I hope you don’t mind receiving my newsletters rather than individual emails. Lots of love
Allison, David, Natasha and Matthew xxx Third Man October 2005 Hello Everyone, This is our last update before we head home. When will we be there? We don’t know!! We are in the hands of the weather. Thanks to Sharon and Chris we now have a website with selected photos from our trip. http://home.exetel.com.au/chrisandsharon/thirdman Hope you and yours are all well Third Man (Elaine and Kevin) OLD SALTS DIARY 3 - August to October On 15th August we set off from Airlie Beach on the last stage north motor sailing 9 nm to Woodwark Bay where we intended to have lunch but it was so pretty we decided to stay the night. Had a lovely walk along the beach and admired the homes which were constructed for a South Sea Island movie and then sold to Jodie Rich. Kev tried his hand at fishing but no luck. Headed for the Gloucester passage (18nm) the next day and found a mooring at the Gloucester Echo Tourist resort. Had a nice walk along the beach and a drink at Monte’s resort which is a lovely old resort catering for yachties. Very friendly proprietor. Met up with J and Marilyn off Motu Iti (Catamaran from Sydney) and swapped notes on our trip so far. The next day had a pleasant sail (not much scenery) to Cape Upstart and Kev caught a nice school mackerel on the way. Cape Upstart is very quaint. Little cottages have been built on the water’s edge, there are no roads but they had all the mod cons eg electricity and TV and we had 2 great days enjoying the beach and talking to the local fishing community. Headed for Cape Bowling Green and had a forgettable night rolling around and being blown to bits. Kev did see a shark. Had a lovely sail on a reach all the way and anchored in Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Island (Townsville) on 20th August. We had arranged to meet Rod Ivison here on 2nd September so we were a bit early but what a beautiful place to spend some time. Caught the local bus and rode around the island. Went for a walk to Balding Point which was picturesque except for the nude bathers. Why is it that aging unfit people want to take their clothes off and parade around the beach? Kevin had to restrain me from yelling “put them on!” (clothes I mean) We then continued on to Radical Bay and by the time we returned I realised how unfit I had become. Did the Forts walk another day which takes you around the World War 11 gun placements, remains of old stores and the actual fort. The view of Cleveland Bay was incredible and would have prevented any enemy surprise attack. Saw the rock wallabies at Geoffrey Bay, the old pier at Picnic Bay and the big marina complex being built at Nelly Bay. Spent a day at Alma bay and swam and then took in a seniors concert on the beach (it was Seniors week). Horseshoe Bay was a beautiful anchorage and also very social. Met lots of the Cruising community and enjoyed sundowners with them on the beach. There were restaurants and a pub on the beach strip and a little 711 store. Took a ferry ride over to Townsville one day to fix up some lap top problems we were having and then on 1st September headed to Townsville’s Breakwater Marina to re stock the boat, do the laundry and to pick up our friend Rod. After waiting for the wind to abate we set off to Horseshoe Bay again on 3rd September and after fare welling our cruising friends we set off for Orpheus Island. Anchored in a very pretty bay and after a walk on the beach had a peaceful night’s sleep. Our next stop was Zoe’s Bay on the outside of Hinchinbrook Island where we anchored at 11am and then took a beautiful rainforest walk to a magnificent waterfall. Kev and Rod had a swim in the huge fresh water pool while I sat on a rock (I’m a bit scared of crocodiles) The signs warning of crocodiles when we landed on the beach were a bit off putting but we actually met a couple who had hiked from Lucinda (south Hinchinbrook) and were going to set up camp not far from the beach so I guess you just have to obey the rules. Anchored at Shepherds Bay for a slightly bumpy night and then had a pretty 22nm sail through the Family Islands arriving at Dunk Island after lunch. The resort at Dunk has been refurbished and is lovely but the facilities for day visitors and yachties were disappointing. A little too close to the mainland to give me the island feel. Next morning motored most of the way to Mourilyan Harbour stopping on the way for a fish at a little reef and then lunch at Kent Island where Kev and Rod had a snorkel. Didn’t catch any fish but saw a few turtles and a large stingray. Mourilyan Harbour was a good all round anchorage and we had a pleasant night’s sleep but didn’t really explore much. An old fellow came over and introduced himself and told us of an article he had written about sheltering from a cyclone. We had actually read the story so it was good to see the boats involved. Mourilyan Harbour is about 6 miles south of Innisfail which is still recovering from the cyclone Larry last March. In the morning we woke to a heavy fog and were glad to follow another yacht Indecision out through the channel. Of course 2 boats on the water means a race so they put up their spinnaker followed by Third Man and we managed to arrive at Fitzroy Island ahead of them. Later when we met them on the beach I explained that we had an extra crew member and the result would have been different with just me as crew. Fitzroy Island is a very popular day tripper destination from Cairns, has a lovely pool and lunch facilities but closes at 5pm. It was once a back packer type resort but is about to be rebuilt and there are apartments being sold off the plan. They assure us that this won’t impact on the rest of the island which is a relief because the snorkeling is beautiful and there are lovely walks. Kev and Rod walked up to the lookout and lighthouse while I walked around to Nudies Beach (name only, everyone had their clothes on) where I had a sun bake and swim. After 2 great days there we motored to Yorkeys Knob (Half Moon Bay Marina) Cairns and said goodbye to Rod after a beautiful lunch at the boat club. It was time to pack up Third Man and fly home on the 12th for a quick visit to sort out our mail problems and say another hello to our new little grandson, Thomas. Returned on 22nd September and Elaine was dripping with a cold (3 nice days visiting and 5 days of head cold). Slowly got the boat stocked and had a visit and nice lunch with Kev and Judy Barter (old friends who have moved to Port Douglas from Sydney). Left Yorkies on 25th and had a beautiful sail (on a reach) to Low Isles. A lazy afternoon and the next day a walk around this pretty little island which is very popular with day trippers from Port Douglas. Once they left we had a peace of paradise all to ourselves and a few other yachts. The wind picked up so we spent Thursday on the boat looking at Low Isles and then had a good sail in 25-30 knot winds on Friday to Cooktown. Had to hand steer most of the way so were glad to pick up a fishing wharf mooring in the main channel. Now that we are experts in Cooktown we would elect to anchor away from the channel as there is less tide activity and more privacy. Anyway, Kev and Judy came up for a visit and spent two nights with us and showed us some of the surrounding countryside. Up to Grassy Hill to the lighthouse and lookout. Out to the Lions Den hotel and Black Mountain, the golf course, etc. Unfortunately they hit a kangaroo on their way and although the car was drivable we could see quite a bit of damage had been done. The four of us watched the Swans grand final at the Top Pub with a few other yachties and had a night on the boat for the Rugby League Grand final. It was great to catch up with them and sad to say goodbye. Our stay ended up being for 8 days in which time we went to the Convent Museum which is a must see. They have the anchor and a cannon from the Endeavour, Cook’s journals in which he comments on the continual SE strong winds (nothings changed) and a very informative account of life in the old days. We walked to Finch Bay and back through the Botanical Gardens and found the town fascinating seeing where the Endeavour was repaired and finding out all about the gold rush days at Palmer river. Eventually took off for Lizard Island 7th October and after a brisk sail (20-25SE) arrived in Mrs Watsons Bay and joined the 26 other boats at anchor. What a paradise. We could see the bottom in 15 metres of water. The snorkeling was beautiful with a fine sandy beach. The wind continued to blow but when on shore you would nearly forget that it was there. The cruising community is quite well organized there and at 5pm every day they would come on shore for drinks and a chat. They were happy to fill you in on all the facilities and we learnt that the resort was closed to us but that the Marlin Bar (staff) was open each night and on Wednesdays and Sundays they had Pizza and Fridays was a sausage sizzle. One day the staff came around for a game of touch football. If you ran out of food it could be ordered from Cooktown’s Iceworks and bought out in a Sea Plane or on another boat that was coming through so we weren’t as cut off as we had imagined. We also met up again with Rob and Kate off Indecision and Kerry and Col off Brahminy. Kev, Col and Tony climbed the 358 metre hill to Captain Cook’s lookout and saw the passage out of the reef just as he did 240 years ago. I only climbed half way and that was because it was our daughter Sharon’s birthday and it was the only way we could get any phone coverage. Another day Kev and I climbed another hill to Chinaman’s lookout and then took a walk around past the airstrip to Lagoon Beach on the other side of the island. Mrs Watson’s cottage stands down one end of the bay which is named after her. She was 23 and was married to a bech-de-mer (sea slugs) fisherman. He had left her at home with their infant son and two Chinese servants. One servant disappeared and a couple of days later the aboriginals attacked and wounded the second servant as evidently the house was built on sacred ground. The servant, Mrs Watson and her infant son escaped in a large processing tub and eventually ended up on No 5 Island in the Howick group where they died of thirst. Their bodies were discovered a year later along with a journal that she had kept, very sad. After 8 days we saw a window in the weather (15-20 knots easing to 10-15SE) and decided to head south with Indecision and overnight to Cairns. The forecast was wrong and the wind increased 20-25 so both decided to make for Cooktown where we arrived a little wet and wind blown. We have now decided to sit here until the next window and are trying to be patient. 8 days and at present there is a strong wind warning 25-30 so at best we will be leaving here next Friday. Anyway, we have good TV and email reception, good friends (now 8 yachts waiting to go south) and are becoming experts in Cooktown! Even walked to the cemetery yesterday to see Mrs Watsons grave Our main aim was to cruise to Lizard Island and we made it. Our trip has been all it promised to be and now all we have to do is get home. Learning to be patient and repeating the old sayings ”cruising sailors don’t go to windward” and we like “cruising not bruising” SWEET TALKERS HOMEWARD BOUND. October 2006 BURNETT HEADS (Bundaberg) 10TH OCTOBER 2006. Forecast: Strong wind warning. 25-33 Kts to 40kt offshore S/E Hi Everyone, We are at Bundaberg having arrived here on Sunday 8th October from Lady Musgrave Island. We look like being here until Friday, possibly Saturday, due to bad weather. Yesterday there was a gale warning and today that has been dropped to a strong wind warning, which is also forecast for tomorrow, and then it is expected to ease off.. We turned Sweet Talker around on 28th August at beautiful Dunk Island and have been slowly making our way south ever since. It has been such a rewarding trip and we have seen so much beauty it is hard to do it justice via email. Have met some fascinating folk and swapped lots of stories; some funny, some alarming and some bordering on the unbelievable! But, it must be said, we found the people sharing their stories with us and anchorages the east coast has to offer. Some have had serious health problems and are determined to make each day count. Some, like us, figure they had better do it whilst they physically can! Some are taking time out to sort out what they want to do with the rest of their lives. Some are short term cruisers and some have sold their house and plan to go whichever way the wind blows. We have loved sharing a small part of their lives, and wonder if our paths will ever cross again. Since our last email we have, of course, covered quite some distance and will not bore you with too much detail. Suffice to say we have had great times and some ‘challenging’ times but generally the trip so far has been better than expectations. Having cruised in 1997 and then in 2003, we wanted to try and cover some of those places we didn’t get to see on those trips. Some of the highlights have been exploring deserted island beaches, meandering up the Fitzroy River to Rockhampton, cruising north of Airlie Beach to Gloucester Island, Magnetic Island, Orpheus Island and experiencing all the moods of Hinchinbrook Island. Snorkelling at Boarder Island and visiting all our favourite places in the Whitsunday's was fun. Making it out to Middle Percy Island to re-visit the A-frame there, which has plaques from other yachts that have passed through over the years, was high on our list. This gorgeous island is like the yachties’ Mecca. Sadly, the plaque which we had placed there from First Light I in 1997, alongside hundreds of other yacht names, was missing. However, we met another couple on the beach who invited us back to their boat to share some fish they had caught on the way down, and this made for a very enjoyable evening. As it turned out these people knew mutual friends of ours – small world. The sunset was superb and the anchorage comfortable all night. Middle Percy is a must if you get the right conditions. Our most recent thrill was to go out to Lady Musgrave Island. Friends, John and Margaret Barter from L’attitude, have been extolling the virtues of Lady M. for some years, but conditions were not suitable for us to attempt it in the past. However, armed with a good four day forecast we set off from Gladstone for Pancake Creek. Spent a great night there and left the next day for Lady M. What a magical experience. We arrived near low tide and had an exciting time going in but, once inside the coral cay, it was like a lagoon. As it was low tide we could clearly see where the cay started and finished and had no problem anchoring, as the water was crystal clear. A swim was a must, and then we sat and watched the sun melt into the sea with the moon rising behind us like a golden ball. It was postcard stuff and we loved it. We had dinner on the deck, watching the tide cover the coral and wondered when the rocking would start. However, the winds were light and the rocking was minimal and we had a great night! Leaving in the morning was interesting as it was high tide and, of course, the cay was covered, but we followed our entry course out through the channel markers without a problem. We had heard horrific stories about some very unhappy experiences at Lady M, one couple now call it Lady Most Grave! We have to say our experience was an experience we will never forget, but for all the right reasons, and would say to those people intending to go, do so when the conditions are right and you will be enchanted. Continuing our further trip south we will call into Frazer Island and then, when the weather and tides are suitable, cross Wide Bay Bar and head for Mooloolaba where we hope to meet up with friends. Will spend some time at Southport and then make our way down the N.S.W. coast. A stop at Yamba offers the possibility of cruising up the Clarence River to Grafton to see the Jacaranda's in bloom, and then work our way south from there. We guess we could be home in a month or so, as you can see, the cruising lifestyle has taken over us. In summary, we loved cruising far north Queensland but would we want to move there – definitely not. When one takes into account such things like the deadly stingers, crocodiles, tiger snakes, death adders, king brown snakes, sandflies, mozzies, cyclones, cane toads, grass ticks, country and western music morning, noon and night, bureaucrats in waterways departments not to mention the medical system, we feet it is a tad outside our comfort zone. However, we found the people helpful and friendly and we eventually adjusted to hearing each and every sentence ending with ‘aaaye’, or ‘no worries’ (no matter what the dire circumstances were) . One day we were amazed to hear over the VHF, a desperate hire boat call in for help as he had run his ‘rented yacht’ up on the reef in a foul SW outside False Nara Inlet. After establishing no life was in danger, the operator added ‘no worries’, we will have someone there soon. ‘ No worries ‘ is the standard ending to any call from a blocked toilet to a boat taking water fast. However, for sheer beauty and fantastic sailing experiences Queensland is second to none. Would we recommend cruising there? Absolutely, but hurry before it changes. Photo of Sweet Talker crew – Kevin, Jeni and Zoe at Middle Percy A-frame Wynbah October 2006 2006 TRIP UP NORTH WITH WATER DANCER This trip is definitely a shake down and learning curve for us, as after completing our 2005 trip in December last year which took us to Bowen and back to Sydney Harbour, we exchanged Wyanbah our Catalina 320 for a 387 Catalina called Water Dancer. Port Stephens - Soldiers Point – Nelson Bay (7nm) Thursday 6 July with the crew (Douglas & Irene and Mike & Margot Altria) on board we left our mooring and made our way to Nelson Bay to overnight for an early departure. It’s quicker to leave the port from either Shoal or Nelson Bay if wanting an early start. We picked up a MSB mooring at Nelson Bay, cooked dinner and set the alarm for 0530. Nelson Bay – Forster/Tuncurry (47nm) Friday, 7 July up at 0530 and after breakfast called in for a weather report (S-SW 15-20 easing 10-15 mid morning, sea 1m swell 2-3m - which turned out to be accurate) logged on at 0620hrs with Port Stephens Coastal Patrol and departed Nelson Bay for either Forster or Crowdy Head. The seas were sloppy and it was cold on the water so a decision was made to overnight down the river at Tuncurry. We logged off at 1535 hours. Forster/Tuncurry – Laurieton (Camden Haven) (42 nm) Saturday 8 July an early start and a cold morning, logging on at 0635 and crossing the bar at 0700. Not much breeze, but a swell of +2m so motor sailing it was. We arrived at the entrance, which had a few breakers and anchored in the river enjoying the sunshine. The next morning it was very misty, we spoke to the coast guard to get information about the bar. Unfortunately, it was too misty for them to see the local bar, but advised that the bar at Port Macquarie was not good for vessels. We decided to go down and check the bar but unfortunately the waves were high with no break pattern so we decided to abort the crossing and return to Laurieton for a lay day. Managed to share a space alongside the RSL wharf with another yacht from Victoria. Quite a good place, we obtained a key for the showers and the club bistro served good food. Also spotted a large Ray fish swimming in the shallows. Laurieton – Trial Bay (55nm) Monday 10 July up at 0600 and what a cold icy morning it was – no mist but the sails were icy to touch. A dolphin escorted us to the bar. Logged on at 0655 after crossing the bar (what a difference a day makes, just one large wave then a break). The breeze was 10-12 abeam but after passing Port Macquarie the sea flattened and breeze dropped away. Spotted lots of whales and also a shooting star. Anchored overnight at Trial Bay arriving at 1915 hours and logging off. Trial Bay – Coffs Harbour (38 nm) Tuesday 11 July logged on 0608 and started our journey at 0630. We were entertained all the way by pods of whales everywhere, they were breaching and waving their tales. The sea was like a sheet of glass and with so many whales around it was hard to avoid seeing them wherever we looked. Arrived at Coffs Harbour 1400 hours refuelled at the jetty and picked up some fresh provisions then anchored in the harbour for an early start the next day. Coffs Harbour – Yamba/Illuka (57 nm) Wednesday 12 July - The alarm was set for 0445 hours. However about 0300 hours there was a noise in the harbour that sounded like an old wet bike/jet ski and at 0330 when Douglas went above to check things, he saw that the end of the jetty (which protrudes into the bay) was on fire. We called the coastal patrol to report the fire. It appeared that somebody had taken a car down the end of the jetty and torched it. It would seem that their get-away vehicle was the noise that woke me. Well being that we were all awake we had breakfast and up-anchored at 0420 hours. Another day being entertained by the whales, also a pod of dolphins played at the bow for a couple of hours. At 1510 advised Illuka coast guard we would be crossing the bar and anchoring overnight in Illuka Harbour. Logged of at 1540 hours. Illuka – Gold Coast (102 nm) Thursday 13 July ate breakfast at 0545 and left the harbour at 0640. We logged on for a passage to Gold Coast Seaway with an ETA for 0700 hours Friday while making our way to the bar, which we crossed at 0715 hours. The coast guard advised that we had to stay outside the 20 fathom line Evans Head – Evans Reef as military exercises would be taking place. Our entertainment for the day was watching the whales relax and viewing the fighter plains zooming along the coast playing war games. Gold Coast – Dunwich (Adam’s Beach) (34 nm) Friday 14 July it was a cold, miserable drizzly morning at 0915 as we headed off and meandered through the Broadwater to catch the tide to take us through. Anchored at Adams Beach at 1540 for the night. About one hour later another Catalina yacht approached the bay to anchor, with its crew looking cold and wet. When the boat got closer we realised it was the yacht Reflections III from Port Hacking, with David the owner on board and our friend Ken at the helm. Looked like Libby was safely at home looking after the cats while Ken was having fun on the high seas. Dunwich (Adam’s Beach)– Scarborough (29 nm) Saturday 15 July left Adams Beach at 0800, another cold day and the winds were NE 20-25 when out in Moreton Bay. Arrived Scarborough 1600 and glad to be in the marina. Mike & Margot were now back home in Scarborough and I am sure were looking forward to being back on land. We needed to fly back to Sydney/Newcastle as family visitors were arriving from the UK. It was decided that the boat would have to go up on the slips upon our return to investigate a knocking noise with the rudder bearing, so this was booked in for our return to Scarborough. Scarborough – Double Island Point (82nm over the ground 74nm through the water) Friday 11 August Mike and Margot rejoined the boat for a trip up to Hervey Bay. We left the marina 1040 and logged on with Redcliffe Coast Guard at 1115 with an ETA at Wide Bay bar being 0700am following morning. Passed Mooloolaba 1638 and called in with our position. (On the radio there was a securite message that the Flinder’s cardinal mark was adrift and unlit and heading NE). Had a full day’s sail and the wind was so good we reached Double Island Point at 0340 and anchored to have a sleep and await for crossing the bar in a few hours time. Double Island Point – White Cliffs (30.6 nm) Saturday 12 August the anchor was raised at 0608 and called Tin Can Bay coast guard to enquire about conditions at the bar, but no vessels had exited or entered to report back. We logged on with the coast guard to cross the bar and made our way the first way point. There was white water on the sandbanks either side, but the channel was good. Logged off after entering from the bar and made our way through to White Cliffs where we anchored at 1230. Saw a large turtle and some dolphins. Such a great anchorage for the night with no movement and so peaceful. White Cliffs – Urangan, Hervey Bay (25nm) Sunday 13 August we had a relaxing breakfast before bringing up the anchor at 1000 hours to continue our trip behind Fraser and out into Hervey Bay for the Gt. Sandy Straits marina. Couldn’t find the yellow mark, but later saw it being towed in by the patrol. It had broken off its mooring and gone adrift. Fortunately we didn’t cross over the sandbank but went the long way round arriving at the marina about 3.30. We later heard a few boats got stuck out on the sands due to the missing mark. Stayed at Hervey Bay for 3 days. Great boat club, which has been refurbished and has a good restaurant, although portions are very large. Lots of other restaurants and cafes around the marina, Our friends Mike and Margot departed Hervey Bay for Scarborough early Tuesday and we spent the day doing the laundry and checking and cleaning down the boat. Urangan – Burnett River (50 nm) Wednesday 16 August departed the marina pen and logged on with the VMR Hervey Bay at 0640. At the Fairway Buoy after logging on with VMR Bundaberg the wind kicked in and we had a great sail all the way to the Burnett River. Logged off at 1605 and anchored in the river at 1640. During the day we spotted a few whales and dolphins. Burnett River – Pancake Creek (67 nm) Thursday 17 August an early breakfast and made our way out of the river at 0550. Logged on at 0710 when VMR Bundaberg opened. Switched to VMR Round Hill at 1010 when abeam of Baffle Creek with an ETA of 1800 hours for Pancake Creek. A good sailing day, only motoring for 2 hours to enable us to reach Pancake before dark as the port markers into the creek are not lit. We logged of at 1710 after dropping anchor in the creek. On our entrance into Pancake a yacht and a cruiser followed us in, however the cruiser overtook us and motored across our bow, which took them behind the port markers and they stopped rather quickly. All the yachts were safely anchored in the creek and the cruiser stuck at the entrance. Pancake Creek – Gladstone Marina (35 nm) Friday 18 August lifted the anchor at 0705 and headed out of Pancake. The cruiser was still stuck on the sand and being that the high tide was at 0400 hours they would have to spend the day there. Logged on with VMR Gladstone at 0735. The seas were like glass but unfortunately there was no wind, so we motored towards Gladstone. Before joining the shipping lane we contacted the Harbour Master to find out shipping movements in the channel. Advised that apart from the ship Tigress in front of us there were no departing vessels until 1115. It takes a long time to head through the markers and into the harbour at Gladstone, When inside the harbour, the departing vessel passed us to head out to sea. One of the marina chaps kindly came down and took one of our lines as the only wind we had all day came up when entering the harbour. We logged off at 1320. Gladstone is a good town for a stopover. (A securite warning came over the radio to warn ships that a 60’ tri-maran was vertical in the water, 10’ was visible from above the water. The position give was just south of Roundhill, would have made a nice photograph if passing that way but needless to say one wondered how it managed to flip). Gladstone Marina – Swan Bay (14 nm) Monday 21 August left the berth about noon and motored around to the fuel dock. Spoke to the VMR at 1235 to advise we would overnight at Swan Bay before crossing the Narrows the following morning. We had a chat about the depths and told him that we had calculated on the Gladstone tide and would have 0.3m at the Gladstone high tide. An interesting trip from the marina as the tugs and a few large tankers were busy making their way either to or from Clinton wharf. Anchored down the stream at 1535. Quite a lot of mosquitoes and unfortunately we had forgotten to stock up on citronella candles/oil but not bites so we figured the B1’s were working. Swan Bay – Great Keppel Island (Long Beach) (24nm) Tuesday 22 August we left Swan Bay at 0815 and motored through the Narrows towards the cattle crossing, 0.7 was the depth at the shallowest spot. We always use the Gladstone tide this is less depth than Port Alma tide, which tends to overflow south of the cattle crossing. Although one takes advantage of the height of Port Alma tide there is also current against you and it can look as though the tide has started to run out again. We crossed through at 0920 and continued to motor to Sea Hill. Sadly, when we exited the Narrows at Sea Hill there was a northerly breeze. We anchored at Long Beach and logged off at 1510 hours. That night there were 22 boats anchored at Long Beach sheltering from the northerly wind that had increased during the day and evening. GKI Long Beach – Port Clinton (56 nm) Thursday 24 August the northerly wind was still forecast. Although we had an enjoyable stop at Long Beach and had a great day ashore we wanted to head further north and there seemed to be no end to the northerly forecast. We left GKI and managed to sail, although light winds (NW 8) we were moving. During the afternoon the winds increased and the seas picked up so we had to motor (uncomfortably) to reach our destination. We logged off at 1755 before the VMR closed and then make our way into Port Clinton arriving and anchoring at 1840. It was a beautiful evening, so many stars and a couple of dolphins feeding around the boat. This was an ideal time for a large glass of wine before dinner as tomorrow would be a lay day with the latest weather report. There was just one other boat in the Port. Downstream Port Clinton – Perforated Point NE Port Clinton (6.5 nm) Saturday 26 August it seemed a lot calmer from our position so we logged on at 0745 and advised VMR that we were leaving Port Clinton and hoping to head for Island Head Creek. Upon leaving the other boat “Liberation” called us up on the radio. Just before exiting the channel (unmarked) another boat “Blues Point” called us on the radio to say that they had left the Port and attempted to head north but returned back as the winds were strong and the sea choppy. They had returned and anchored at Perforated Point. As we reached the end of the channel and close to the sea we realised that the winds were in the wrong direction and didn’t really want at least we had taken off some miles. Later Liberation joined us at our anchorage and later that afternoon we all went aboard Liberation for a meeting and greeting chat. This was a good anchorage as the wind was whistling over the boat but we were nice and snug. Another 3 boats came into the anchorage. Perforated Point – Island Head Creek (13nm) Sunday 27 August at 0640 we logged on and left our anchorage. The other boats in the bay had already left and they were making their way to the Percy Islands. We decided that if we couldn’t sail then we would only head as far as Island Head Creek and await the southerly forecast for Monday. We needed to log off before entering the creek and did so at 0820. A lot of boats were leaving the creek and heading south. We dropped the anchor at 0820 and enjoyed a nice hot breakfast. Island Head Creek – Middle Percy Island (49 nm) Monday 28 August Up at 0545 to check the latest weather forecast. Left the creek and logged on later at 0705. Sailed for a few hours but then the wind dropped out. Spotted a whale and a pod of dolphins. Managed to sail again for a few more hours but then the wind turned NE and the forecast was for it to strengthen. We decided that we would anchor at Whites Bay at Middle Percy. Spotted two whales and a pod of dolphins they escorted us across into the bay. Upon approaching Whites Bay we spotted something in the distance close to the beach. As we drew closer we realised it was the underside of a whale’s tail protruding out of the water and catching the sun. We headed off in that direction thinking it was a stranded or injured whale, but as we got closer the whale submerged and then with another whale swam across our bow, must have been laying on his/her back in the water. We then carried on and dropped our anchor. We were the only boat at Whites Bay and it was a lovely calm anchorage. Middle Percy – Digby Island (28 nm) Tuesday 29 August was a southerly forecast so we up anchored at 0640 pulled out the sails and headed towards Digby Island. We logged off at 1240 after sailing all the way, had to make a few detours to keep the breeze, but no rush when cruising. Again we were the only boat at Digby and although it was a bit rolly as the tide held us and not the breeze (well we were sheltering) it was a secured anchorage for the stronger southerly wind that was predicted. A few turtles swam around in the bay. Digby Island – Mackay (50 nm) Wednesday 30 August the forecast was for the SE winds 15-20, to increase to 25-30 knots in the afternoon. Up at 0600 to breakfast before heading off to Mackay. Logged on at 0810 when VMR opened. Had a good sail and only switched on the engine when entering Mackay Harbour. Spotted one whale in the distance and then suddenly when abeam of Prudhoe Island there was a huge splash of water which came over the front of the boat and then suddenly beside the boat a whale came up and then descended again with a slow flip of his tail. Where is that camera when it’s needed? The seas were increasing and we had a steady 20 knots breeze on our passage to Mackay. Apart from the few whales, there were at least 12 tankers on anchor. Before arriving at Mackay we were advised that due to the forecast the Marina was full, but we could berth in one of the vacant spots on the commercial finger. Just before arriving at Mackay the winds were getting stronger and the sea increasing so we decided to take down the sails inside the harbour. When we arrived at 1405 one of the chaps from the marina came down to give us a hand with the ropes as the wind was blowing sideways on the commercial berths. We logged off at 1455 and made our way to the office to book in for 3 nights and have a nice long hot shower. Thursday 31 August it’s raining and this is the first rain we have seen for a while. As well as the heavy rain, it’s blowing at least 25 knots and we need to put the boards in the companionway to keep the rain out. Had we known the weather was going to be so wet, we would have reversed into the berth, but that wouldn’t have been an easy task with the wind we had when berthing. Later that day a fishing trawler was attempting to enter the berth next to us. Three of us when to his aid, it was a hard wet slog to get him tied up, what with the strong wind and the current. When the vessel was secured he thanked us. Off we went to get dried jesting that we’d look forward to tasting the prawns. Later he came over and gave us a bag of prawns from his catch. It’s raining so hard and the wind is blowing so strong that we are not venturing up to the marina for dinner. We are staying aboard tonight and dining on the prawns and needless to say we will be staying put in Mackay until the weather improves, although it was our initial intention to stay only 3 nights. It’s Sunday, 3 September and the rain has eventually stopped and the winds have eased. The forecast is looking good for tomorrow so we plan to leave Mackay and continue our trip northwards. The good thing about being weather-bound at a marina is that other vessels are doing the same and it’s great to catch up with people we have shared anchorage with and also people that we met last year when cruising around the islands. Mackay – Goldsmith Island (27 nm) Monday 4 September the storm seems to have blown itself out so now time to continue. Logged on and left the marina at 0915 with ETA 1500 hours. Flat seas and no breeze until about midday when the breeze came up and we could turn off the engine and sail. Saw 3 whales and a pod of dolphins. Anchored on western side of Goldsmith and had a visit from the Parks & Wildlife who gave us an information pack. Met up with the MV Rejoice from Brisbane, who we met last year at Percy Island. Goldsmith Island – Thomas Island (10 nm) Tuesday 5 September with flat seas and sunshine we motored north to Thomas to rendezvous with MV West Moon from Brisbane who we spent some time with last year. Went for a walk across to the other side of the island, someone had kindly marked the growth with blue string so it was easy to follow the track without getting lost in the bush. We joined West Moon. Rejoice and Caviello (all motor cruises) ashore at 11am for a beach BBQ. Very entertaining day and many hands when it came to carrying the dinghies over the coral at low tide. I attempted to kayak but not a good experience so hastily got out of it before I was under the kayak floating around the ocean. I am determined however to have another go sometime, as it is something I would like to master. Thomas Island – Whitsunday Island (36 nm) Thursday 7 September we all departed around 0800 with only us heading north. There was a NNE blowing so to be able to sail we tacked across the Whitsunday passage, spotting a whale off Lindeman Island. The winds increased to 20+ knots from the north so we decided to have a lunch stopover in Driftwood Bay (south side of Hamilton Island). Nicely sheltered from the breeze and entertained by the aeroplanes landing on the runway we had a BBQ lunch. Departed 1415 and motored up the Dent Passage. It was low tide so we couldn’t get into Gulnare Inlet for shelter, so headed for Cid Harbour to anchor. Arrived at Sawmill Bay at 1700 and because a N-NE was blowing it was a bit rolly, however when the southerly arrived later that evening with a howl it became a calm secure anchorage. Cid Harbour – Airlie Beach (14 nm) Friday 8 September those Sweet Talker’s Kev and Jeni Evritt called to say that a group of them were dining at the Coral Resort that night and did we want to join them. Unfortunately we couldn’t get into Able Point marina so we dropped anchor in Muddy Bay just off from the Whitsunday Sailing Club. The sailing club has showers and a washing machine for visitors to use the only disadvantage is that you need to go ashore in the dinghy before the tide gets too low, otherwise you will wade in the black mud to get ashore. But you usually find that most people are quite content drinking or eating at the club until the tide is right. Had a great evening with other Trims at the Coral Resort with John and Margaret from L’Attitude proudly displaying their silver medals from the Hamilton races, David and Di from Reflections II and Kevin and Jeni from Sweet Talker. That night we also bumped into Rosco and Annie from Roxanne. Airlie Beach – Eco Resort, Edgecombe Bay (27 nm) Monday 11 September decided to take the winds and travel further north. Left Muddy Bay at 0900 and sailed to the Gloucester Passage when we put the motor on. Arrived 1500 and picked up a mooring. Even though the winds were still strong the following day we went ashore for a long walk and lunch at the resort. Edgecombe Bay – Queen’s Bay, Bowen (15 nm) Thursday 14 September winds had eased slightly to we decided to carry on. With winds forecast SE 20-30 we put in two reefs and had a good sail to Bowen, actually recording a gust of 36 knots. The waves were crashing over the reef when rounding to Queens Beach where there were 2 other yachts sheltering (in the best positions). We needed to lay the anchor twice as the first time it dragged, the second time we put out a heap of chain and that seemed to be successful. Even though we could see the waves crashing over the rock pile, we were nicely sheltered. NB: there is a creek beside Bowen Harbour that is a good anchorage in strong winds but you need to call the harbour guy, Mike Smith on 0409 493 175 to check availability, depths etc. Bowen – Cape Upstart (40 nm) Saturday 16 September departed at 0650 and logged on with Bowen VMR at 0805 switching to VMR Burdekin after rounding the Cape. Quite a comfortable anchorage but you need to tuck in as close to the houses as possible according to depth. Cape Upstart – Cape Bowling Green (44 nm) Sunday 17 September Up at 0615 and after a cooked breakfast we departed at 0700. The bay was flat and no wind although a SE 15-20 was forecast. Logged on with VMR Burdekin at 0805 and by this time we had some breeze so managed to sail. The swell was a bit sloppy. Entering Bowling Green bay the winds increased to 20+ and we anchored as close to the sandhills as possible in 2.4 metres. Why this is called a CAPE I do not know, it must be the lowest cape in the world and doesn’t provide much protection from the wind, fortunately the water is shallow behind the sandhills so there are no big waves. Surprisingly we had a good nights sleep at this anchorage, although I would prefer to do a longer day and avoid Bowling Green if there were strong winds. Cape Bowling Green – Breakwater Marina, Townsville (41 nm) Monday 18 September Up at 0515 and after breakfast we departed the bay at 0555 logging on with Townsville Coast Guard when they opened. Had a good sail up to Townsville arriving at 1320 hours. We were given a berth at E23 for the night and the following day we would need to move to D34 if we wanted to stay the week. Townsville is a great place for a stopover, the city is a 10 minute stroll from the marina and there are lots of restaurants, bars, cafes and boutiques in the town. There are good beaches and parklands around the marina with a casino at the port. The weather was warm and sunny and the facilities at the marina are good. When we leave Townsville on Monday we will motor or sail the 14 nm to Magnetic Island for a couple of nights and then depending upon the weather we will either head north for a few days, or start making our journey south. We are hoping to meet up with Kevin and Elaine from Third Man, who are presently further north at Cairns. Sweet Talker Cruise July 2006 DATE : 22.5.06 WIND :SW/SE 15-20 kts ORIGIN : Port Hacking DESTINATION : Coasters’ Retreat 39nm COMMENTS : Forecast was for 15-20kts SW/SE increasing to 20-25 kts. Seas 2 metres. We set off from Darook Park at 9.15 in overcast conditions. Beautiful sail, wind switched SW to SE during the day. Seas 1.5 metres. Reached Port Jackson heads 12.00. At 1.30 revised forecast predicted wind strengthening 25-30 kts. Rain squall passed over us and thankfully went out to sea. Revised forecast then advised a strong wind warning had been issued. We had 25 kts near Bungan Head. Kev had poled headsail out off Botany Bay and we had kept it up until just off Barrenjoey. Coasters offered good protection and we were able to pickup a vacant mooring. Great first day. Cooked roast chicken and veg whilst lightning and thunder flashed and rattled outside. DATE : 23.5.06 WIND : SW/SE 25-33 kts ORIGIN : Coasters DESTINATION : Lay day COMMENTS : Forecast advised strong wind warning in place from Seal Rocks to Ulladulla . Seas 2-3 metres with swell 3 metres SE. We decided as we were in no hurry we would stay and enjoy Pittwater as the forecast for the next few days was the same but easing on Friday.
DATE : 24.5.06 WIND : S/SW 25-30 ORIGIN : R.P.A Pittwater DESTINATION : COMMENTS : Forecast as above but we were experiencing W/NW. Strong wind warning was still being forecast. Spent the day at RPA and took Zoe for a walk along the beautiful foreshores of Pittwater. Headed back to Coasters and enjoyed watching the Wednesday afternoon race on the way. Had a glass of red and watched the reflection of the sunset on Barrenjoey. At this time of the year, Coasters is almost empty and is one of our favourite spots. Planned an early start for tomorrow. DATE: 25.5.06 WIND: SW/20-25 ORIGIN: Coasters DESTINATION: Port Stephens 71nm. COMMENTS: Plan A was Port Stephens with the option of Newcastle. Slipped mooring at 6.20. Seas were 1 metre and swell 1.5 but increased to 2 metres across StocktonBight. Made 8.5 kts at first with engine running dropped back to 7.5 later. We had light westerly until about 2.00 pm. And then it switched back to the south at about 12 kts so we motored. Arrived at Port Stephens 3.00 p.m. and made for beautiful Fame Cove. Glorious afternoon to come in on as wind dropped right off and the water was flat with almost no other craft on it. Picked up mooring at Fame Cove and felt spoilt to have it all to ourselves. Lovely memories of spending Christmas dinner there with Barters, Hammonds and our mothers many years ago. Another great sunset. All in all a good day but all three very tired. Early night
DATE: 26.5.06 WIND: SW 8-10 kts. ORIGIN: Fame Cove DESTINATION: Lay day COMMENTS: Slept in and then over to Doug and Irene Curtis’ lovely new yacht to pick up out board which we had lent them for their trip last year. We thought it would come in handy if we decided to stop in at Crowdy Head. Beautiful morning, mild weather. Sailed with headsail only to Nelson’s Bay. Fuelled up at $1.90 per litre ouch! Had thoughts of heading off to Broughton Island and setting off from there tomorrow but by the time we topped up with water and shopped etc. we decided to book in for the night $60.00. The locals call D’albora Marina Dollar Bora! Forecast for tomorrow SW/SE8-13 kts reaching 13-18 with seas 1 metre to 1.5 and swell E/SE 1.5.
DATE : 27.5.06 WIND: SW/SE 8-13 kts reaching 13-18 ORIGIN: Port Stephens DESTINATION: Crowdy Head 65.5nm COMMENTS: Up at 4.30 as it had rained all night. Family discussion as to whether we wanted to go out and get wet. Zoe voted to stay in bed. Decided to have b’fast and see if it had eased off. At 6.00 it had definitely eased off so we decided to go. Left Nelson Bay at 6.30 in light rain. Wind light SW 8 kts. Sea ¾ wind kept switching SW to SE. Once around Seal Rocks conditions improved and Sweet Talker settled down really well. Arrived at Crowdy Head at 3.15 and stayed on the wharf. Really happy we stopped off at Port Stephens to pick up our board. Kev spent some time getting S.T. tied up as there was a fairly strong wind blowing. It was worth the effort as we had a good nights sleep. Crowdy harbour hasn’t changed much over the years but the houses on the way to the light house certainly have. Lots more new ones. View from light house superb. Whilst tying up at wharf met up with lovely lady called Penny Dawson from ‘Marinka 2’. She is sailing single handed to Whitsundays to raise money for charity called Compassion to help children in Uganda. Had her over for dinner and she entertained us with lots of interesting stories as she had a master’s ticket to drive ferries. She owned the MV Surprise and still owns the MV Wallama at Port Stephens. We were the only two yachts in Crowdy. She has sailed to Vanuatu and Lord Howe and did so before chart plotters and /GPS using a sextant and dead reckoning. At 62 she has broken her back four times and still looking for a challenge. Made us feel like a couple of whimps. DATE: 28.5.06 WIND: SW 8-13 ORIGIN: Crowdy Head DESTINATION: Port Macquarie 28.5 nm COMMENTS: Forecast SW 8-13 strengthening in the afternoon 20-25. Seas 2 metres and swell 2-3 metres. It has rained most of the night but the stars were out at 4.30 a.m. Prepared to go to get the bar right at Port Macquarie. As we set out the wind was from the west 8-10 kts. Left at 5.40 (first light). Quite a big swell on the side about 3 metres. Looked rather daunting departing as there was a lightning display in thedirection we were headed. On daylight we noticed big dark threatening clouds to the sea of us but although they were there most of the trip they did not produce any rain. Had two pods of dolphins join us, with the smallest baby dolphin swimming alongside its mother, we have ever seen. Wind was from the west the whole trip. We could not use our main as the halyard had become loose and Kev had to climb up and tie it down. Cross Port Macq. Bar at 9.30 a.m. a little further north of leads as advised by a local whom we had met back at Port Stephens. No problems crossing the bar there was a swell but no waves breaking. Picked up a mooring as there was no room at the marina.
DATE: 29.5.06 WIND: ORIGIN: PORT MACQ. Fuelled up at $1.84 litre and topped up with water. Walked into town and enjoyed a coffee overlooking river. Back on S.T. Kev sat on deck with a glass of red whilst he spliced some rope as the sunset and pelicans cruised overhead. Forecast for tomorrow is for strong wind warning, wind 25-33 kts. Will stay unless it is lifted overnight. DATE: 30.5.06 WIND: SW 15 kts. ORIGIN: PORT MACQ. DESTINATION: Trial Bay 35nm
COMMENTS: At 10.50 a.m. forecast revised and strong wind warning cancelled. Left Port Macquarie at 12.00. Great lazy sail wind SW 15kts then SE 12 kts. Kept close to shore. Up to 1.5 kts against us. Pretty coastline. Arrived at Trial Bay 5.10 p.m. Picked trawler buoy well out in bay. Decided later we could have gone in further and anchored but couldn’t resist the buoy when we saw it. Beautiful starry night with crescent moon. Jeni found conditions a bit rolly but bearable water calm.
DATE: 31.5.06 WIND: ORIGIN: TRIAL BAY DESTINATION: Coffs Harbour 35 nm
COMMENTS: Up at 6.20. Lots of fishing boats about. Amazing sunrise. Beautiful bay. Left T 9.00 and sailed in company with 44’ Adams . Met up with them later at Coffs and they said they were on there way to New Caledonia. Saw two whales breaching off Nambucca Heads. Lots of action. Westerly up to 18 kts most of the trip but it died down to 8 kts when we arrived. Cold when we started but sunny. DATE: 1.6.06 Lay day ORIGIN: Coffs Harbour Kev fixed broken nav. Light. Weather warm and sunny. Did some shopping. Laundry etc. DATE: 2.06.06 WIND: W10-15 ORIGIN: Coffs Harbour DESTINATION: YAMBA 56nm COMMENTS: Forecast was for wind W10-15 increasing 15-20 kts in the afternoon. Seas 1-2 metres with swell SSE 1 metre. However, forecast so different to what we experienced. Started out NW 8 kts then north 15 kts. Took spray over the top. After Wooli settled back to 10 kts NNW. We left Coffs at 6.00 and passed South Solitary 7.15. Easy entry into Yamba on southern approach. No breaking waves one hour after top of thetide . Arrived at entry at 2.15. Proceeded to ‘hole in the wall’. Minimum depth to marina was 2.9 metres. We love Yamba very friendly people at the marina. Topped up fuel it seems to be getting cheaper the further north we go. Forecast for the next two days is for a strong wind warning and gale warning south of Smokey Cape. DATE: 3.6.06 WIND: Lay day ORIGIN: Yamba Lots of people cruising with their four legged friends. Zoe made very welcome. Forecast S/W 20-30 kts and strong wind warning. However, this did not eventuate instead we had NW max 15 kts. We saw ‘Third Man’ tied up adjacent to the fuel wharf awaiting the return of Kevin and Elaine. DATE: 4.6.06 ORIGIN: YAMBA COMMENTS: Forecast was again for strong wind warning wind SW 20-30 kts, seas 2.5 and swell up to 3 metres . Thought about going up to Grafton as this was always going to be on the agenda either on our way north or south. However, Kev’s son Paul was due to come out from the States and we wanted to be in Southport to organize catching up with him. Also, Jeni decided she wanted to see Grafton at Jacarandah time which is in November so we decided to leave that for the return part of our trip. Checked forecast for tomorrow which was to be SSW 20-30 kts strong wind warning still on. Seas expected to be 2-3 metres swell 1.5 to 2.5. This forecast changed later in the day to SW/SE 10-20 easing 10-15. DATE: 5.6.06 ORIGIN: Iluka COMMENTS: ForecastSW/SE 13-18 kts seas 1 metre with swell 1.5-2.00 metres. Up early with view to going. Slipped lines at 10.00 a.m. which was one hour off low tide. Not the best time to cross the bar but we wanted to get the tide right for Ballina. Crossed the bar on the south side and exit was fine but found the swell bigger than expected fromSE. Kev had slight back spasm as we were preparing to go and we decided if Ballina was too rough we would have to proceed to either ByronBay or Southport making a very long day. Decided to go back and look at it tomorrow. Once back at Iluka two other yachts chatted with us. They were considering going today but decided tomorrow might be better. They were both wary about Ballina and preferred to go straight to Southport. We spent an enjoyable day exploring Iluka. DATE: 6.6.06 WIND: SW 15 -20 kts. ORIGIN: ILUKA DESTINATION: Ballina 35nm COMMENTS: Forecast SSW 15-20 kts seas 1-2 metres swell SE 1.5-2.00 metres. Isolated thunderstorms. Decided to leave with plan A being Ballina but if it was too rough PlanB would have to be ByronBay. Kev’s back okay. Left Yamba bar at 11.00 a.m. followed southern exit briefly SE and then turned north. Seas 3/4 with a 2.00 metre swell. At first uncomfortable but after 2 hours settled down. Motored all the way to be sure of getting to Ballina bar on top of the tide. Commenced approach at 4.00 p.m. no waves breaking. Proceeded in no problem depth good. Coast guard advised approach was 310 degrees true. We were a little south of that but it was fine. Important to keep eye out for training wall which is pretty much covered on a high tide. Arrived at Mobbs Bay 4.35. Dropped anchor in 4 metres of water. Beautiful calm anchorage. Gorgeous sunset. Thunderstorms did not eventuate DATE: 7.6.06 WIND: SW 10-20 kts. ORIGIN: BALLINA DESTINATION: Southport 64nm COMMENTS: Forecast SW 10-20 with isolated thunderstorms. Up early and left with enough light to see. Crossed bar 6.45 with 1.5 metre swell, short waves no backs. Tide was 1 ½ hours after high tide. We would have rather gone on top of the tide but did not want to take on the bar in the dark. Saw whale spout just as we left break wall just off entrance. Seas were initially rough but settled down once we got into deep water. Great day. Thunderstorms look ominous as we left but we sailed away from them. Great sail from Byron Bay to Point Danger. Dolphins joined us for a while. Arrived at 3.45 Southport bar not a problem. Good feeling to have the NSW coast behind us. Plan to spend a few days in Southport catching up with friends and decided to fly Paul up from Sydney rather than Kev fly down. Booked into Mariners’ Cove but almost didn’t get in. They were fully booked and gave us a berth on a day by day basis. Cruising and planning to overnight in marinas is not what it used to be. These days there are so many more boats on the water and marina berths are getting harder and harder to get into. Some marinas have a couple of berths available to transit yachts but if they are taken it is a matter of anchoring and shopping etc. by dinghy. Also, traveling with the family pet can present problems in this area. At Southport Yacht Club we could have obtained a berth but when you attempt to book in they are decidedly unfriendly. The first question they ask is ‘are you traveling with an animal?’ (I was tempted to retort ‘are you calling my husband an animal’) and the second question was are you fully insured. It is the only marina in our experience that has this attitude and I for one was thoroughly unimpressed. In contrast, Mariners’ Cove have been courteous and helpful and allow dogs, not husbands, on a leash. DATE: 8.6.06 SOUTHPORT: Lay day COMMENTS. Friends, Mary and Pete, called by and it was great to catch up on all their news. Douglas and Irene Curtis phoned and will drive down from Brisbane Saturday. Spent the afternoon catching up on chores i.e. laundry etc. DATE: 9.6.06 SOUTHPORT: Lay day COMMENTS. Advised we had to vacate our berth for the night as it had been previously booked but Russell, manager, said he would try and fit us in on Saturday. Decided to go up to ‘Bum’s Bay’ and anchor for the night. A lot of yachts in transit pull in there. It is fine but takes quite a bit of wash from passing traffic. DATE: 10.6.06 SOUTHPORT COMMENTS. Rained most of the night. Returned to Mariners Cove and Russell put uson the end of the fuel wharf until a berth became vacant. This was so helpful as Douglas and Irene arrived at about 1.00. Had lots to talk about and they are looking forward to returning to Port Stephens and preparing their new yacht for their trip north. They hope to join us further north. Irene kindly took me shopping to stock up which was much appreciated whilst Doug and Kev talked boats. DATE: 11.6.06 SOUTHPORT COMMENTS: Good old Russell came through for us and we were given a berth for a week. This was great news as we had lots to organize. Paul, Kev’s son now in Australia and we tossed up whether we would fly him up or Kev would fly down. Paul wasn’t too keen on another flight having just flown across from the east of USA so it was decided Kev would fly down Wednesday. Had lunch with Kev’s sister Barb and then friends on S.T for dinner in the evening. DATE: 12.6.06 SOUTHPORT COMMENTS: Jeni to organize to fly to Sydney for funeral. DATE: 13.06.06 Up early to catch bus to airport. One of life’s little mysteries occurred. On the bus I met up with a lady who wanted to know where I came from and what I was doing in Southport. I am a sailor from Yowie Bay I said. She looked at me and said I think I know you, do you know John and Margaret Barter? Small world she also knew other close friends of ours . We spent the trip chatting and will catch up on our return to Southport later in the year. It was a long day and I returned to Southport about 9.00 pm that night. DATE: 14.6.06 COMMENTS: Kev flew to Sydney to meet up with Paul, Tony and Ryan. It was a great day for him and he arrived back 7.30. DATE : 15.06.06 Collected mail and generally spent the day relaxing. Weather glorious. Dinner at night with friends. DATE : 16.06.06 Planning to leave Southport tomorrow for Horizon Shores and then on to Manly. There is a growers’ market on here in the morning so we thought we would take advantage of their fresh fruit, veges etc and then leave. Also, Jeni can’t resist a market. Kalida July 2006 Hi John We have just had Kalida used to do a Supre' ad going Australia wide and NZ wide. It will be used in many mags for the July issues and we have secured the summer edition ads. All revenue helps. This is one of many pics that will be used.
Just thought Id forward the info on Regards D&A Tangaroa July 2006 I have been anchored in Sydney last three months as when in the Capricorn / Keppel area just before Easter had the misfortune of having a detached retina in my right eye. A quick flight back to Sydney and a successful operation and now fit to get back to the lovely life!! Chrissie and I leave next week for Yeppoon and intend to be around The Keppels / Duke Isles / Thirsty Sound for the next three months but based at Keppel Bay Marina. Hope to see you if you have a stop over on way up. Please update my member details showing our base at the Keppels as we welcome any contacts in transit. Many thanks Fair weather sailing Graham Account of the delivery trip Magnetic Island to Airlie Beach in Far North Queensland - by Caitlin & Sarah Short on board the Vandestadt fibreglass 37ft centre cockpit motor sailor / ketch - CLEARWATER. Photos from Christine Short (18 images)Including the launching of Gipsy Moth
Click a picture to see a larger view. 
REPORT on Townsville trip 28/6/06 – 1/7/06By Caitlin and Sarah Short (Short Shipped) On Wednesday, 28th June we left home for Sydney airport at 4 30 am, and caught a plane to Townsville. When we arrived in Townsville we saw Aboriginals in the streets near the airport – quite a novelty.We hunted around & found a nice restaurant to have lunch called "Thepier", which is pronounced "The Pier" but my mother thought it said thepier…very funny. It was a nice restaurant over the water, with views of a huge rock mountain and the marina. Townsville was absolutely stunning and the weather was warm & great for a sail. We then caught a ferry to Magnetic Island, and a bus to a sandy beach on the other side of the island where the 37 foot centre cockpit motor sailor (Ketch) yacht was anchored. The yacht was anchored 200 meters offshore and when Caitlin arrived, it defiantly wasn’t what she was expecting, since she is used to racing yachts she thought it was …different. We were to sail it to Airlie Beach at just over 100 miles South of Townsville on it, as the owner of the yacht, my grandpa, had left it anchored in a bay at the corner of the island due to consistent stormy conditions and rough seas, as had a commitment to go away for a few weeks. We therefore had to rescue the yacht and bring it to its normal mooring port at Airlie Beach. To get out to the yacht, the locals were kind enough to give Caitlin and Dad a lift in there ski boat from the beach out to the yacht. Caitlin and Dad then lowered the inflatable dinghy with a 6 hp motor positioned on a davit at the stern of the yacht into the water, and tried to figure out how to start it. Already we had problem. The motor did have the kill cord attached, which means it would not start unless we could jam something in as a substitute. Dad grabbed the pliers, and Caitlin passed a thick rope through the "kill switch" & that would do the job. Caitlin then motored ashore to pick up Mum, Sarah, and my grandpa. There another challenged arises, my grandpa is sort of crippled and we had to get him into an inflatable, with surf waves crashing over the boat. Yes we managed and got out safely to the boat. My grandpa checked everything, and explained a few things to my father and the rest of us. Mum and Caitlin then helped my grandpa back into the inflatable and took him ashore, where we said our goodbyes and raced back to the boat. We hoisted the sails and left at about 4 pm on our way to Airlie Beach. We had winds registering up to 30 knots and very rough seas coming directly from where we needed to go, so rough in fact on the first night that my mother got sea sick which is a very unusual occurrence, and the steering wheel broke-the ring around the outside of the wheel broke off so dad had to steer with the little spokes radiating out from the centre, whoops. It was getting too rough for comfort in the dark with water continually rushing over the wheelhouse windows making vision impossible, so we decided to anchor at Cape Bowling Green, which is a long and very flat sandy spit – known as the lowest Cape in the country and positioned approximately 35 Miles South East of Magnetic Island where we arrived at approximately 1030pm. We then departed our snug calm anchorage at about 6 am, being first light the following morning and back into the very rough seas. After about an hour of motoring, a huge wave washed our life raft overboard as the brackets holding it to the deck gave way. This causing the 6man life raft to inflate as it went over the side & broke free, so we turned around and tried to retrieve it. The raft was full of water, and too heavy to pull in. As we were trying to retrieve it, Sarah was leaning over the life line reaching for the life raft’s orange canopy, when suddenly the fastening for the top life line let go, causing Sarah to fall head first into the water. Luckily Mum and dad were able to grab either one of her legs just in time to prevent her from going completely underwater. Caitlin was then able to pull her back into the boat. Since Sarah was already wet, we then sent her into the life raft with a bucket, and she bailed out the water which was full to the brim, whilst Caitlin steered the boat into wind, going half a knot to prevent us from being blown back towards the shore, some 2 miles inside us. While Sarah was bailing out the raft, the rope tether that was connecting the raft to the boat snapped causing Sarah to drift away. Sarah quickly threw mum another rope which was made fast to the boat and enabled the baling process to be completed and then dad connected a halyard to two points on the life raft, and winched it out of the water onto the after deck of the boat. We then deflated the raft and continued on our voyage south again in the rough unpleasant seas. Sarah did acknowledge that the water was a lot warmer than off Sydney, which was good to know as it was overcast, windy & stormy and although it looked cold, it was quite bearable temperature wise.The seas were making the trip most uncomfortable especially for Caitlin who was trying to get some much needed beauty sleep and was getting dripped on by regular leaks in the main cabin as the boat resembled a submarine and she was also rolling around vigorously up on the front bunk during this turmoil. Sarah, the lucky girl, was able to get quality sleep at this time in the dry back cabin, where it was warm, dry, peaceful and comfortable oh don’t forget cosy. The wind had picked up to over 30 knots again as the afternoon rolled on which caused us to seek anchor at the next sheltered anchorage of Cape Upstart (Nicknamed Cape Caitlin by dad) approximately 40 miles south east of Cape Bowling Green. We arrived at around 1pm and this was a great place, with white sand, and blue water and a cute rock off the coast called "the Bun". Numerous beach houses were set back from the shore on the sheltered inside of the Cape. The Cape looked so gorgeous that the two of us, Caitlin & Sarah, decided to go ashore in the inflatable dinghy with the 6 horse power outboard to explore. It was very protected and sheltered behind the Cape, with no real evidence of the 30+ knot winds outside. We got off the dinghy and were greeted by two friendly dogs on the beach, and Sarah nearly stepped on a huge fish head that had teeth- a scary sight for sure. Whilst we were walking on the sand we met a "local" who had said he has had his land here at the Cape since ‘78, and that Cape Upstart is 60 km away from Bowen, and Ayr and is only reachable by boat as there are no roads. He told us that they call the little Rock off the coast "The Bun" because of all of the bird poo on the top layer, making it look like a cream bun. It had a smooth rounded top, exactly like a bun. We then journeyed back to the boat to enjoy a nice late lunch which my mother had prepared, which was Shepherd’s pie. After lunch, Sarah & Caitlin decided to go fishing to catch dinner, unfortunately after snagging the bottom a few times, we gave up. During this time, Sarah turned to Caitlin and exclaimed "look at the jumping dogs on the beach", to Sarah’s embarrassment; she was talking about the kangaroos - the dill! The two of us then set ashore to the nicest beach and went sun baking in the sun of the late afternoon. Caitlin found a coconut, but it ended up being dried out in the middle, it was a nice thought though, tropical beach with coconuts, just like the brochures. When the sun started to set, we headed back to the boat, and mum started to cook dinner, we weren’t planning to be on board for this long on the delivery so mum had to make do with minimal ingredients. We ended up having vegetable soup and noodles. Very filling I must say. We then had apple liquorice for dessert, which Caitlin didn’t want to share. Sarah and Caitlin after the meal decided to call it a day and retreated to the aft cabin, where they enjoyed a peaceful night’s sleep. We didn’t wake up till about 8am, by which time we were already on the run, as mum & dad had upped anchor at 4 30 am to continue our journey Southeast. The wind seemed to abate in the early hours of the morning and increase as the afternoon approached on a regular basis. At about 10 30, dad called us up, to see the scenery as we got closer to the Whitsunday Islands. We saw the strange sight of the Coal Loader at Abbott Point, seemingly in the wilderness and very much out of character with the surrounding scenery – a sure sign that we were getting closer to our destination, this leg being approximately 60 miles.As we were looking at the headlands and cliffs we could see a huge round boulder on a headland, similar to something out of the Road Runner cartoons, and the occasional boat anchored in deserted beaches. As we got closer to the Whitsunday’s, the seas were flattening out and the trip was a lot more comfortable. When we got the Whitsunday’s, the water changed from a dull blue into the prettiest blue, like a cyan colour. As we went through the passage between Gloucester Island & Cape Gloucester, positioned at northern end at the beginning of the Whitsunday’s, we sat at the very back of the boat and just marvelled at the beautiful scenery of the numerous islands. Mum prepared us the best brekkie, porridge made out of muesli, and this tasted beautiful, Sarah "killed" hers by spoiling it with to much honey but dad had her leftovers as usual. Caitlin was a little disappointed that she had no phone reception in this beautiful area preventing her from sharing the sights with her friends, and Sarah was upset that her MP3 player had run out of batteries on the first night, so to take there minds off this they had posing competitions with mum’s camera on the seat at the stern of the boat ha-ha. We decided to call it a draw as we were both as good as each other with our ridiculous poses. We then both went to sleep again until we had reached Airlie Beach at 2.30pm. As we entered the harbour at Abel Point Marina at Airlie Beach, we could see the huge old maxi yachts that used to race in the Sydney Hobart. One called "Spank Me" (Probably the former maxi Ragamuffin) had a huge towering mast, and was about 80 feet long, motored past us as we were about to enter the marina. We slowly motored into the marina, where we were greeted by the local marina people that helped us tie up. The marina was full of so many boats, it was unbelievable. A little embarrassed that the boat we were on wasn’t the Farr 40, we quickly packed up and were greeted by the owner of the boat, my grandpa. We then said our goodbyes to the boat and stepped off it onto the marina and then got into my grandpas Alfa Romeo and went to the hotel. It wasn’t too shabby, with us 2 girls getting our own room, beautiful views over Airlie Beach. We then had our showers, and tidied up and went to a restaurant called "Capers" for dinner. Sarah had the best pasta, and Caitlin had a nice juicy steak. After being bloated on food we headed back to the hotel for our final nights sleep in sunny paradise. The next morning, we headed off to a café for breakfast, and Sarah had bacon and eggs, and Caitlin had blueberry pancakes. Sarah and Caitlin then bough new shirts, from just jeans, as the ones we were wearing smelled a little "off", as we had worn them for 3 days straight... After brekkie we went to the yacht and did a final clean up, and then went back to the hotel to check out. Caitlin went for a swim, and Sarah sun baked until the taxi came. Then we went for the 45 minute drive to the airport at Proserpine. The plane was delayed by 45 minutes, so Caitlin sun baked at the terminal, and mum and dad opened their books. WE finally boarded the plane and arrived at Brisbane airport at about 2 30 pm. The worst part of our voyage was when we found out that the connecting plane to Sydney was delayed by about 2 hours. We waited at Brisbane terminal, until the plane arrived, and we boarded, and arrived in Sydney at 6 pm. We were impressed to see a photo of us racing on our Farr 40 at Hamilton Island race week last year on page 57 of the July Virgin Magazine in the planes. We both think that it was a worthwhile experience, and now, have sailed almost the entire east coast of Australia from Hobart to Townsville. We just need to go from Townsville to Cairns, Port Douglas, Cooktown and finally Bamaga to complete the route, which will be our next mission. The Whitsunday’s, is just beautiful, and was my favourite part; I can’t wait to go to the Whitsunday’s again. Sarah & Caitlin Short Wynbah Part 4 July 2006 SOUTHPORT TO PORT STEPHENS
SOUTHPORT TO BALLINA (73 nm) Sunday 13 November 2005 Obtained latest weather at 0520 NE/NW 10-15 knots, logged on with Seaway Tower 0545 while motoring out. When over the bar there was no wind and a slight sea swell, so carried on motoring. A few rain showers and a bleak grey miserable morning and no wind. When abeam of NSW coast we altered the clocks one-hour. Winds kicked in, but from the south. Called Cape Byron for latest weather, they stated NE/NW 10-15 we had S 10-15 with stronger gusts, so decided to go into Ballina. Rounding Cape Byron we managed to sail for a while and accompanied by a pod of dolphins.
Spoke to coastguard at Ballina to get information about bar, leads etc, Crossed over the bar but the leads were not visible and obvious to cross the river for Mobs Bay and avoid the half-tide walls. A couple of fishing trawlers were moving up the river so we noted the direction they were taking and once they had passed us we headed that way. One needs to beware of the half-tide sea walls as only patches and pieces of rock show at full tide. We went through the hole in the wall and picked up a MSB mooring, logging off 1845. Had a peaceful night the only noise was the dolphins feeding at the entrance to Mobs Bay.
BALLINA TO YAMBA (43 nm) Monday 14 November 2005 Weather forecast at 0630 N/NE 10-15 so we headed out to the channel. High tide was 0734 and we crossed the bar at 0727 with destination Coffs Harbour or Iluka/Yamba. Outside the entrance the seas were sloppy with a SE 1.5 metres swell and wind southerly 10-15. So Iluka/Yamba was looking like our destination. Spoke to Iluka coastguard they had southerly winds with a slight swell over the bar and forecast was for S 25-30 knots. We calculated we would have enough depth to enter, even though low tide, if we stayed towards the north sea-wall, the deepest part of the river entrance. We sustained 3 metres under the keel crossing the bar, although it was a bit sloppy and rolly. Inside the river it was calm and shallow in patches, we had 0.01 under the keel a few times so we decided to go into Iluka harbour instead of crossing over to Yamba. We logged off at 3.35 when anchored and told the coastguard we would go over and visit him when we had the dinghy in the water. Because of the strong southerly wind there were a few boats heading for the bar after us. We watched a few yachts entering over the bar from the coastguard station.
Tuesday 15 – Friday 18 November The forecast for the next few days were S/SE 25-30 knots, so we decided to spend Tuesday at Iluka and booked a marina berth in Yamba for Tuesday night for a few days. Never did make it over to Yamba, as the winds were stronger during the day and a gale forecast. We sat watching a storm come up the coast, but suddenly when it hit us the boat did a full turn round to the south instantly. We had 50 knots on the boat’s wind dial at 2200 hours with a steady 40 knots for a couple of hours. We did an anchor watch and the winds eased to 35 knots at 0400 the next morning. One boat went flying off its mooring and we hoped the anchor would hold (which it did). We couldn’t leave the boat for 2 days, as the winds were too strong. Thursday the winds eased so we went ashore to the town, the coastguard to check the forecast and view the seas outside. We met a few other people doing the same thing and we decided to meet up at the pub for dinner that evening. Met the new owners of Wind Is Free, Di and Ray Cranfield’s former boat. The pub at Iluka is on the river so you can leave the dinghy on the beach. It is a great place, a traditional Australian pub with lots of character and characters.
ILUKA/YAMBA TO COFFS HARBOUR (51nm) Saturday 19 November Low tide was 0423. Departed the river with about six other boats, crossed the bar at 0630, no breaks and a slight swell. Logged on after safely crossing the bar with an ETA Coffs 1700 hours. Winds were N/NE 15-25 but seas got a bit sloppy (2-3 metres) about 20 nm down the coast, however we managed to sail all the way. Arrived Coffs Harbour 1530 and anchored the southern side of the jetty, logging off at 1545 hours. The opening times of the marina are 0800-0900 and 1600-1630 hours. The coastal patrol allocates berths when the marina is closed, but they had no vacancies on their sheet. Due to the foul weather, not to mention all the live-aboard at Coffs the marina was full. When the marina did open they confirmed that there were only 2 spaces alongside the fishing wharf. That night there were seven boats on anchor in the outer harbour. The winds were southerly 20 knots, but it was nice and cosy anchored in the harbour. We experienced a problem with the automatic steering and had to manual steer the last few miles, so we were thankful to anchor and solve the problem the next day or so, as the southerly forecast wouldn’t be any good to us.
Sunday 20 – Monday 21 November Discovered the pin had gone in the autohelm so took the dinghy into the marina to check if we could source one at the chandler. No luck so Douglas did a make shift job of repairing it, hopefully it would last until we got home. At least we could leave our dinghy in the marina and go ashore.
COFFS HARBOUR TO PORT STEPHENS (140 nm 165 over the ground) Tuesday 22 November The forecast was for a NE 8-13, increasing to 18-23, seas 1-1.5 metres, swell SE 1.5-2 metres, it was decided that this would be a good opportunity. A southerly change of 20-25 was predicted for Wednesday evening, but by that time we should be home.
We logged on at 0545 with an ETA of 1930 at Port Macquarie. We noted all the bolt-holes secure from the southerly winds, just in case. When we set out we thought we would go into either Port Macquarie or one of the other southern ports to overnight, depending on tide, time and winds. However, we were abeam of Port Macquarie at 1600 hours and sailing really well, so we decided to carry on. This decision was made at other places we could have entered. The winds were over 25 knots and we were going along nicely. All other yachts seemed to be making the same decision as we listened on the radio.
About midnight we were discussing that we would need to jibe within the next hour to continue to sail to our destination, however, the following seas picked us up and the boat jibed. Unfortunately for us the makeshift repair job on the automatic steering didn’t enjoy the experience. Now it was manual steering, no moon light and no bolt-holes for a north-easterly wind to enter. On a positive note, we were only about 6 hours away from the home port. Abeam of Seal Rocks at 0100 Wednesday and Port Stephens coastal patrol was calling all the yachts in the area, as one yacht had logged on with us at Coffs and not called in since. We had heard the yacht call Port Macquarie but he wasn’t able to contact them, we attempted to call him up for the coastal patrol, but no response. It’s comforting to know that somebody is looking out for you and tracking your progress. At 0300 the winds died off completely.
At 0400 Port Stephens coastal patrol called us on the radio (and the other boats in the vicinity on his list) to advise us of his concern of a local storm forming. The storm wasn’t forecast and at the base they had winds of 20 knots from a south-westerly direction. Where the base is situated it is protected from south-westerly winds. Seemed hard to believe, as we had no wind whatsoever and only 2 hours out. Anyhow we took down the main sail and prepared ourselves, as we were heading in a south-westerly direction to reach home. Passing through Broughton and Little Broughton islands it was dark and calm, however when we reached Cabbage Tree Island it was awful. We could only make 1 knot forward for about thirty minutes. The winds seemed to pick up the sea and slap in from the bow straight over the dodger and into the cockpit. Fortunately the water seemed to be quite warm as it smacked you in the face and found its way into the wet weather gear soaking your clothes. Entering the port was like a roller coaster and even though the winds were strong inside the port, it was nice to know that the big seas were outside.
A couple of the larger yachts were heading for Pittwater, however they went into Port Stephens to escape the storm. One yacht, a 47 foot Catalina, who we met in Sydney a week later said that he was of the opinion that if you sailed the east coast of Australia you could sail anywhere, he had never known such changeable weather conditions since leaving Los Angeles. They spent 4 days sheltering in Port Stephens and enjoyed the stopover. We were all grateful to the coastal patrol. .
We logged off at 0640 hours when passing by the coastal patrol station and secured the boat on our mooring at 0820 and crashed for a couple of hours before heading for home. We needed to take our boat down to Sydney as we were exchanging her in for a 387 Catalina, but that would have to wait until the weather improved and we had a few days enjoying a lot of home comforts.
Our new boat is called ‘Water Dancer’ and we look forward to catching up with fellow Trims during 2006 when we take the new boat up North and finish our southern leg in the Port Hacking to catch up with friends. Skippers Footnote: The make shift repair to the auto steering meant that it could only be in the engaged position.
When the big seas built up I was unable to take over control of the steering and the following seas was throwing Wyanbah from one side to the other until boom chinesed jybed and put the boat back on manual steering. At least the problem of the big jybe at Seal Rocks was solved for me.
Because Irene could not handle the boat in such conditions I had to steer myself right through the night which was to say the least very exhausting. Irene gave me moral support throughout the night and early morning. Also my chart plotter packed up as well and I had not programmed my old reliable Garmin GPS and spent most of the night following the aft light of a yacht in front which seemed to be on the horizon. Port Stephens Light was a very welcome light indeed.
Moral is I should not set off knowing the that the auto steering was dogey with a limited crew and more or less relying on a chart plotter.
Douglas
PS Luckily it did not put Irene off boats and we picked up ‘Water Dancer’ in Sydney a couple of weeks later. Mike & Margo Altria will be joining us for the first stretch to Hervey Bay starting about the 4th of July. Third Man April 2006 Hello Everyone We have now been away for over three weeks and are enjoying our new lifestyle. Both of us remain in awe of the ocean and are definitely “fair weather sailors” most of the time. This lap top and Mini max broadband is great and between emails and our free one hour phone calls we don’t feel too cut off from you all. This is our trip so far. For those of you who have made contact I apologise for repeating myself but you know how I love to talk. After saying goodbye countless times and packing up our house we boarded Third Man on Sunday 2nd April. I had one more day at the office on 3rd , then it was shopping time and on Wednesday 5th we took off for Pittwater. A very hot day but a nice day sailing and motoring. Saw a shark cruising along. Arrived at Pittwater and had travelled 39 nautical miles. Decided to stay at the Basin (Kuringhai National Park) and wait for some southerly winds. Motored up Cowan Creek past Cottage Point to Coal and Candle Creek. Did a 6 km up hill walk from the Basin to the aboriginal carvings, went to Church Point one day and shopped at Mona Vale. Easy to spend time on this beautiful waterway Left Pittwater for Port Stephens at 6am on 10th April. This was a long day sailing (76 nautical miles) but the seas were flat as we sailed and motored up the coast. Said hello to our first lot of dolphins. Unfortunately a northerly made things a bit hard going for the last 2 hours but we arrived safely at 6.30 pm and picked up a courtesy mooring at Nelson Bay Had 4 great days in Port Stephens, stayed at Salamander Bay, motored around the bay as far as Soldiers Point and enjoyed the last of the hot weather, lots of swims, lots of dolphins and even caught up with Sharon and Chris on Good Friday. Snowflake is doing well. Easter Saturday we were up at 6 and heading for Crowdy Head (a little fishing village near Harrington not far from Taree). Put a reef in the main after 10 miles at Broughton Island and sailed along with the wind increasing and put a second reef in the main by 1.30pm and then held on! Poor Kev had to steer for 3 hours because Elaine and the auto pilot couldn’t hold the boat on course. Not very comfortable but we finally arrived at Crowdy Head at 5.30pm and had come 62 nautical miles. Had a good sleep and next day walked up to the lighthouse and around to the surf beach. Chatted to the locals and holiday makers who came down to the wharf for a fish or a chat. Great day but the wharf is not a peaceful place for a long stay so on Easter Monday we headed for Camden Haven. Out of bed at 7am and arrived in Camden Haven at 10am. 18 nautical miles and a nice gentle sail (about time). Had to cross our first bar to enter the river so we planned to arrive just before high tide to prevent any problems As we were coming in a big set of waves came through and Kev turned the boat back to sea. Then the sea flattened so he flattened our motor and over the bar we went. Must have looked spectacular because we got a few cheers from some of the fishing boats waiting to go out. Anchored in the river at Laurieton for the first night but then tied up at the United Services Club wharf for the rest of the time. The club offers yachties use of shower, etc and the meals there were very reasonable. Such a beautiful place. Went for a long walk to North Haven (surf beach) and back (2.5 hours). Telephoned Elaine’s cousin who lives in Port Macquarie and his twin brother was up there on holidays so we caught up with John and Sirika and Stephen and Julie for dinner one night. Tied up behind us was a ketch Ciel Mere and Denis and Reginie had sailed out from Canada. Locals were very friendly and helpful with bar conditions, weather reports etc Laurieton is affectionately know as God’s Waiting Room and after braving the wheel chair traffic jam at the front of the club we can see where this name comes from. Ha! Ha! Friday 21st saw us setting off for Trial Bay at 9.30 am. The bar crossing was uneventful and we had a beautiful 53 nautical mile sail arriving at 7pm that evening. There are two courtesy moorings (from the old tankers) and we found one easily and tied up for the night. When we were sailing past Port Macquarie we saw a very interesting sight. At least 40 dolphins two abreast swimming out to sea and jumping out of the water at a very fast pace. We don’t know whether they were being chased or whether they were chasing something. On Saturday we woke up to find that we were surrounded by little fishing boats all catching their bait before going out. One tied up to our boat and in exchange gave us some bait Arrived Coffs Harbour at 3pm after a beautiful 37 mile sail. Tied up in the marina went for a long walk to the Fisherman's club where we enjoyed a seafood plate for 2 and had breakfast on Sunday with Jan and Mick (parents of our Stephen’s Melissa who live at Sawtell). Walked over Mutton-bird Island and then to the Old Pier and had an early night so that we could be up early to leave for Yamba. Wind was directly behind us so we had the headsail polled out and then wind increased, headsail in, reef in main, sloppy seas with a big swell but at least we got there quickly. Again we arrived 2 hours before high tide so the bar to the Clarence River wasn’t a problem. 60 nautical miles and we we were anchored in Iluka at 4pm. Stayed there 2 nights (sleepy fishing village) and had a relaxing Anzac day with dinner at the local pub. On 26th came over to Yamba which is on the southern side of the Clarence. We are getting some quotes to have a holding tank put into the boat so may be here for a couple of weeks. The locals tell us we need to explore the Clarence so this may be our opportunity. That’s about all the news for now. Hope you are all well and happy Elaine and Kevin (the Old Salts) Third Man Wyanbah November 2005 PART 3 – AIRLIE BEACH via BOWEN to SOUTHPORT BOWEN and PROSERPINE by CAR Rented a car for the day to visit Proserpine and Bowen as well as the usual supermarkets, hardware and chandler stores; the latter two seem to be a “must do” with the male population at each port. There’s a chandler shop at Abel Point marina, but doesn’t get a good rating for the stock it carries. Both Home Hardware and Mitre 10 just outside Cannonvale have a good marine section, with Home Hardware being the superior of the two. Proserpine seems to be a country town in land that has grown around the sugar mill that is there. The town smells very sweet the result of the sugar mill steaming all day, but apart from a few shops there is not too much to see or do. Bowen is a nice country town by the sea, so accessible by boat. When visiting by car there is a good information centre before entering the town where you will be given a map of the tourist routes and the things to see in and around Bowen. The centre also sells Mango ice cream made in Bowen and frozen sliced mango. The ice cream was very addictive and absolutely delicious. For those who are not aware of the Australian delights, Bowen is a town renowned for its’ mango and most of the fields here have mango trees growing, which is a change from the usual sugar cane found throughout Queensland. One of the routes recommended by the visitor’s guide, can be driven or walked, takes a tour through and around town past 24 murals painted on the sides of different buildings. The murals are painted by different artists and depict scenes from the history of Bowen. The beaches and bays around Bowen are excellent. At Horseshoe Bay there is excellent snorkelling and lots of species of fish found out on the reef can be sighted here. At Queens Beach there is a stinger net pool so great for swimming. For those that are not aware “stingers” are a form of jellyfish which can give a very nasty sting and frequent the mainland waters from here Northwards during the hot season (approximately October to March). Vinegar is a good cure to soothe the sting, but staying within the stinger nets or not swimming is the way to go. Both Queens Bay and Horseshoe Bay are good places to drop an anchor if there is no spaces at Bowen harbour marina. Drove up to Flagstaff Hill, which gives an incredible view over the Gloucester Passage and islands and Bowen Harbour. Visited the yacht club, which is situated inside Bowen Harbour and controls the small marina, but there were no vacant spaces for the next few weeks. AIRLEY BEACH to EDGECOMBE BAY (22 nm) Sunday 2 OctoberRefuelled before leaving Abel Point marina, logged on at 1050 hours with Mackay VMR and made our way to the Gloucester Passage. The sea was like a pond with hardly a ripple and the scenery of the main land and small islands was beautiful. After navigating the passage we made our way to Edgecombe Bay and picked up a buoy belonging to the Eco Resort. There is plenty of room to anchor in this bay but there are about 30 buoys here. We logged off at 1450 hours and went ashore to check out the resort. If you require a buoy for the week the cost is $50 and usually $20 a day, however, payment seems to be void when using the resort bar and restaurant. The resort allows boats to drop off rubbish, use the hot showers and swim in the pool, which overlooks a sandy beach and the blue sea. Prices for food and drinks are not expensive either. Walked up the beach to Monty’s Resort but no facilities to eat or drink and it looks a bit down after being at the Eco Resort. The bay was really a great place to stop, so rather than spend the next night at Gloucester island we decided to stay here another night. Spotted some Garfish and a couple of turtles. EDGECOMBE BAY to HOOK ISLAND via HAYMAN ISLAND (36 nm) Tuesday 4 October Sailed around Gloucester Island and made our way towards Blue Pearl Bay at Hayman Island. Before arriving at the bay we decided to carry on sailing down to overnight at Butterfly Bay. This would offer a better depth for us as we only have 30 metre of chain. The breeze disappeared before entering The Narrows (a passage between Hook and Hayman islands) so we rolled away the genoa and switched on the engine. Anchored in Butterfly Bay at 1530 hours. Saw a Garfish running on his tail over the water. Obviously trying to escape something larger. Good calm bay during the night. Butterfly Bay was a lovely place. There are moorings there if lucky. We caught up with a few other boats we had met at Brampton. They were told us that the diving and snorkelling around this bay was really good. Stingrays rest in the sandy shallows. HOOK ISLAND to WHITSUNDAY ISLAND (Tongue Bay) (11 nm) Wednesday 5 October Motored out of the bay at 0800 hours. There were quite a lot of boats in the bay. Outside the bay there was an easterly breeze so we pulled out the genoa. A strong current was running against the wind; which made the seas a bit confused however the 3 knots of current was to our advantage. At Apostle Bay the breeze died so we motored into Tongue Bay. This is our second visit here and is much preferred to Whitehaven Beach. We went ashore and walked up to the lookout, this time taking our camera to take a few shots of this beautiful place. We then went down to the beach on Hill Inlet. This and Whitehaven beach are silicon sand, 800 million tonnes of it in such a small space. Needless to say there is a heap of white sand everywhere. We noticed a yacht stuck on the end of the sandbar and the water was still ebbing so he wouldn’t be going anywhere for quite a few hours. Saw a few more turtles on our way back to the boat. The anchorage was a bit rolly during the night; however, we realised that we must have anchored too close to the coral shelf to course this effect. WHITSUNDAY ISLAND to SHAW ISLAND (Billbob Bay) (23 nm) Thursday 6 October Logged on at 1020 hours and motored past Whitehaven Beach to the Solway Passage. Spoke to Andy from The Duchess on the radio, he was the other side of Whitsunday Island making his way to Butterfly Bay. The water was flat in the Solway Passage and we had a knot or two of current with us. We pulled out the genoa and had a steady sail down to Shaw Island. We went into Burning Point but there didn’t seem to be too much shelter from the bullets of wind, so we went around the corner to Billbob Bay. Logged off at 1505 hours. Spent two nights here as it was lovely. When we went ashore there was a large, long coral sand beach. The water was good for swimming and really warm. At one end of the beach we counted about 20 Stingrays in the shallow waters. Some were lying around partially covered with sand in an attempt to hide; however the long black slim tail was obvious. The Stingrays measured from 12 inches up to 36 inches across and after a while they didn’t seem to mind us being there. We also spotted a shoal of large silver fish, one coral fish, blue in colour and about 2 feet in length and an even longer white/silver fish with fins like a shark. You may gather that we don’t fish hence the lack of knowledge about fish types. A few turtles swam nearby. What with all this, the sky pale-blue and the sea crystal clear to turquoise, the sand a golden colour and the lush greenness of the land – absolutely beautiful. A truly MAGIC place and a superbly calm anchorage. SHAW ISLAND to GOLDSMITH ISLAND (11 nm) Saturday 8 October Left Billbob Bay and logged on at 0815 hours for an easy run down to Goldsmith. Breeze was about 10-15 N-NE and seas about 1.6 metres. Had the genoa out as no rush. We anchored in one of the bays at the southern side of the island and logged off at 1130 hours. Later in the afternoon the winds increased so we didn’t bother going ashore. In fact the winds increased and howled all night long, but we were quite snug here. Douglas had scratched his leg during the past week and it was now starting to look a bit nasty, so we decided to go into Mackay so as we could visit a clinic for an expert opinion. GOLDSMITH ISLAND to MACKAY MARINA (22 nm) Sunday 9 October Departed Goldsmith at 0750 hours, logging on when Mackay opened at 0800 hours. Pulled out the genoa and sailed until we picked up the lead lights for Mackay harbour. The winds were variable and the seas really sloppy. Allocated berth C18 with portside tie-up. Arrived at the marine and logged off at 1335 hours. As well as planning our next part of the trip, there are always a list of chores to do when in a marina, i.e. doing the washing, cleaning the boat, filling up the water and fuel tanks. Took the bus into town on Monday to visit the medical clinic. A tetanus injection and a course of antibiotics were prescribed to clear up the infection. Took out some time in the town to shop. Purchased a photo printer for our digital camera. Decided to stay for 3 nights. MACKAY to CURLEW ISLAND (50.6 nm) Wednesday 12 October Departed marina berth at 0710 hours, however we noticed some flashing red lights between the boat harbour and the main harbour. Called up the Harbour Master on channel 16 to check on this and advised that a large coal ship was about to leave the wharf, so it would be about 5 minutes before we could pass through. We saw the ship leave and the lights were still flashing red so called up again for clearance, which was approved and we departed the harbour at 0730 hours, logging on at 0825 hours when Mackay opened for the day. Good breeze for sailing, but it died off passing Prudhoe Island, so motored for an hour when the breeze returned. Anchored on south side of Curlew at 1700 and logged off. Spotted some large mackerel jumping about 2 feet out of the water. A comfortable anchorage. CURLEW ISLAND to MARBLE ISLAND (Homestead Bay) (31.7 nm) Thursday 13 October Departed at 0700 hours logging on at 0805. Arrived 1305 hours having a good sail down to Marble through various groups of small islands. No seas except for a reef we crossed, which gave us white water bouncing amidst smooth seas. Reached a low of 2 metres (under the keel) and then jumped back to 13 plus metres after crossing over the reef. A nice anchorage with some good beaches on Hunter and Marble. There is also a large homestead on Marble Island, hence the name of the bay. MARBLE ISLAND to ISLAND HEAD CREEK (45 nm) Friday 14 October Departed Homestead Bay at 0545 logging on with Thirsty Sound at 0640. Managed to sail for a while but unfortunately the breeze died, seas about 1.5 metres. Spotted a few dolphins and a few more mackerel to amuse us. It was our intention when we left to anchor at Pearl Bay, but with the forecast and seas from the east we decided to go into Island Head Creek. Anchored, logged off 1515 hours. ISLAND HEAD CREEK to GKI (Long Beach Bay) (63.1 nm) Saturday 15 October Departed the creek at 0615, logging on with Yeppoon coastguard at 0655 when entering the ocean. We had a great sail down to Great Keppel Island, we even recorded 8.4 knots at one stage and that is good going for our 320 Catalina. Logged off at Monkey Point at 1605 hours, just in case the reception was bad the other side of the island. Long Beach is a great anchorage with a great beach. It was our intention when leaving Island Head Creek to go into Keppel Bay Marina, as we were wanting to catch up with Graham and Chrissie Bach (who have their catamaran at Keppel Bay marina), also Claude and Chris Murphy who were visiting Graham and Chrissie for 2 weeks holiday. However, when we called the mobile, Chrissie informed us that they were anchored at Yellow Patch. We decided to overnight at GKI and then sail to Yellow Patch the next day to catch up with them. GKI to YELLOW PATCH to PORT CURTIS (60 nm) Sunday 16 October We realised that we needed the tide to attempt Yellow Patch so it was an early start, leaving Long Beach Bay at 0520 hours. It was a grey, cloudy morning with lots of rain clouds around – not over us, thank heavens. It was quite a distance to Yellow Patch and high tide was 0810. Perusing the books, there are no channel markings into Yellow Patch just an outline and a sketch of the backdrop with some bearings on how to get over the sand bar. Bearing in mind sand moves so there is no guarantee, but on the positive side it is only sand if you do touch down. (For those that do not know. Yellow Patch it is a wonderful huge yellow sand hill, surrounded by lots more sand and shallow waters – a place I have wanted to visit ever since I saw a photo in a magazine.) When approaching Yellow Patch at 0930 hours and trying to find the bearings we saw a large catamaran leaving, also a few plastic bottles which we took as crab pot buoys and wanted to avoid. We then realised this catamaran housed our friends, Graham/Chrissie and Claude/Chris. They were leaving to go to GKI to catch up with us, while we had left GKI to catch up with them. We exchanged a few words and Claude was advising us that the plastic bottles were man-made buoys to get across the sand bar. They were off to GKI so we could catch up with them there if we wished. We attempted to find some deep water a couple of times, but each time we recorded 0.1 so backed out as we did not want to get stuck on all this sand at a low falling tide. When we catch up with Claude at the RMYC we will check the direction and position of those plastic bottles. We then decided to leave Yellow Patch for another time and make our way to Gladstone via Port Curtis. It would have been nice to catch up with others, but we would have to come back down again and the weather may turn. (When we had telephone reception a few hours later, we received our messages, one from Graham advising that they were leaving Yellow Patch to catch up with us at GKI – it looked as though we had Murphy aboard as well as Graham) (Maybe typical Telstra service)!!! We had a great sail from Yellow Patch to Port Curtis, although the top end of the island seemed to go on forever and we couldn’t sail too close to the shore, as it was too shallow. At 1430 we logged on with Gladstone and thanked Yeppoon coastguard bidding them a fond farewell. Saw a large turtle sloshing around in the waters, but I suppose he was more at home than me. Eventually we rounded the top of the island and entered Port Curtis. Still had that good breeze but no sloppy seas – wonderful. Sailed towards the bottom of the waterway to anchor for the night to cross the Narrows to Gladstone the next morning. We joined another 4 boats and anchored at1610 hours. A very peaceful, calm anchorage but a few sand flies around. An exceptionally calm anchorage in the river, no movement whatsoever, except for the movements of the odd mosquito and a few sand flies. Out of the five boats in the river, three of boats were obviously travelling together and had a get-together that night, one could hear the guitars and singing etc. etc. and believe me not they bid me goodnight. I had left the cockpit to hit the sack and Douglas was just finishing off his drink and the party boat sang “Goodnight Irene” !! PORT CURTIS via The Narrows to GLADSTONE (15.4 nm) Monday 17 October Left our anchorage at 0640, two hours before high tide as the tide (Port Alma) this side of the Narrow is one metre higher than the Gladstone tide readings. We were at the bottom of the Port and the other four boats were still anchored. At this stage we didn’t need the motor we just let the tide take the boat down (3 knots). We crossed over the Cattle Crossing and started meandering our way up to The Narrows and fortunately we still had the tide with us, we did record ZERO a few times but it went up to 0.1 and upwards before touching down. We had so much tide with us that when we reached Worthington Island the boat log recorded 6.76nm HOWEVER over the ground, following the river it is about 10nm to that point. Upon leaving the Narrows we had a brief rain shower and that it something we hadn’t experienced for sometime. Arrived at Gladstone marina, checked in and made our way to the yacht club for lunch at 1230. GLADSTONE I now realise how much damage a tiny mosquito and even smaller non-visible sand flies can do. I swear I have elephant measles and bumps and they get bigger and itchier each day. Believe me I NEVER get affected by this stuff (not even on the way up when we sheltered inside creeks). Anyone who has a reaction to insect bites needs to have a B1 tablet each day. I’ll be OK next time! Friday night saw a terrific storm hit Gladstone. The people in the well-protected marina were recording 37 knots, while those of us on the balcony of the yacht club were well and truly blown inside. GLADSTONE to PANCAKE CREEK (36 nm)- Saturday 22 October Departed the marina at 0740 hours, passing 2 dolphins. Gladstone VMR suggested we call the Harbour Master on channel 13 to advise we were clearing the port via the shipping channel and to check on the movements of any vessels. We were advised that the vessel Brisbane was dredging between markers S1-S8, vessel Norfolk was doing surveys around the harbour and a tanker would be entering the channel at 0904 hours. Gladstone Harbour and channel seems to go on forever. We heard the Harbour Master notify the master of the tanker to ready itself for a helicopter landing (this is how the pilot gets on board) and that a yacht would be departing the channel (that’s us). We passed each other in the channel at 1035 at marker S10, feeling rather tiny and inferior in size. We left the channel shortly after this mark to make our course. Once out of the channel we turned off the motor and sailed all the way to the entry of Pancake Creek. It was a bit rolly going into Pancake as the seas (about 1.5 metres) were abeam as is the sandbank; it is also shallow in lots of places. It was a relief once safely inside. Logged off 1405 hours. PANCAKE CREEK to BURNETT RIVER (66 nm) Sunday 23 October Up at 0540 but realised the tide was still low. We departed at 0630 with 5 other yachts. We reached 0.1 a few times, but it was a rising tide also there were no seas coming over the sandbank. Upon leaving we saw a yacht grounded on the sand, he must have gone straight on coming in during the night and not picked up the red buoys (not lit). He had to wait for the high tide before he could leave. Once out of the creek we had a good sail to the Burnett River. Switched VMR station at Baffle Creek. Logged off sailing down the outer channel before VMR closed for the night. We decided to anchor past the sugar sheds rather than go into the marina, so as we could make an early start. Anchored at 1830 hours. BURNETT RIVER to URANGAN, HERVEY BAY (46 nm) Monday 24 October Pulled up the anchor at 0550 hours as the forecast was for storms later in the day. We motored to the river entrance, passing about eight yachts anchored around the marina flying the Q flag, some Australian vessels returning and a lot of foreign vessels, all waiting for customs clearance. Bundaberg is a popular clearance port. Logged on at 0705 with Bundaberg and switched to Hervey Bay at the Fair Way Buoy. Had a really good sail down, although seas were about 1.8 metres with a heavy swell. Slowed the boat down for comfort after passing the Fair Way Buoy as the sea was abeam. We arrived in the marina surfing down the waves into the flat water. Tried to contact the VMR at 1430 when secured in our berth, but nothing heard. At 1600 hours we heard the VMR calling Wyanbah, but still couldn’t reach him, however we could see the building, so I walked around the marina to log off. I should have now been on channel 73 and not 22/81, hence the difficulty in not getting a response. Later we realised what a good decision we had made to head down the coast, the thunderstorm and heavy rain arrived, however we were nice and comfortable in the marina and stayed for a couple of days for the weather to clear. URANGAN to GARY’s ANCHORAGE (Fraser Island) (35.6 nm* Thursday 27 October Departed the marina and logged on at 0730. Forecast was NE 10-15 increasing to 15-20 with seas 1.4 metres. To reach the yellow mark we needed to head into the breeze and swell but once we turned to head down behind Fraser Island we had a good leisurely sail using the genoa. Winds were a stead 15 knots. We hadn’t logged a destination with the coast guard as we decided to see what conditions were like before choosing an anchorage; however, he logged us for Kingfisher Resort (to be amended). There wasn’t much protection from the wind at the Kingfisher so we decided to carry on to the southern side of Fraser being that we had the high tide to take us through. Luckily for us we had missed the northern entrance into Gary’s Anchorage as later we discovered this had silted up and no longer of use to yachts. The tide was needed to get into Gary’s and just enough water to anchor when considering low tide; also the channel’s well marked. Logged off at 1625 hours. A very quite calm place for a stopover. GARY’S ANCHORAGE to MOOLOOLABA(68.8 nm) Friday 28 October The night before, we had decided to leave Gary’s on the tide level we entered and then have a look at the bar and then anchor somewhere close by, so as to cross it the following day, weather permitting. As it turned out, we were awake early and we could hear an anchor lifting. We looked out and saw two yachts departing. We decided we may as well leave now as the tide was rising and this would take us through to anchor closer to the bar for a crossing the following day. We thought we would go down and have a look at the bar before finding an anchorage. I called the coastguard to enquire about the situation at the bar, I was advised that a fishing vessel had just departed and he would call up the coast guard with the state of the bar (the coastguard stations are not visually close to the bar). The fishing boat called back to say there were no large waves and the sea was calm. Another yacht was heading down towards the bar also. Anyhow we put up the main sail, logged on with the coastguard at 0620 and advised that we were crossing the bar and as requested would radio him back once across to let him know the conditions. We finished crossing the bar at 0755 hours, the lowest depth we recorded was 2.5 metres under the keel and the swell was 0.75 metre, you could see were the water was breaking over the bars. Once I had called the coastguard we pulled out the genoa, switched off the engine and sailed for a while – the breeze just seemed to disappear. Logged on with Mooloolaba coastguard at Double Island Head and had a yacht call us to ask the wind conditions closer to shore. We had 6-8 N NE; they were 15-20 miles offshore and had similar, so wasn’t worth them coming closer in. Spotted a large whale, obviously cruising back down south also. He gave us a wave tail and then disappeared. Approaching Mooloolaba a storm warning was announced over the radio, but you could actually see the front ahead further south and moving inland. We anchored in the river, as the Wharf marina had closed for refurbishment, which meant the yacht club was fully booked. Found a good spot to anchor and watched the storms in the distance. Saturday we went ashore in the dinghy to have lunch with friends who live close to Mooloolaba. When we arrived back late afternoon, we checked the latest weather forecast with the coastguard and decided to leave the following day for Scarborough. MOOLOOLABA TO SCARBOROUGH (51 nm) Sunday 30 October Left the river and logged on at 0555 hours with an ETA 1500 hours. The forecast was N NE 10-15 reaching 15-20 but unfortunately there was little wind out there. Spotted a few dolphins on our way as we navigated through the various shipping channels. We switched to Redcliffe coastguard at 1138, still motoring as no breeze. We decided to take down the main when in the Pearl channel and Murphy’s Law when we exited the Pearl channel the first breeze of the day kicked in. We turned off the motor and pulled out the genoa and sailed across Moreton Bay to Scarborough. The coastguard was very helpful in relaying messages when calling the marina for a berth. We were lucky, as they were just about to close the office for the day. The breeze had really picked up by the time we entered the marina and the coastguard was helpful in advising us the direction of our berth. After securing the boat they congratulated us on a good berthing with the strong cross breeze. We thanked them and said that we were sorry not to provide them too much entertainment for the afternoon, we all laughed, logging off at 1430 hours. Mike and Margot invited us for dinner, we had a very pleasant afternoon and evening, hearing the adventures of their chartering holiday in Croatia with lots of photos of islands and mainland. While here in Scarborough Margot has become a boat widow and Melbourne Cup came and went without us noticing. Douglas mentioned to Mike a few problems that had occurred and Mike being knowledgeable in these areas set to work with toolbox. A new alternator was fitted – can you believe they have smart regulators ones as well as normal ones!!!! I could never be described as a marina lover as I find them airless and humid at most times, or maybe its those stories one hears when spending time in the laundry. One lady from New Zealand was telling me that on their journey from New Caledonia to Brisbane they were hit, at night time, by a large vessel, which didn’t stop. When they called up on the radio to advise that they had been hit, the voice on the other end said “more fool you for being out here” (charming). Anyhow their boat, which was steel fortunately, was hit on the port side. The wooden life lines and spreaders on the port side and the rigging were non existent after the hit. They fortunately had enough fuel to motor into Australia. I did tell her that if that happened to me, I would be off the water and back to the city instantly. I still couldn’t work out how one would get so close to a big ship at sea. Anyhow they were busy doing repair work that would take the a few months. SCARBOROUGH TO COOCHIEMUDLO ISLAND (38.2 nm) Thursday 3 November Left the marina at 0905 to get some tide as it is very shallow in parts of the marina channel. Logged on for Peel Island with ETA 1500 hours. Not much breeze but we managed a nice sail with the genoa out. Spotted a couple of pods of dolphins and a few tankers entering and leaving Brisbane docks. Had the trusty Beacon to Beacon book in hand, crossing off the markers as we passed them. When along side Peel Island we decided to go further as we would need the tide the next day to get through to the Broadwater, so we carried on to Coochiemudlo Island. A nice calm anchorage and has a good beach. Need to anchor away from the jetty as the ferry runs until late at night. COOCHIEMUDLO ISLAND (30.2 nm) Friday 4 November Left at 0605 hours to have the tide for crossing into the Broadwater. We reached 0.1 a few times but never touched down. It was relaxing reaching the Broadwater as there’s depth in the channels. Refuelled at Southport Yacht Club and managed to get the last berth. There was a strong tide running when entering berth, which was close to the beach. Would have been easier to wait outside until slack tide. We met friends from Sydney for dinner also a friend who lived at the Gold Coast. We intend to go into Brisbane to visit friends, so a week here would be used wisely. Also southerly winds forecast. Kalida - October 6, 2005
Hi Everyone We’re currently in a little bay opposite Hamilton Island. We’ve been here for 5 days. It is so beautiful. The weather is perfect. The water is so clear that we can see the anchor on the bottom 6m below us. When the tide goes out the most perfect, flat, sandy beach comes up. It is dead flat without a rock or stick to mar its perfection. The water is so clear that the great schools of fish are clearly visible. The water is like a warm bath. In the early morning and the evenings the water is so calm there is barely a ripple and the flying fish leap out of the water making so much noise that the first time it happened we thought someone had fallen off the boat. Yesterday a mother dolphin and her baby were gambolling around the boat for about an hour – it was delightful to watch. I spent the morning trying to finish off an assignment and then we spent the rest of the day on the beach swimming, playing soccer and of course sitting on my little yellow chair reading my book (Twelve times Blessed by Jacquelyn Mitchard – which was pretty good). David and the kids found a great fishing spot and caught so many fish that they had to throw back about 12 because we wouldn’t have been able to eat them. They only kept what we could eat. We came back to the boat for a shower and then had a fish BBQ of coral trout, blue tusk fish and a parrot fish lightly tossed in a crispy batter for the children and grilled to perfection with a Cajun dressing for us. After dinner we sat outside telling stories and listening to music. It is a very mild evening, and there are so many stars out that we didn’t even need to put a light on. David is reading the children a bedtime story and I thought I’d take a minute and say a quick hello to everyone. I know that I have been a very poor correspondent while we have been away, I honestly don’t know where the day goes. Every night it seems that we have only just got up and the day is over already. I can’t believe that it is almost time to turn around and start heading south again, but the first stinger of the season has already been spotted on one of the northern islands and the winds have already settled into a steady north easterly pattern so it seems as though, much to our dismay, it is time. My brother is coming to visit us next weekend and once he goes we will, very slowly, begin to wind our way home. We are not in any hurry at all and intend to take a few months getting there. We’ve managed to cover a lot of distance and have been to most of the islands we wanted to, but I think of all of them, this is my favourite spot. Whitehaven was sensational, but as crowded as Bondi beach with all the big charter boats bringing day trippers by the 100’s. This is much nicer. Last week we climbed to the top of Whitsunday island. It took about 4 hours and was a fairly strenuous hike, but well worth the effort. The views from the top were unbelievable. The horse flies were pretty unbelievable to!! The minute we set foot on land they simply bombarded us in huge swarms. We took to going ashore with thongs in hand to swat the silly things every time we wanted to go for a walk. Thank goodness they are not bad here. We met up with another family with 3 children aged 9, 7 and 6 who attend the same school as Natasha. We cruised together for about 10 days which was great fun for the children. They had a ball. They even did their art classes and journal work together at the beach which of course made it far more fun. We hope that we will bump into each other again on the way down south. The past month has been fantastic. The weather is great. Everyone is looking so healthy. The kids are growing like mad, they are both getting so tall. Both of my water phobic children have turned into complete water babies, swimming for hours. All the exercise has given them enormous appetites – they are eating us out of house and home. Its great to see, especially Matthew who has always been such a fussy eater who would never touch a vegetable. Now they eat everything and anything in sight from Blue Vein cheese to broccoli. I hope that everyone is healthy and life is treating you well. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone when we get back. Lots of love The Harpers On S.V Kalida Current location S20’ 18” 330 E148’ 59”233 xxxxx Wyanbah PART 2 - HERVEY BAY to AIRLIE BEACH BUNDABERG (Burnett River) We enjoyed our stay at Bundaberg Port Marina. It’s a very friendly marina with a complimentary BBQ of fish/meat, salads and bread rolls every Friday lunchtime. Although the Friday we were there, it was cold and wet (at 10 degrees it was the coldest day in Bundaberg for 100 years). The BBQ was placed under the awnings and with a few tarps it was dry and a nice way of meeting the people from other boats. The marina provides a courtesy bus into Bundaberg Monday to Friday and sells cheap bus tickets for the return journey using local transport.
A tour of the Bundaberg Rum distillery is something to do. The driver from the marina dropped us at the door on his journey to town. It was quite an interesting tour and I never realised so much rum was made and drunk; also it was noted that most of the rum sold in NSW was the OP (Over Proof). Every Sunday the courtesy bus makes two return trips to the Shalom markets. Good shopping for fruit and vegetables.
The Lighthouse Hotel and the Boat Club at Burnett Heads Harbour provide a courtesy bus service to and from their locations. The Boat Club was the better choice, being at the water’s edge and having a pleasant beer garden and a good menu. The numbers are listed at the marina beside the pay phones. However, we walked to the Boat Club, which took us 50 minutes at a leisurely pace. We declined the offer of a lift back to the marina and also walked the return journey. It was a pleasant day, not too hot and a good way to spend Sunday afternoon.
BUNDABERG to PANCAKE CREEK (66nm) Tuesday 16 August 2005 Weather forecast looking good, we departed the marina at 0545 hours for passage Bundaberg Port to Pancake Creek, with an ETA of 1600 hours. Logged on with Bundaberg (VMR 488, channel 81) at 0645. Abeam of Baffle Creek at 1015 we logged off with Bundaberg and continued our passage with Round Hill Head (VMR 477). We achieved a few hours sailing but unfortunately had to motor most of the way Arrived at Pancake Creek by following the lead lights; we found a place to anchor, logging off at 1715 hours.
Rockhampton Meteorology (or Rocky Met as the locals refer to them) broadcast a comprehensive weather report on channel 82 at 0650, 1150 and 1650 hours. There was a strong wind warning for the next few days, however we had already decided to have at least one rest day. The weather forecast was spot on; we had 20 knots on anchor in the creek, it was predicted to be 20-30 S SE with seas of 2 metres plus swell. The next day a few yachts moved further into the creek as their anchors had dragged during the night.
A BBQ was planned for 1600 hours on the beach, but we decided to stay on board as their was a cold wind blowing and it would be dark when returning. For exercise you can go ashore and walk to the lighthouse, takes about 40 minutes; or await low tide and take the dinghy onto the sandbar in the middle of the creek and walk around. It takes about an hour and its like being on your own island.
PANCAKE CREEK to GLADSTONE HARBOUR (40nm) Friday 19 August 2005 Departed Pancake Creek for Gladstone Harbour at 0745 logging on with VMR477 Round Hill. Five other boats departed the Creek. Although some were going around Curtis Island, we wanted to go through The Narrows so going around wasn’t an option. The seas were very sloppy but once we turned to our course, we managed to sail for a few hours. However winds dropped and it began to drizzle. At 1045 we logged off with VMR477 and logged on with Gladstone (channel 82). A few hours later the sun came out, the wind came back and we managed a sail. Seemed a long way to the marina. Gladstone is a busy harbour with plenty of large ships coming and going and maneuvering under the power of the tugboats. We were entertained so much we actually motored past the marina and approaching Mud Island before we realised. Turned back and headed to the marina, logging off at 1535 hours.
Gladstone marina is really nicely positioned. The foreshore has a long boardwalk bordering lots of green lawns with several BBQ areas. It’s a pleasant 10 minutes walk over the bridge to the Yacht Club, very busy for dinner with the locals, so if in a group its advisable to reserve a table. The beginning of town is a few minutes up the hill from the yacht club, its an attractive town, with a great assortment of shops, bars, cafes and restaurants within walking distance to the marina.
GLADSTONE HARBOUR to PACIFIC CREEK via THE NARROWS (20nm) Sunday 21 August 2005 Logged on with Gladstone VMR at 0720 hours for passage through The Narrows and on to Pacific Creek. The formula for passing through The Narrows was 1.5m plus your own draft (1.8 in our case), therefore we needed a height of at least 3.3. We’d done our sums and the high tide at 1020 would be 3.84m with 3 hours to clear The Cattle Crossing. For those that are not familiar with this area, this place is where they cross the cattle from Curtis Island to the main land at low tide, hence its name.
It was a very pleasant trip, but in places it was a test of nerves, by that I mean keeping your nerve and carrying on. At one stage prior to the crossing we had 0.5 under the keel. We knew the tide was 30 minutes later at the cattle crossing than Gladstone, so we put this depth down to being a little early as it was our opinion that the cattle crossing was going to be the lowest point. A mile or so before the crossing looking at one of the markers, the tide appeared to be gushing out past the pole. This was the test – we have got this far, no we are not going back unless we touch down. We carried on although the water was rushing furiously in the opposite direction and then suddenly there it was, The Cattle Crossing, in all its glory and we had 2.2 under the keel. We grabbed the camera and took a photo. It was just like a narrow wooden corral and one could imagine the cattle coming down this pathway. We had one other shallow patch after this and then back to deep water. At least next time we will know that the shallow parts are not at the crossing.
Passed about five yachts that were going through to Gladstone and we carried on up The Narrows to Pacific Creek, which we needed to enter on a high tide. We located the leads to get us into Pacific Creek and passed one boat and the wooden jetty, dropping anchor in the middle of the creek in approx. 5-6 metres. Logged off at 1235 hours.
It’s the first time we have ever been locked in a creek. When the tide fell, which must have been approximately 3-4 metres the creek became a narrow deep stream. Both the jetty and the leads were now land-locked and looked as though they were sitting on hills. It was a snug haven and we were going nowhere until the next day. A visit to Yellow Patch the next day would have been preferable, but needing the tide to leave Pacific Creek and enter Yellow Patch wasn’t viable. This would have to be visited on our return trip.
NOTE: Formula for The Narrows is 1.5 plus your draft.
PACIFIC CREEK to ROSSLYN BAY Keppel Bay Marina (25nm) Monday 22 August We logged on with Yeppoon Coast Guard (channel 21) at 0845 hours, giving an ETA of 1500 hours, this allowed a good timing as we now had to leave the creek. We touched down making our way towards the leads; so after a short wait off we floated. We than made our way out using the leads to get back into the channel. After passing the entrance to Fitzroy River (entrance into Rockhampton) the water became a nice turquoise colour. There wasn’t any wind and the seas were like a pond and we enjoyed motoring through the small islands, on our way to the marina.
NOTES: Entrance formula into Keppel Harbour is 1.2 metre plus tide to cover draft Great forecast from Rocky Met on channel 21 at 0705, 0920 1205 & 1705 hours.
The Queensland coast had a strong wind warning (25-30 S SE), so we stayed longer than planned. The marina has a good BBQ area also a courtesy car to borrow for two hours for provisioning. Local buses stop outside the marina for Yeppoon, Emu Park and Rockhampton, so we had enough time to explore and discover all places. Had an enjoyable stay and met some new people as well as some we already knew for a BBQ and sunset drinks. Had an excellent Saturday afternoon and evening at Keppel Bay Yacht Club with Andy from The Duchess and his crew.
ROSSLYN BAY to GREAT KEPPEL ISLAND (GKI) (10nm)Tuesday 30 AugustNot too far to Keppel Island so a leisurely start, logging on at 0940. Winds had dropped and were 15-20 S SE and we enjoyed the sail over to Svendsons beach, dropping anchor 1210. We were protected from the wind, however the anchorage was very rolly. A few boats wanting to stay a few nights headed off to the western (resort) side to check that out. One lone sailor thought she would up and move and we were just admiring her anchor retrieve technique of sitting down and pulling up the anchor, when we released she was moving forward at a fast pace, towards us. She was so occupied pulling at the chain she didn’t realise she had gone over her anchor. A bit of shouting for her to put the boat into reverse or at least neutral and we both fended her off our bow. No damaged done we bade her a fond farewell and I think she is a brave lady sailing alone.
GKI to PORT CLINTON (44nm)Wednesday 31 August –Up-anchored and logged on at 0635. Unfortunately we lost our buddy (for non-sailors it’s an anchor weight and not a friend). Because the shackle on the buddy was a bit stiff, it was lashed on, but this was forgotten when retrieving it and into Davy Jones locker went our buddy. Had a good trip to Port Clinton and managed to get in a few hours sailing. We logged off at 1450 before entering and bid farewell to Keppel Sands Coast Guard as from here on we would take coverage from Thirsty Sound. No problems crossing the bar. No swell inside the creek, but the wind still howls past.
PORT CLINTON to ISLAND HEAD CREEK (19nm)Thursday 1 SeptemberAfter crossing the bar at 0835 hours we logged on with Thirsty Sound VMR on channel 81. Gave an ETA of 1135 thinking we would have to motor, but the winds were good and we sailed until logging off at 1300 hours, before going into the creek. A little nervy with both books and chart plotters going, to avoid the sandbank that runs down the centre of the creek. Lowest water was about 1 metre so no problems here. We anchored at 1355 so it took a good time to reach the beginning of deep water. Anyhow this is a really beautiful spot, nice beach and good for walks, also very sheltered, but those south winds still fly past.
NOTE: Weather on ch.81 (Thirsty Sound) at 0633, 1145 & 1615.
ISLAND HEAD CREEK to HEXHAM ISLAND (26nm)Saturday 3 SeptemberWe up-anchored at 0630 hours, used the motor to leave the creek and after logging on at 0705 hours we enjoyed a nice sail to Hexham. Upon approaching the anchorage at Hexham we encountered a bit of turbulence and very confused water, about 1.5 metre, it looked like a real choppy bar or reef, but it must have just been a place were opposite tides meet. We were the only boat there that night and it was a really nice anchorage, a bit of roll and it was fascinating at low tide to see the 3-4 metres tide marks on the rocks. Had a very peaceful night there.
HEXHAM ISLAND to MIDDLE PERCY (Whites/Dolphin Bays) (20nm) Sunday 4 September Left the anchorage at 0730 hours but unfortunately no wind. The seas were like a pond, not a ripple disturbing anything. We spotted 2 whales, a Mum with her baby slowly heading south; she gave us a wave with her tail when departing. Also spotted an enormous turtle. Our original plan when logging on was to go to South Percy, but before approaching the winds had come up from the N NE and were forecast to get stronger during the evening, so we decided to cross over to Middle Percy to avoid a rolly anchorage during the night. This was a good decision. Good island to go ashore, great beach and huge sandhills to explore, in fact coming down the hills one had to ski down them for a safe landing. Also had a pod of dolphins entertain us on both evenings while enjoying sunset drinks.
MIDDLE PERCY to DIGBY ISLAND (26nm) Tuesday 6 SeptemberUp-anchored at 0650. North of the Percies we had to switch logs to VMR Mackay. Had a really good sail to Digby and had the pleasure of a huge whale entertain us. Didn’t bother going ashore at Digby as it was high tide and we weren’t too sure of what was close to the beach, sand or coral. Anyhow at low tide we could see that the beach was sand and no coral reefs close in. For a small bay there were about 7 yachts anchored that night. It was quite rolly, especially at tide changes but very comfortable.
DIGBY ISLAND to MACKAY HARBOUR (49nm) Wednesday 7 September Up-anchored at 0600 hours with another two yachts and left for Mackay. Well cricket (last test) was starting so another good excuse to spend a bit of time in a marina. Winds were slight and variable so it was a combination of sailing and motoring. Arrived Mackay marina at 1430 hours; however, we had a tour of the marina for about fifteen minutes trying to find our berth. Logged off at 1505 hours. Bumped into Andy from The Duchess, he was up on the hard stand anti-fouling, but will be in the berth opposite us when he finishes in the yard.
TIME SPENT AT MACKAY MARINAWell we are here for the duration of the cricket, just cannot miss this moment in history. Mackay is a pleasant friendly place. Some boats we have met on this trip are already in the marina. Good yacht club, pub and surf club, also several restaurants and bistros. Bus stops in the car park going into town. Two large supermarkets for provisioning. Also there is a small supermarket at the marina. The Duchess’ crew having now departed, leaving Andy alone awaiting his next visitors. We meet up for drinks and/or dinners, as well as the compulsory cricket watching. However he will be flying back to Sydney for a week, returning with his next crew and no doubt we will meet up again somewhere.
MACKAY to KESWICK/ST. BEES ISLANDS and back to MACKAY (35nm) Tuesday 13 September To escape the marina and to celebrate the cricket win, we decided to go for a luncheon sail to Keswick/St. Bees on The Duchess. Not much breeze so motoring to St. Bees when we noticed in the distance a pod of whales, with one large humpback breaching (his whole body jumping out of the water), so off we went in that direction. This very large whale was magnificent, it kept breaching and it was awesome how such a large creature could be so graceful, he entertained us and we got lots of great shots. The rest of the pod just swam around but when departing four of them waved their flippers at us in a synchronised formation. We turned back after about 30 minutes and anchored at Keswick Island for lunch. A couple of large turtles were swimming around. After lunch and a lazy afternoon we had a great sail back (7-8 knots) to the marina. Sighted another large whale.
MACKAY to SCAWFELL ISLAND (26.2nm) Thursday 15 SeptemberDeparted the fuel dock, bid Andy a fond farewell, logged on with VMR448 at 0835 and motored out of the harbour. Breeze variable but enough to sail. Passed a whale and a turtle. Arrived at Refuge Bay and anchored at 1335 hours. When going ashore there is a man-made gap in the reef to take the dinghy through. During the night the wind turned so we rocked and rolled all night long. It wasn’t an option to go around to the other side of the island this late, so we just settled into the motion.
SCAWFELL ISLAND to BRAMPTON ISLAND (Dinghy Bay) (19.4 nm)Friday 16 September Departed the anchorage at 0700 hours, logged on at 0805 when VMR Mackay opened for the day. Our ETA for Dinghy Bay was 1230, however we had a good NE breeze and anchored and logged off at 1120 hours. There was a strong wind warning N NW 20-25, with a southerly change the next day. There is a break in the coral near the beach if going ashore. The bay was sheltered and no swell so a relaxing day, followed by a good nights sleep.
Saturday 17 September – Dinghy Bay to Pelican Bay (5.8nm) At 0500 hours the boat was rolling and bouncing. A strong southerly wind of a steady 25 knots had arrived unexpectedly early. Looked out and could see West Moon and another boat motoring out of the bay. At 0530 hours Wyanbah and 3 other yachts were leaving Dinghy Bay to the other side of the island. We motored out and bounced our way through a steady 25 knots on the bow with sea and tide of 2-2.5 metres. At one point when we met with the running tide it was like being in a washing machine. Needless to say we had an interesting motor to the other side of the island.
When Mackay Weather gave their forecast they were still awaiting the southerly change later that day, so we gave them our conditions at Brampton. All had an enjoyable relaxing day with afternoon drinks and nibbles on Wyanbah. At low tide it is difficult to get over the coral onto the island but good at high tide. Need to register at the reception of the resort. Had a calm, comfortable anchorage.
BRAMPTON ISLAND to THOMAS ISLAND (24 nm) Sunday 18 September At 0645 with breakfast over, we prepared the boat and departed the bay at 0700 after saying our goodbyes to West Moon. Some of the other yachts were getting ready to leave. Logged on at 0810. The seas were flat, no wind so we motored around the Smith Islands, some of the boats motored through the Smith group. We arrived at Thomas Island at 1130 hours. It’s a beautiful island with two large beaches and good shore access. The water was good to swim in. A lot of large turtles swim around in the bay and on the island there are many butterflies. The only disturbance in the bay was the when the tide ebbed or flowed.
Monday 19 SeptemberIt was so nice at Thomas we decided to stay for another evening. In hindsight maybe we should have moved on. About midnight there was a loud THUD, I jumped up and upon entering the cockpit I noticed a large catamaran had attached itself to our stern. I shouted Douglas and there we were fending this boat off. He said that his anchor had dragged and he thought he might have wrapped his anchor rope around our boat. He was hoping not to disturb us!!!! He was with his young son who slept through all this commotion. He introduced himself as Mark, however, I said it would be preferable if next time he popped over in his dinghy during the day. His catamaran was called Snugglepuss. I wonder if he often snuggles up to other boats?
Fortunately, it was a moonlit night and the only movement was from the ebbing tide. We got out the fenders tied him up alongside, had a cup of tea and started to find a solution. We eventually retrieved his anchor at 0230 hours when the tide had stopped running the anchor rope just floated free. I was amazed that anyone would have a floating rope attached to the anchor, so the tide had just taken it along. We would have to check the boat in daylight, so we got back to bed at 0300 hours.
THOMAS ISLAND to SHAW ISLAND (Burning Point) ((5nm) Tuesday 20 September Next morning we assessed the boat for any damage and we discovered that the starboard side lower porthole had a small piece of glass punched out with the remainder of the window cracked. We had Mark come over to inspect the damage and it was agreed that he would pay for the damage when we had it had been done. He came over to the boat with his young son to give us his details. He ended up leaving with an old copy of “100 Magic Miles” and a bag of groceries as they hadn’t brought enough food to last them until Airlie Beach.
We left Thomas Island, logged on at 1005 and sailed around the corner to Shaw Island. After dropping the anchor in the bay we forget to remove the second towing rope on the dinghy before reversing to secure the anchor. As soon as we heard the bang and the engine stopped we realised the rope had caught around the prop. We logged off at 1315 after Douglas had spent thirty minutes diving under the boat to cut off the rope.
Shaw Island is a beautiful island with a large sandy beach and up on the beach where 18 MacGregor sailing/trailer boats. It looked really good to see so many of these boats high and dry. We went ashore to have a walk along “MacGregor Street” and a chat with some of the owners we had met at Mackay.
SHAW ISLAND to LINDEMAN ISLAND (Gap Beach) (18.4nm) Wednesday 21 September Logged on at 0950 and chose Gap Beach for protection from the S SE wind. We had an enjoyable sail to the top of Lindeman Island and anchored and logged off at 1145. This bay had a scrubby beach and although it looked snug and is protected from the south winds, it is so rolly with the tide it was the most uncomfortable anchorage we experienced. At one stage during the night it was rolling and bouncing so much the galley cupboards opened with everything crashing out. Fortunately we don’t carry any glass at all on board, so no damage occurred. Just had to get up and place everything back in its position. Gap Beach is definitely on the “never to return list”. It didn’t take too long for all three yachts to depart this bay the next morning.
LINDEMAN ISLAND to WHITSUNDAY ISLAND (Sawmill Bay) (18.4nm) Thursday 22 September Logged on at 0805 and made our way to Sawmill Bay. The seas were about 1.5-2.5 with a strong wind blowing from the S SE. We had a good sail using only the genoa. Although at times the dinghy, which was being towed, was surfing down the waves and just before crashing into the back of the boat, it would catch another wave. We anchored on the west side of Whitsunday Island at Sawmill Bay at 1230. Didn’t have any reception on channel 21 to log off with Mackay, so I called up one of the charter companies on channel 81 and asked if they would be kind enough to log Wyanbah off; which they did, This is a large bay and extremely calm. Not too deep and not too much tide difference. There are many charter boats anchored around the bay. A few small beaches and campsites ashore. We called Abel Point Marina on channel 09 and put our names on the waiting list for a berth for Sunday for a week. Perhaps we could get the porthole window replaced there. (Hopefully being done tomorrow-ed)
WHITSUNDAY ISLAND – Sawmill Bay to Tongue Point Bay (14nm) Friday 23 September Good breeze once out of Sawmill Bay, so we sailed up Whitsunday Island and through Hook Passage. However, when turning the headland toward Whitehaven we met a southerly wind with sloppy seas, so we put on the motor and decided to head for Tongue Point Bay to overnight. There were lots of maxi yachts, i.e. British Defender, Apollo, and Boomerang to mention a few, already anchored in the bay. There are four moorings in the bay which have a 2 hour daily limit attached.
Ashore there is a small beach to leave the dinghy and access to two walking paths. One path ascends the hillside to a lookout point and what a view. The National Park have done a great job here, the pathway is like walking along a boardwalk and you can sit in the shade and look out over Hill Inlet, Whitehaven Beach and the nearby islands. We could see the MacGregor boats tucked up on the sand in the Hill inlet. We encountered a big goana on our walk up to the top. Upon coming down the hillside instead of going back to the beach carry on down a boardwalk and you reach a beautiful white sand beach and crystal clear waters of the north side of Hill Inlet. There were lots of backpackers from the maxis enjoying this large wonderful spot. It was a very comfortable anchorage and nice to hear the people on the maxis enjoying themselves. We counted 24, not including staff, on Apollo so I shudder to think where they all fitted. There were lots of large turtles swimming around. In fact we are wondering if there are any small turtles, as we haven’t sighted any.
WHITSUNDAY ISLAND Tongue Point Bay to Whitehaven Beach (4nm) Saturday 24 September Off we went to the famous Whitehaven Beach. We did consider anchoring overnight, but would have been a long haul into Airlie Beach if we got our spot at the marina the next day. There were several seaplanes landing at the north end of Whitehaven, some dropping off passengers and others waiting around in a timely fashion while their passengers explored and photographed this wonderful place. We walked the 6 kilometre white beach and swam, before our returned to the boat for lunch. Apparently the white sands of Whitehaven and Hill Inlet are pure silicon beaches, whereas other beaches are formed from ground coral and shell. The sea deposits the silicon and I forget just how many tonnes. (We read this at the outlook at Tongue Bay National Park).
Whitehaven Beach – Sawmill Bay (17.6nm) After lunch we decided to head north to go back to Sawmill Bay via the Hook passage as there was a south-easterly wind blowing, so this would ensure we had a good sail back. The seas were about 1.5 metres and a bit confused, but it didn’t affect the dinghy and we had a great sail back to Sawmill Bay. This bay is so peaceful even with lots of boats around and hardly a ripple moves the water a good nights sleep is promised.
WHITSUNDAY ISLAND to AIRLIE BEACH (Abel Point Marina) (15nm) Sunday 25 September We wouldn’t know until 1000 hours if we had a berth at Abel Point, marina. We decided that after breakfast, we would make our way to Airlie and if we didn’t get into the marina, we would offload the rubbish, refuel, water, and make a confirmed booking. We would then anchor for the night and head off to Bowen the next day. There was a light breeze, so we enjoyed a leisurely sail over to Airlie. I radioed the marina at 1000 hours and they advised that we would be accommodated but to call back after 1200 for berth allocation. (This seems to be the norm with both Hamilton and Airlie as they house so many charter boats). We were lucky when we radioed back, our berth was free to enter, some other boats had to wait outside the harbour until the charter boats departed.
AIRLIE BEACH Not much room to manoeuvre inside Abel Pont marina, especially when heading into a finger wharf and encountering a boat exiting. There is not enough room for 2 boats to pass down the aisles. The trick is to look for moving masts and it would be good if the marina advised this. They are building a large extension to the marina, so probably when this is finished they would be ample room to house everyone. We decided to take a week in the marina to catch up on the usual boat maintenance, hope to get the porthole repaired and enjoy the town of Airlie Beach. The weekly price works out the same as paying for 5 nights, however we may have to move to another berth on the sixth day, if the pre-booked catamaran shows up, space is definitely well used in these marina berths.
A trip to the yacht club was inevitable and as usual caught up with the people from other yachts we have met during the trip. An exchange of information on what bays or islands offered. We ran into the owner of a charter company we met at Sanctuary Cove boat show. She was very helpful in giving us the name of a firm who could replace the glass in the porthole. Fortunately for us we bumped into one of the guys from ABC Glass and he measured the porthole. We asked if he could fit it within the week.
We have just received a call with a price for the window and a promise to fix it tomorrow (Thursday) so this means we can book a car to rent for Friday or Saturday. We will be leaving the marina on Sunday morning and making our way to Bowen. This is as far North we will go on this trip before heading back south.
Sunchaser - September 25, 2005
Hi everyone,
Sunchaser - September 18, 2005
Hello everyone, I thought the cruising division
of the RMYC might like an update from Sunchaser so below is an outline of
what we have been up to. Since I wrote this we have sailed to Batam Island
in the Singapore Strait and will sail across the strait, dodging big ships,
on Monday. We then plan to spend a couple of weeks in Singapore, Raffles
Marina, before heading up the Malacca Straits.
Hi from the
Kumai River, Morning Mist - Wednesday 31st August, 2005
Wyanbah - August 15, 2005 TRIP NORTH by WYANBAH: PORT STEPHENS – BUNDABERG (Burnett River)
JOURNEY SO FAR 630 nautical miles.
FUEL USED SO FAR 630 nautical miles.
Kalida - August 13, 2005
Hi Everyone
Wynbah - August 4, 2005 Hi John We are
presently in Hervey Bay at the Marina. Will leave at the weekend for our
next port of call Bundaberg!!! Will email you later and have a great trip
with the Trims. Douglas (61) 0409 128 438 Sunchaser - August 3, 2005 Hi everyone, Sunchaser - July 27, 2005 Hi everyone, Click above for LARGER view.
Love to all, Ray and Brenda Kalida - July 22, 2005 Hi all
The
home schooling is going really well and Allison and the children are having a
fantastic time.
Sunchaser July, 2005 Sunchaser is about to commence the race to Bali. For full coverage see their web at; http://www.darwinbalirace.com/ Sunchaser May 16, 2005
Hi everyone, Sunchaser May 3, 2005
Hi Kevin, Sunchaser December 6, 2004 Hi John, Just thought I would take this opportunity to wish you and all at Trim a Merry Christmas, sorry we will miss carols by cruiser on Port Hacking this year.
Sunchaser is spending the "wet" in
Darwin and really enjoying it. The heat and humidity is hard at times but we
put an air conditioner in the main cabin and that keeps the boat very
comfortable. Darwin is a great city and we can get everything we want here, it
just takes a bit more time to happen. NT time is Not today, Not tomorrow Not
Tuesday and Not Thursday !!!
We are staying at Tipperary Waters
Marina and it is a good place to be, not to big and very friendly. It has a
lock at the entrance and is close to the city centre. Most important it allows
live a boards and the other marina at Cullen Bay does not.
Ray and I will be visiting the Shire in
Feb/March so hope we will catch up for a drink at the club while we are there.
Merry Christmas and all the best for
2005,
Ray and Brenda
Sunchaser August 4 15, 2004 Hello Trim Sunchaser here, Sorry we
missed your meeting it sounded like it would have been very interesting. We are
still in the Whitsunday Islands currently anchored in East Double Bay with a
light S to SE breeze and 26 degrees C. Tomorrow or the Friday we will head on N
through the Gloucester passage and probably do an overnight to Magnetic Island.
We feel we should be pushing on as we would like to be in Darwin before the end
of November. Sunchaser July 15, 2004 Hi Kevin, All is well here in Scawfell
Island, I have just put down a Brew and Brenda is busy making bread so we will
have Pizza for lunch. The weather has been kind this year with steady SE at 15 -
20 K. good sailing breeze! The fishing has also been very productive and so far
we have had nice Tuna, Spotted & Spanish Mackerel and this morning I caught a
nice Coral Trout so I guess it will be BBQ on the beach again this evening. Only
2 other boats in the anchorage today. We will slowly head N in the next few
days. Hope all is well with you guys and please pass on our best wishes to all
our friends who are still working. Ha Ha. Third Man July 13, 2004
Hi everyone
As we have been receiving about 100 emails a
day which is mostly spam our mail box will probably fill up very quickly so your
emails will be returned.
Regards, Sunchaser July 8, 2004 Sunchaser is now at Marble Island, we have
just had a great week at Pearl Bay, excellent fishing, Ray caught enough to feed
the anchorage [4 boats] at a beach BBQ. I had my first swim, I think it has been
cooler this year and as I write we have a good 20 to 25K SE blowing. We will
stay here today and move on to Digby tomorrow. Sunchaser June 19, 2004 How are things in Port Hacking ? Hope
winter is not too unkind to you. We are slowing moving further north but not in
a big rush. Had a good few days in Southport anchored in Bums Bay which is still
a great free place to spend time in the Gold Coast. Then we headed up in inside
passage to Macleay Island to catch up with Alek and Pam who have a house on the
island. WE stayed a week as we also have yachty friends with houses on Russel
and Karragarra Islands, looks like Moreton Bay is where yachties go to hide when
they need as break from their boats !!! Sunchaser May 25, 2004 Hi John, Just a few lines to let you know
we are on our way up N again and we are currently in Coffs Harbour. Kevin
delivered us a TRIM flag and we will fly it when at anchor and hope to make some
new friends. Our previous boat CHINOOK a Duncanson 37 is also heading N but at a
slower pace and at last contact they were in Broken Bay. We will drop you a line
from time to time.
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To join - email The Master at hello.trim@optusnet.com.au |
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have Natasha and Matthew staying with them. We are having a
wonderful time. It is Natasha’s birthday on Anzac day, but the
family won’t be here for it, so we had a birthday party for her last
night. We have quite a few friends in the marina at the moment,
people we have been traveling up the coast with so it was a fun
evening. Natasha was spoilt rotten and loved every minute of it. We
haven’t met any other boat children yet, so they are the only
children in the group and are reveling in all the attention they are
getting from the plethora of new grandparents who have adopted them.
I have never seen so many Easter eggs as they were given this year.
We were in Laurieton for Easter, anchored in the river. It was
amazing we had boats going past us throwing bags of eggs at us and
I’d ask who they were and the kids would airily reply that they had
been fishing with them off the jetty the previous day, or they had
caught yabbis for them for bait the other day. 
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