Port Clinton to Gladstone
One of my favorite Jimmy Buffet songs is “One Particular Harbor” and Port Clinton has become that “one particular harbor” for me of this trip…
At 5:00am the 29th of November. We had the anchor up and we were headed out between Black Rock and Round Island.
I went out wide hoping to avoid the considerable tidal disturbance around Cape Manifold and after watching “Finding Nemo” in Mackay, I wanted to find that “Great Australian Current” that they took to Sydney to look for Nemo…I was trolling three lures looking for Nemo’s big brothers…The first strike of the day was a big Mahi Mahi, that hit the pink squid and had a great first run, I’d tightened the drag and was starting to bring him back when he jumped out of the water did a little tail walk to let me know who he was and then spit the hook and swam away…An hour later I landed a shark and got my 6 inch Halco spoon back and released him…Then somewhere between Cape Manifold and Corio Bay I caught a 112cm Cobia / Kingfish ( that’s about 3and ½ feet back in the USA)…At the same time I’m trying to bring him aboard the other reel starts screaming, fish on !!!
After landing the Cobia I go over to the starboard side and put the game rod into the Gimble belt and started to try and get back some of the line he’s been running out…
I fought this fish a long time,…finally getting him close to the back of the boat and I identified him as another Cobia even bigger than the one we have aboard already…This fish was so strong and my arms were really burning…eventually he spit the hook and swam to his freedom.
He won and I felt as if I were just a sparring partner. As he swam away I felt proud of him and wished him well… He was a great fish!!!…We already had landed a huge fish, I’ve caught Cobia before and know they are great eating and we’ll have enough fish filets to give everyone some when we arrive at The Great Keppel Island…later that day…
About 3:00pm we entered Rosslyn Bay Marina to get fuel and water and take out a week’s trash…going into marinas scares me a bit, as this is where many accidents happen…Hiroko and I are both gaining confidence in the skills and the finer points needed in this lifestyle. Well,.. we got in, tied off and fueled up and away without any dramas.
Full of fuel and water we motored straight into the wind seven miles across Keppel Bay to anchor off the beach with the resort, between the three catamarans we sailed out of Port Clinton with 12 hours earlier…I dropped the dingy and delivered fresh fish to Doug off the catamaran “Rise Shine” and John off a 39ft Easy Catamaran “Gaiya” and then to have a beer with Craig and Paul on “A Vos Sante” a Perry 43 Catamaran…Paul invited us for dinner and I went back to get Hiroko, we’ve never been aboard a million dollar catamaran before and it was quite an evening. I’d been on the radio earlier in the day with Lance and Tricia of the catamaran “Euphoria” and told them I had fresh fish for them so they joined us for a great meal and conversations on A Vos Sante..We had the fish cooked two different ways and scalloped potatoes…Paul is a mad fisherman like myself and after my stories of the day fishing I’d just had he wanted to know about the magical pink squid lures I make, so I went back got the gear and showed him the secret and made him up a Super #1 Pink Squid Lure as a gift…
That night when we got back aboard Areté I open my log book; 53 nautical miles,12 hours, four chances with the fish, landed two, released one, two long distance calls to my Dad to tell him about the fishing, It was another one of my best days and O~yes it was a Thursjay!!!
Friday the last day of November, (the 38th day of the trip South)...I followed “Rise Shine” and “Gaiya” across Kepple Bay and into “The Narrows”...the passage between Curtis Island and mainland Australia, this is a passage that must crossed (the cattle crossing) at just the top of the tide or it dries out …These guys had it timed to perfection so we went in with the flooding tide, crossed at the top of the tide and came out the other side with the ebbing tide pulling us through…They both sailed on into the Gladstone Marina and we pulled into Graham Creek and anchored a couple miles upstream off the mangroves. I put the crab pots out at low tide about sunset…
At about 4:00am it started to rain very hard and it rained for 12 hours straight,…It rained like mad, like something you’ve never seem, well probably not but, being on a boat you are a very captive audience… We caught lots of rainwater for the solar shower. Played backgammon and dominos and drank lots of tea watching the storm.
Sunday was pretty sunny with a few showers, just swinging on anchor in a huge estuary creek with mangroves, lots of birds, fish, crabs and many flying insects…The winds are up over 20 knots out of the SE (a strong wind warning again) so I’d rather hang out here than in a marina…Though I know Hiroko thinks differently so Monday we’ll motor into the Gladstone Marina, check the internet and take care of a few things waiting on some Northerly winds to blow us south…