Left Cid Harbour on Friday morning after having a struggle to get the anchor up as it was well buried after 5 nights of 25 knot winds . Had to cross the Whitsunday passage between Hayman and Molle islands to get to Airlie. Winds were about 30 knots and 3 meter swells, so not very pleasant. Arriving at Airlie to Able Point Marina we were given our berth number and thank god the winds died as entering the Marina. Yacht Screensaver was already there as they left after us but are much more adventurous than we are in the bigger winds and flew past us doing 10.8 knots of boat speed as we were doing the driving miss daisy option which was under motor and a little headsail doing roughly 5 knots.
A nice and cosy berth and plenty of room. Parked safely once again so thats always a good thing. So only 2 nights here, the price was $85 a night which is outragous but what do you do. However Alan from Screensaver had sent us an email telling us that he had secured us and himself a 50% discount for the 2 nights as a one off, god love that man. So that enabled us to go out for a dinner and not kill our budget. A great night sleep after 5 nights of sleeping with an ear on alert and one eye open in the winds, rain and an anchor alarm that is only a visual not audible. (Thanks for that Simrad)
Only 48 hours here so we had little time for site seeing and most of time had to be spent washing, food shopping, washing the boat etc . Food shopping is fun as it starts with a 2.5km walk past the shopping centre hidden by trees then to have to jump over the school fence across a playing field and over another fence through a creek, over the main road to the closest Coles then the shopping part starts, then finding a cab that will take us back and not get the shits because of all the bags, beer etc. Then once back at the marina finding a trolley to laod all our shopping in then load it all onto the boat, " I,m tired just writing this. Elaine did about 8 loads of washing which cost us about $80 and I think drove here crazy sitting in the Laundry for about 9 hours in total. Well she can't complain she doesn't get any "ME" time how much space does she need!!!!!.
Went to the marina Italian restaurant on the Friday night for dinner to have a long awaited pizza, and on the Saturday night to the one and only Chinese restaurant. Since we havn't been out to dinner for a while so it was worth it. We hadn't had a pizza since we left Sydney 7 months ago so it was a long awaited treat.
Final bits and pieces included a swap and go gas bottle, some new sailing shoes for Elaine (real ones this time but still HOT PINK) some dive weights for me as the rocks I had collected weren't doing the job as I couldn't find boulders to fit in my pockets, and a small anchor for the Tender for when we go to the beach as we were sick of finding rocks to tie it to.
Sunday morning we untied from our Marina Berth and cruised out of Able Point Marina and headed for Stonehaven Anchorage where the snorkelling is supposed to be good and there is supposed to some moorings to pick up so we won't have to anchor. About 3hrs later we found a vacant mooring and picked that up which will ensure us of a good nights sleep.
We launched the dingy and headed of to the shore having to navigate through all the coral shallows we ended up rowing half the way. Met a Couple on the beach who were off a yacht called My Way . Terry and Rhonda from Townsville. They 2 are cruising around with no plan attached.
So for now we are to cruise around the Whitsuday Islands for the next 10 to 14 days before heading back to Airlie Beach for more provisions. Hopefully we will do some snorkelling here tomorrow and have a lazy day, "as if most of our days at the moment aren't much the same"
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
UPDATE 25/04/2011
All books say you are not allowed onto the beach area at the Resort at Brampton, as it turns out the resort is closed so we did. We took the dingy ashore and decided we would put it on the beach in front of the resort, that wasn't before running into some rocks and nearley tossing the three of us out of it. (not having much luck with the running aground in any vessel lately). Screensavers crew decided to go on their usual mountain hike so we decided to walk up to the resort. The place is all closed down. There were a few staff there that seemed to be packing stuff up. Signs all along the beach that said " NO ENTRY PRIVATE PROPERTY " We walked past the room that was on the beach that we stayed at 18 months ago . Everything looks very run down, the pools are still full of water but full of debry and very green.
The tide was out so we decided to walk out from the resort as there is a very big sand bar there. We came across a reef shark half in the water and half out, it was about 1.5 meters long , the water was about 300mm deep so I decided I would get close and take some photos and spotted a second shark waiting for it's mate. On the way back in the dingy we pulled up at the wharf that the guests used to arrive on and couldnt believe the amount of fish that were hanging about. That night Screensaver came over and rafted up to us and we had dinner and planned our departure for the next day.
Leaving Brampton on Saturday morning we headed for Lindeman Island at 10 am . The weather was yet again a South East so it was a good sailing day. Arriving at Lindeman at about 3.30pm the weather was a bit blowy but we managed to get a good anchorage at Plantation Bay which was about 1 mile from the resort. Our hope was to go to the resort by dingy and have a cocktail and a beer in the bar as you are allowed to go ashore there between 11am and 6pm unfortunately the resort is off limits to Grotty Yachties during school holidays so that put an end to that.
As Craig had booked a flight From Hamilton Island we thought we would see if he could catch a ferry from Lindeman to Hamilton. In the Ferry it is only 30mins. Thing is they wanted $150 for that so we decided we would take our chances and head there. Had a good nights sleep here dispite the wind conditions, set all the alarms up in case we drifted but all was good.
Sunday morning we were up early and off heading to Hamilton. Very swelly and windy on the way there, my thoughts were I did not want to go into ther marina there in this weather as I had not been in there before. I opted to call up the marina on VHF and see if they had any swing moorings avaliable . There we plenty of vacant moorings for $17 an hour so we picked up one on those. (Note : Yachts with tall masts like ours are to stay at least 8oo meters away from the end of the Airport runway not cross in front of it ROD). Only thing was the dingy ride was about a mile in crappy weather. Leaving Elaine on the boat, Craig and I headed for the marina with his luggage. By the time we got there we were drenched and Craig had to get a new set of dirty close out for his flight home. While he was changing I ran around to the only 2 shops to try and get some hot cross buns and an Easter egg for Elaine as I had forgotten to get one. All sold out so had to settle for chocolate coated coffee beans. Leaving Craig to his own devices to get to the airport I jumped back in the dingy and dodged the harbor traffic to get back to Nemetona.
Now just the 2 of us on the boat. Screensaver had gone into the marina to get some dingy fuel and had left to head up the passage. We had a cup of tea untied the boat from the swing mooring and sneaked of without paying our $17 dollars. It was ok because they had Craigs phone number, and it wasn't until we had left that we read that just in front of the mooring there were 2 empty public ones that were vacant and free of charge.
We now headed for Cid Harbour it is about 1pm and its about a 2.5hr sail. We wanted to get there and find a place out of the wind as much as possible as there is a forecast 30knots of wind for the next few days. We followed Screensavers track on our plotter and found a place to anchor. There are shit loads of boats in this area as its Easter and all the Charter boats are out. The water here is very clean and clear we have seen a few turtles in our travells today as well.
We will stay around here for a few days and wait for the wind to die down . It is forecast until Wednesday or Thursday. Then we will more than likely head to Airlie Beach Marina to get a berth in the for a couple of nights and sort out some supplies.
Over all we are going well , My hair dying, and nail painting skills are improving by the day, well thats what I say I'm not sure that Elaine agrees with me as she is looking forward to a good hairdresser and a manacurist when we get to shore.
The tide was out so we decided to walk out from the resort as there is a very big sand bar there. We came across a reef shark half in the water and half out, it was about 1.5 meters long , the water was about 300mm deep so I decided I would get close and take some photos and spotted a second shark waiting for it's mate. On the way back in the dingy we pulled up at the wharf that the guests used to arrive on and couldnt believe the amount of fish that were hanging about. That night Screensaver came over and rafted up to us and we had dinner and planned our departure for the next day.
Leaving Brampton on Saturday morning we headed for Lindeman Island at 10 am . The weather was yet again a South East so it was a good sailing day. Arriving at Lindeman at about 3.30pm the weather was a bit blowy but we managed to get a good anchorage at Plantation Bay which was about 1 mile from the resort. Our hope was to go to the resort by dingy and have a cocktail and a beer in the bar as you are allowed to go ashore there between 11am and 6pm unfortunately the resort is off limits to Grotty Yachties during school holidays so that put an end to that.
As Craig had booked a flight From Hamilton Island we thought we would see if he could catch a ferry from Lindeman to Hamilton. In the Ferry it is only 30mins. Thing is they wanted $150 for that so we decided we would take our chances and head there. Had a good nights sleep here dispite the wind conditions, set all the alarms up in case we drifted but all was good.
Sunday morning we were up early and off heading to Hamilton. Very swelly and windy on the way there, my thoughts were I did not want to go into ther marina there in this weather as I had not been in there before. I opted to call up the marina on VHF and see if they had any swing moorings avaliable . There we plenty of vacant moorings for $17 an hour so we picked up one on those. (Note : Yachts with tall masts like ours are to stay at least 8oo meters away from the end of the Airport runway not cross in front of it ROD). Only thing was the dingy ride was about a mile in crappy weather. Leaving Elaine on the boat, Craig and I headed for the marina with his luggage. By the time we got there we were drenched and Craig had to get a new set of dirty close out for his flight home. While he was changing I ran around to the only 2 shops to try and get some hot cross buns and an Easter egg for Elaine as I had forgotten to get one. All sold out so had to settle for chocolate coated coffee beans. Leaving Craig to his own devices to get to the airport I jumped back in the dingy and dodged the harbor traffic to get back to Nemetona.
Now just the 2 of us on the boat. Screensaver had gone into the marina to get some dingy fuel and had left to head up the passage. We had a cup of tea untied the boat from the swing mooring and sneaked of without paying our $17 dollars. It was ok because they had Craigs phone number, and it wasn't until we had left that we read that just in front of the mooring there were 2 empty public ones that were vacant and free of charge.
We now headed for Cid Harbour it is about 1pm and its about a 2.5hr sail. We wanted to get there and find a place out of the wind as much as possible as there is a forecast 30knots of wind for the next few days. We followed Screensavers track on our plotter and found a place to anchor. There are shit loads of boats in this area as its Easter and all the Charter boats are out. The water here is very clean and clear we have seen a few turtles in our travells today as well.
We will stay around here for a few days and wait for the wind to die down . It is forecast until Wednesday or Thursday. Then we will more than likely head to Airlie Beach Marina to get a berth in the for a couple of nights and sort out some supplies.
Over all we are going well , My hair dying, and nail painting skills are improving by the day, well thats what I say I'm not sure that Elaine agrees with me as she is looking forward to a good hairdresser and a manacurist when we get to shore.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Leaving Keppel after a shit nights sleep on anchor we headed for Percy Islands which should have been about a 16 hrs trip, getting us there about midnight. The sail was good with favourable winds until we we got close to Percy then the currents got us and we slowed up to about 2-3 knots of speed over ground. We didn't end up arriving to about 4am, anchoring in the dark is always a bit testing but lucky we had good moon. All safely anchored time for an early morning bourbon and then of to sleepy sleep land after another very long day in the Ocean.
Awakening the next morning or about 3 hrs after we had just closed our eyes we were still anchored in the same spot and had a new island to explore. There is a A frame hut on the beach here where sailors have left some sort of memorabilia nailed to the hut to register there date of visit. There are signs that date back 50 years. There is a barbacue there that visiting sailors use, along with mozzy coils etc etc that people leave as donations when they leave. This hut is kept neatley by a lone caretaker who lives on the top of the island about 4 miles away, and rumour has it that She has spowned 3 monkey like humans who roam wildley searching the island for small children who have lost there way so they can feed on there brains. Na just kidden about that bit. We did however meet the cartaker and he seemed like a nice bloke and very hospitable.
Sunday night we spent on the beach with Yacht Screensavers crew having a BBQ and a few beers relaxing and looking at the sunset . Monday we decided to go for a walk up the mountain as we were told that you could get Phone reception. What was supposed to a leisurly stroll ended up a 4 km up hill hike , so at the 3km point our phones cut in and Elaine and I decided to turn back and head back down to base camp, while the others continued up to the homestead.
The swell had risen up quite a bit so getting back into the dingy in the beach swell ended up in tears and very wet. Once safely back onto the boat a very rolly night was had by all. Next morning we prepared the boat early for departure to Mackay as we needed to move on to get away from the swell. The we were up at 5.30 am and waiting for the weather report from Screensaver as our comunications were limited. The weather not looking the best we decided it would have to be better than where we were so we headed off for Mackay . It ended up being a fantastic day of sailing. 10 hours later at 5pm we pulled into Mackay harbour and into a Marina berth all safe and sound. Once helping Screensaver in we headed for the bar where we had pizza and Craig had a steak, a few cold beers we were looking for our bed and a calm night sleep.
Wednesday was spent doing washing, food shopping and cleaning the boat as we are only going to spend 2 nights here. I stayed on the boat claening and Elaine and Craig went food shooping. Craig came back with the food and no Elaine. Elaine didnt seem to make back from shopping until about 630pm as her and Missey ( Screensavers crew ) decided that some girl time was in order.
Thursday morning Elaine prepaired salad rolls for lunch so it would be easier to have on our journey. After filling up with fuel we left the marina about 12 pm and headed for Brampton Island . This leg should be about 4 hrs. The weather is being very kind to us at the moment and the sail to Brampton was another enjoyable ride. We arrived on the Northern side of Brampton ( near the resort ) about 3.30 and anchoured in a calm bay . Its very quite here so Craig and myself did a bit of fishing and I also took Elaines toe nail polish at the same time as I have to learn to that. Screensaver popped over for for a couple of sunset drinks. Dinner consisted of potatoe bake and tbone steaks. Another calm night was had.
From here our plans are we have to be at Hamilton Island by Sunday morning because Craig has a flight home at 2pm. Hamilton is on about 30 mile from here so we will probably spend the next couple of days exploring som islands
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Tide up safely in a pen at The Great Sandy Straits Marina we did some chores, cleaning of the boat and some much needed washing. Nice enough Marina although the entry is quite small and a bit intimidating. There are a few restaurants here and a club. We decided to stay for 4 nights here as the weather is a bit shit. Once we had done all our chores, washing, shopping etc etc we left the marina and sailed back to Kingfisher Bay to anchor for the night, not before I put my navigating skills to the test again and kissed the ground half way back there trying to tack to far. All was good and made it to our anchoring spot. After setting the anchor we headed to shore for a couple of cocktails at the bar and then back to boat for dinner. After finishing the dishes we jumped in the dingy and headed over to yacht Screensaver for a game of cards and a few laughs, it was dark so finding Screensaver wasn't easy as it's anchor light is crappy.
Next morning we lifted anchor about 8.30 am and headed to Bunderberg. Morning started out with about 10 knots of breeze so we were motor sailing to Hervey Bay. Once passing Hervey Bay the motor was turned off and the breeze had picked up to about 18 knots so we were sailing at about 8 knots. The water is quite shallow around the Hervey Bay area so it can be a bit testy. The breeze soon turned into wind with a wind warning issued by VMR Hervey Bay. Gusting at 35 knots we were doing 9 - 10 knots for the last 5 hours of the trip. The swell was about 4 meters when arriving at the lead lines for Bundaberg about 5pm . The only way to pull the sail down was to turn around back into the wind which was a challenge in its self. Once the sail was down we got into the shipping channel and struggled to keep the boat straight on the lead lines because of the swell and wind. The closer we got to the harbor the more the swell died so we were getting a bit excited about the boat leveling out. After radioing in to Bundy Marina to get out pen number we were even more excited to know that our good friend who tracks all our movements from Budy Shore Station Ken Pascoe was waiting on the dock ready to grab our ropes as we came in, so that in itself installed a great comfort for us as the wind was still up. Parking safely and a few hugs all round we waited for Yacht Screensaver to come in as they were about 30 mins behind. Once all tide up we headed to the Bar at the marina for a well earned beer and pizza . It was early to bed tonight ( Sunday ) as we were tired little sailors as a big day was had by all.
We are in Bunderberg for about 9 nights as our friend Craig from Sydney is going to join us on Sunday 10th for 2 weeks and sail up the coast with us. Bundy Port Marina is about 20klms from town and in the middle of no where really. Lucky for us Ken lives in Bundy and was there every day with his car and hospitality to ferry us to and from town to do as we please. Tuesday night we all went to Ken's house for dinner . His partner Sherry made us feel at home and prepared a lovely meal. Good music food and company made the night a memorable one.
Yacht Screensaver pulled out of Bundy on Sunday morning about 3am . We hired a car went to do some last minute food shopping before heading to the airport to pick up Craig. Mental note coles and woolworths are not open on a Sunday in Bundy so of to the airport to wait for Craig.
Monday was spent food shopping and a visit to the Bundaberg Rum factory then back to the boat by 1am as the hire car had to be back at the Marina by then. Spent the arvo prepareing the boat to leave early next morning. Had a last arvo lunch at the Marina bar and our friend Ken turned up to wish us goodbye which was great.
Tuesday up at 5am . Weather calm, untied the boat at 5.30am and motored out of Bundaberg harbor up the channel. You need to go about 2 miles out before turning to the north (thats left for land lovers) because it is shallow so once doing that we hoisted the sails and headed for Pancake Creek. One settled and sailing Elaine decide it was time for her to retire to the front cabin for some shut eye as she hasnt been up this early for quite some time. So after she made us a cupa of she went to zzzzzzz.
Arrival at Pancake Creek was estimated at around 1600hrs ( thats 4pm for land lovers ) . The day was great small seas , a bit more wind would have been nice but that was fine. Arrived at the entrance of Pancake around 4 only to find the markers a tad confusing. We could see yachts inside and all looked fine so we proceeded in at a very slow pace. Unfortuately I decided that the chats I had were wrong so I took a different path and low and behold yep you guessed it we ran around. Unlike the other 4 or 5 times I have done so, this time I did a real good job of it so much so we were stuck and it was high tide. So basiacally it was all bad from here, there was no more tide to lift us of so we prepared our selfs for the worst and that was as the picture shows a very long night. Luckily the next high tide which was due at 4am was a higher tide than this one so our chances of getting of were in our favour. So we sat and waited.
A very uncomfortable 10 hours was had by all. With offers of help from locals and Screensaver who was only 2 hours away there was not much anyone could do as we had to just tuff it out. the picture says it all. 2am and the tide was getting there so we decided to give it a go but only moved a meter or so. 3am and another try and away we go finally off and free in the dark. Once clear of Pancake we decided that Gladston was too busy for us to stop in because of all the ships and the darkness so a decision was made to head straight to Great Keppel Island , approx 65 nautical Miles or for us about 11 hrs.
The journey was a long one as we had been up all night but the weather was kind to us and it was smooth sailing all the way. We arrived at Keppel about 2.30 in the afternoon and Anchoured up in about 3.5 meters of water ( Making sure to check the tide this time) just outside the now closed down Resort. Had a couple of drinks in the afternoon sun and then retired early fo a well earned sleep.
Thursday was spent exploring some of the Island and swimming in the ocean where we saw a big turtle. The water here is lovely and clear and the sands on the beach are very white and smooth like powder. I put the dive tank on and went for a scuba under the boat to check for any damage from the other night. All was good.
We will stay here now till Saturday where our plan is to sail to the Percy Islands.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
