Hanging with the Humpbacks / The Bunker Group of The Great Barrier Reef.
An inconvenient truth, or is it a climate change?…. Light Westerly winds are strange for this time of year in Queensland…we made use of them to enjoy three days out in Platypus Bay; August 2,3,4th . This is a hangout to many migrating Humpback Whales…Hervey Bay has a huge whale watching industry taking tourists out on tours…We had Whales, Whales, Whales…
They seem to take an interest in The Areté though it is much less interest than we had in them, they did come over and check us out and gave us a chance to do the same to them….Three different anchorages along Fraser Island watching whales, and waiting on a favorable wind to blow us up to Bundaberg 47 nautical miles to the North…
Sunday August 5th;
The winds finally increased, mostly from the West so we enjoyed a great sail a bit bumpy and lots of spray as we were sailing slightly into the wind on a broad reach…
A night in the Port of Bundaberg Marina gave us a chance to wash clothes and a hot land shower...(Very Important to Hiroko!) We’ve been in touch with Ian on Mingles (his first trip sailing North, single~handing a 32ft monohull he bought at the Garden Point Moorings in Brisbane earlier this year..) We were going to meet up at The Tree Bar in the Town of 1770…
Monday August 6th. Leaving Bundaberg at first light we finally got the good wind and Areté was running downwind, wind coming over the rear quarter, just what we wanted…7~ 8 knots, a nice easy motion, you need about this speed to catch Tuna… trolling the pink squid….My phone rings it’s Ian and he’s in Bundaberg Marina. (where we just left and I’m not turning around into this wind for nothing…) He’s had enough of sailing by himself and decided to head back to Brisbane…soon after the phone call….Bang ! ZZZiiiiiinnnngggggg, the Penn Reel on the port side screamed out “FISH ON” !!! On goes the gimble belt and the fight is on…I start to tell Hiroko to dump off some of the main sail or bear away from the wind to slow the boat down a bit or I have no chance of bringing this fish in at 8 knots…Bang!!! Zzzziiiinnnnngggg the other reel is screaming now….Hiroko grabs the rod and tries to adjust the drag…. “tighten up that big star by the handle… No not the free spool lever” !!! O~shit !!!
….Now I’ve nearly got my fish to the Port swim step and Hiroko has a birds nest, backlashed, mess on the other Penn Reel with a Tuna on…???
Soon my fish was aboard, my arms were burning so I put the gimbal belt on Hiroko got rid of some of the backlash mess on the reel as best I could, just started rolling the line over the top of it, I’ll deal with that later…
Handed off the rod to Hiroko and she brought in her first fish ever…Then with a beautiful Tuna at the back of the boat she learned a classic lesson about “just a bit of slack in the line and he spit the hook and swam free” O~well we’ll still have the freshest sushi ever tonight…one fish is more than enough for the two of us.
The boat still screaming along at 8+ knots, about 8:00am Hiroko on the foredeck with the Houcho (special Japanese knife) cleaning Tuna….Who knows the future... a few hours later it was sunny much warmer and the wind came down so Areté was cruising along at 5 knots and slicing up the Tuna would have been easy like Sunday morning…around lunch time we put up the Spinnaker Sail in light winds. Up and around Round Hill into the Town of 1770…The place where Captain Cook first came ashore in Queensland (Not sure when?)… Now home of the Tree Bar…a caravan park, and small store that has a gas pump… 40 liters of unleaded gas and 60 liters of water and we were ready to cruise out to the Bunker Group of The Great Barrier Reef first thing in the morning.
Tuesday August 7th. The weather forecast was 20 knots out of the South/West followed by three days of calm weather (all weather forecasts are 4 days only). I thought we’d have plenty of wind to get us out to Lady Musgrave Island 36 miles offshore and a couple days of light winds to enjoy the perfect coral lagoon, coral cay (island) and the Great Barrier Reef…We had at least 20 knots of breeze, lots of spray and cloudy but “ a great sail out to the reef, and that’s what it’s all about!” I didn’t even put the line out as we had fish aboard already…
We had the anchor down in sand, 27 feet below Areté in crystal clear water, by 1:00pm…YaaaHoooo!!!! Hiroko had a fever, she thought it might be the flu as it is the winter flu season here in OZ and we’ve just had three days of sailing hard, fast and most of it in wet & windy conditions… About sunset, at high tide, now the reef is underwater and you are 36 miles offshore, Areté is tugging hard on its anchor chain, wind whipping through the rigging, halyards clanging against the mast. I’ve got all the chain out hoping nothing drags or wraps around a coral head, moving after dark is not anything I want to be a part of…It’s hard enough to navigate around the coral in broad daylight…
In the following two days Hiroko’s health improved and the winds came down. Three days in the lagoon, chilling out reading books and strumming the guitar….
Navigating the Great Barrier Reef with its many dangers; reefs, shoals, coral cays and islands is quite a challenge. I put lots of waypoints into my GPS system and reviewed the cruising guides and nautical charts of the area many times.
Friday August 10th.
Leaving the Lady Musgrave lagoon, out through the red and green beacons heading North by East sailing between Lady Musgrave Island and Fairfax Island’s outer reef. Then North putting Boult Reef and Llewellen Reef on our starboard side, 27 miles past sunken ships who came to grief on the reefs before the days of the GPS we reached the outer most point of Fitzroy Reef. Working our way cautiously along the reef till we found the entry into the lagoon. I’d planned on arriving on an incoming tide as tidal flow on strong ebbing tides cause crazy currents and overfalls making the entrance dangerous. It looked impossible or impassable actually till we got around behind it and then it lined up with the Red and Green cans floating marking the entrance followed by two more Reds and a Green beacons marking a winding narrow channel through the reef into the lagoon. A bit like the lagoon at Lady Musgrave without the island, but anchoring in sand with 25~30 feet of crystal clear blue water. A couple more days waiting on some wind to blow us up to Masthead Island at the Northern end of the Bunker Group.
We’ve had some days without a wisp of wind, the ocean is like glass and the clarity of the water unbelievable, we’ve been the only boat in this lagoon 40+ miles out to sea…Like a huge swimming pool…Taking our showers on the foredeck with the solar bag not another sole within 20 miles or more….With my new fancy radio I can pick up music stations so we’re rocking Triple J ( kind of like KDKB was back in the day, for you from AZ) and the ABC Classic (Australian Broadcasting Corp) classical music, as well as my favorites; Jack, Jimmy and Willy on CDs so life’s pretty damn good here at Fitzroy Reef on the Great Barrier Reef…
After three days of fun at Fitzroy Reef (August 10~11 &12th) we got a Southeasterly breeze and made it out between the reef without losing any fiberglass of our hulls…Sailing North to 23˚30’000; The Tropic of Capricorn.
Straddling the line is One Tree Island (off-limits, set aside for scientific research) Sykes Reef and Heron Island (having a resort and not welcoming visitors from cruising yachts)….Somewhere in the middle of these reefs were a group of Humpback Whales doing some amazing aerial jumps or breeching… Just showing off… We loved it ! We dropped the main sail and sailed on with just the headsail, giving us more maneuverability just a little slower, the only boat we saw the entire day was ours…Around 3:00pm was low tide making it very clear where the reef ends and sandy pockets were, we anchored behind Masthead Island, a typical coral cay with a huge lagoon (see photo). Around sunset I watched some Black Tip Reef Sharks working the incoming tide, an awesome sight to see, nature is cruel but entertaining.
Early the following morning (August 13th.) we had few problems getting our anchor back aboard, and we sailed North by East crossing into the tropics above 23˚30’000, saying goodbye to the Great Barrier Reef for a few weeks. Sailing in 20 knots of wind downwind with just a headsail, listening to the radio real loud, singing along didn’t see another boat till 2:00pm. We anchored behind Hammocky Island a huge rock sticking up out of the sea. Last night was the new moon so we had a big tide of over 4 meters. This leaving a lot of rock exposed at low tide, Hiroko went ashore to collect fresh oysters, she had 13 nice oysters off the rocks and a huge smile when she returned.
The next day (August 15th) we were back in cell phone range anchored right off the beach in front of a resort on Great Keppel Island, they welcome yachties! I bought the newspaper and read of Carl Rove ( “He’s as crooked as a moving snake”) giving up on Bush and the stock market crash. After 9 days offshore we needed to do some grocery shopping so we sailed across Keppel Bay to Yeppon, hoping to anchor off the beach near the center of town but with more East than Southeast in the swell it was too rough to get the inflatable dingy ashore..? Hiroko’s first thoughts were “Yahooo a marina berth tonight”!!! We saw a nice catamaran on anchor behind the wall at Rosslyn Bay Marina, as soon as we’d got the anchor dug in, the guy is on his way over in his dingy….He say’s his name is Hans and he’s going to the supermarket in his car, “Do you need a ride?” Hiroko was off the boat in two minutes flat! Cool guy, great boat, check out his website;
www.funtasticcruises.com She got the food I went to the fuel wharf in the marina; 40 liters of unleaded and 70 liters of water. We should be good till we reach Mackay at the end of the month…? What a lucky day, it was a Thursday of course…
August 17th Friday, after the 6:40am weather report, Rocky Met, Channel 82 VHF we weighed anchor and hoisted the main sail pointed the bow North and unfurled the headsail. The sun was out the wind was coming over the rear quarter a 1~2 meter swell giving Areté a nice run up the coast, up and around Cape Manifold and back around behind some big jagged rocks was our anchorage called Freshwater Bay.(See Photo, “Eagle Rock”) As pretty as a postcard, a nice white sand beach, majestic rock headland with heavily forested mountains, and a couple of islands. The only boat in the bay, dolphins swimming around Areté as I watched the White Breasted Sea Eagles catch dinner. With the binoculars I found the nest atop a jagged peak connecting the mainland to a couple small islands. Later around sunset I also saw two Osprey and a Brahminy Kite circling in the wind… The radio played “Doing The Eagle Rock” and we danced in the cockpit, it was a fine Aloha Friday aboard Areté … Since Hiroko had been shopping the day before I knew we’d be eating well. She made “Oyakao Jaga” the chicken before the egg with potatoes for dinner.
The weather report the following morning explained a front was moving into the Australia bite causing wind to increase to 20~25+ knots from the Southeast so we sailed North 27 nautical miles to Island Head Creek. We arrived at the entrance just as the wind was really starting to howl. White caps with cat’s paws and the spray that stings…. This is a huge estuary system with secure anchorages, just the place to wait out the strong wind warning and catch up on my reading…Sunday August 19th, was drizzly rain, a very windy day but Gary from “Spot On” a powerboat brought over 4 Mackerel filets. He’s got one of those flybridge cruisers, some people call them Marlin Boats I just use the term “stink boat” but fresh fish is fresh fish…There are two other boats anchored in our beautiful cove one is a monohull ketch and “Spot On”. Mackerel is “Saba” in Japanese and Hiroko cooks it very well. I spent most of the day tinkering with Areté and making up some trolling rigs, drinking tea and reading Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Island Head Creek~Middle Percy Island~Mackay Marina
Island Head Creek ~ Digby Island; The Beverly Group ~ Mackay Marina
Three days of heavy clouds, winds gusting at 30 knots and an off and on drizzle can wear on ya a bit. I’d been crabbing on the incoming tides, trolling for fish with the hand-line behind the dingy and using my catch for crab bait…No luck again with the elusive but very tasty Mud Crabs…Good fun though, going out in the dingy getting soaked with spray when the wind kicked up, checking the crab pots and trolling a grey squid…The weather broadcasts on VHF were so broken up we’d hear about half what was said leaving us with more questions after the broadcast than not knowing. There was talk of gale force winds and 3+ meter swells in the Capricorn Channel, but where and when???
Tuesday the 21st of August after listening to Katie on Rocky Met Channel #21VHF but again more missed than heard we decided to head out of the secure anchorage and sail the 30 miles North to Hexham Island. The 10:10 weather forecast said 20 to 25 knots South by Southwest though we never saw it much above 15 knots? Our wind was very much out of the West making bumpy seas and keeping our speed about 5 knots over the water. No fish at that speed, I’ve learned from experience I need about 7 knots of boat speed to catch Tuna on Pink Squid, a little slower for the Mackerel with the big spoons on the hand-lines but that’s not nearly as much fun. As we approached the pass between Alnwick and Hexham Islands we had another whale show with some jumps and tail (fluke) waves, of course none of these were caught on film…The anchor was down mid afternoon as we had the anchorage all to ourselves sharing it with schools of fish jumping, about sunset as I tossed lures at them and drank home brews. A waxing gibbous moon lit up the bay making the white sand on the beach almost glow as it reflected the light, yes this is why I wanted to sail North….
Wednesday August 22 was perfect weather wise, minus the wind…sailing downwind with all the sails up barely making 3 knots, tried the spinnaker sail again and when we were putting it up we got buzzed by the Australian Coastwatch Customs airplane.. He called on the VHF radio and wanted my rego # , last port of call, etc…
With the lack of wind it makes for a calm sea meaning we could anchor in West Bay of the Middle Percy Island. This anchorage is famous for the A-frame hut build on the beach many years ago that cruising boats have been hanging signs or memorabilia from their boats for decades.
We visited on our way North in 2005 but didn’t know about the tradition, later at the most Northern point of our voyage I found a perfect piece of driftwood for our sign, to be hung the next visit to the Percy Islands…We arrived to find one other catamaran in West Bay, dropped the dingy into the water and went ashore to hang our sign. Walking past a coconut tree a coconut fell; Bang! That sure seemed like an omen for Hiroko to have fresh coconut. As I fought with the husk the miggie flies found Hiroko ( as they always do…) After seeing many signs from yachts and yachties we’ve met, we returned to Areté for sundowners and Hiroko applied some Japanese cream to her multiple bug bites…I escaped un scathed…I played Jackson Brown CD and dolphins appeared chasing schools of baitfish around the bay.
The other thing West Bay is famous for is being a uncomfortable anchorage in developed wind or swell. Well the following afternoon the wind did develop and brought with it a 1.5 ~ 2 meter swell …Now it’s too late in the day to sail for Digby Island 22 nautical miles away so we’ll just roll out a bit more anchor chain and hunker down till first light tomorrow. Wow what a wild night. wind whipping up a frothy sea, Areté was as uncomfortable as I’ve experienced in the three years of living onboard. She held tight and it didn’t take any persuasion at all to convince my wife to sail out of there the next morning…
Friday August 24th was not a day you’d want to be on the ocean, but just about anywhere was better than staying there…We furled out just a little bit of headsail and motor-sailed into a rough, sloppy sea…Overcast with clouds sailing buy, going every which way and the wind coming from just the direction we wanted to go….Slogging along, waves crashing under and alongside the boat, even with the motors I couldn’t get more than 4 knots of speed so the 24 mile trip took all day. Digby Island is part of the Beverly Group of the Northumberland Islands. Nice anchorage, tucked in behind three other islands and a few huge rocks which you could also count as an islands, gives it almost a lagoon setting. As the full moon is three days away on the 28th and this section of the coast having the biggest tides of all Queensland, we’ve got 5 meter tides now and at low tide lots of rocks are exposed so Hiroko can get fresh oysters again….If we can get the dingy ashore with that swell breaking on the beach? The wind was continuing to blow and blow and blow…
”It was so windy it would blow a dog off his chain” Weather Mackay was consistent with the forecast 20~25 knot wind with a 2~3 meter SE swell Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues…
We enjoyed three days relaxing onboard, I’d take the dingy out cruising around the bay but never got it ashore the shorebreak making landing nearly impossible…
Sunday August 26th we had a Humpback Whale and her calf spend four hours near us at our anchorage. They were mostly just floating side by side, my guess is that the mother was breast feeding which probably takes a few hours for that size animal? They left a little before sunset and were last seen splashing and waving with their tails, goodbye…
Monday the 27th with the weather forecast stuck like Groundhogs Day at 20~25 knots till whenever? We decided to sail for Mackay 46 miles away. As I’ve said nearing the full moon the tides were over 5 meters twice a day …this means strong currents between and around islands, causing overfalls, eddies and strange seas, add to that huge swells, whitecaps on every wave and O`ya the wind gusting and then a little bit of consistency before the next gust…Whoooosshhh …we sailed with just a little headsail furled out, I’d noticed a few of the days out at Digby Island the wind started off blowing hard in the morning and then picked up in the afternoon. Not knowing how much worse it might get sure keeps ya on your toes watching the clouds and hoping and praying it will calm down a bit…It did calm down a bit about lunchtime and I got out my fishing gear , put a bit more sail up and Bang! Caught another Tuna !!!! Hiroko went to work on it with the Japanese Houcho and soon it was just some perfect dark red filets that would cost an absolute fortune in Tokyo.
We arrived in Mackay Marina about 4:30pm wound our way through a maze of pontoons and fingers to find T-43 our allocated berth; a portside tie up, bow in. Damn, seeing so many million dollar boats made Areté feel small. We weren’t even tied up properly before a guy with an Easy Catamaran like mine came over to say G~day, and invited us over to see his cat Bad Habits, a fine vessel with every accessory imaginable. Hiroko is always impressed with boats with watermakers, washing machines, and large freezers. I was just tired after 10 hours at sea and the thought of a hot land shower was overwhelming. The marina office was closed but they had left us a key so Hiroko had her first land shower in 22 days and only the third one since leaving Brisbane 37 days and 665 miles ago…Tomorrow we’ll fly to Tokyo for Michiko’s wedding ( Hiroko’s little sister) it should be something special!
A week in Ol’ Edo and returning to sail out of the Mackay Marina and into the Whitsunday Islands.
Three days of heavy clouds, winds gusting at 30 knots and an off and on drizzle can wear on ya a bit. I’d been crabbing on the incoming tides, trolling for fish with the hand-line behind the dingy and using my catch for crab bait…No luck again with the elusive but very tasty Mud Crabs…Good fun though, going out in the dingy getting soaked with spray when the wind kicked up, checking the crab pots and trolling a grey squid…The weather broadcasts on VHF were so broken up we’d hear about half what was said leaving us with more questions after the broadcast than not knowing. There was talk of gale force winds and 3+ meter swells in the Capricorn Channel, but where and when???
Tuesday the 21st of August after listening to Katie on Rocky Met Channel #21VHF but again more missed than heard we decided to head out of the secure anchorage and sail the 30 miles North to Hexham Island. The 10:10 weather forecast said 20 to 25 knots South by Southwest though we never saw it much above 15 knots? Our wind was very much out of the West making bumpy seas and keeping our speed about 5 knots over the water. No fish at that speed, I’ve learned from experience I need about 7 knots of boat speed to catch Tuna on Pink Squid, a little slower for the Mackerel with the big spoons on the hand-lines but that’s not nearly as much fun. As we approached the pass between Alnwick and Hexham Islands we had another whale show with some jumps and tail (fluke) waves, of course none of these were caught on film…The anchor was down mid afternoon as we had the anchorage all to ourselves sharing it with schools of fish jumping, about sunset as I tossed lures at them and drank home brews. A waxing gibbous moon lit up the bay making the white sand on the beach almost glow as it reflected the light, yes this is why I wanted to sail North….
Wednesday August 22 was perfect weather wise, minus the wind…sailing downwind with all the sails up barely making 3 knots, tried the spinnaker sail again and when we were putting it up we got buzzed by the Australian Coastwatch Customs airplane.. He called on the VHF radio and wanted my rego # , last port of call, etc…
With the lack of wind it makes for a calm sea meaning we could anchor in West Bay of the Middle Percy Island. This anchorage is famous for the A-frame hut build on the beach many years ago that cruising boats have been hanging signs or memorabilia from their boats for decades.
We visited on our way North in 2005 but didn’t know about the tradition, later at the most Northern point of our voyage I found a perfect piece of driftwood for our sign, to be hung the next visit to the Percy Islands…We arrived to find one other catamaran in West Bay, dropped the dingy into the water and went ashore to hang our sign. Walking past a coconut tree a coconut fell; Bang! That sure seemed like an omen for Hiroko to have fresh coconut. As I fought with the husk the miggie flies found Hiroko ( as they always do…) After seeing many signs from yachts and yachties we’ve met, we returned to Areté for sundowners and Hiroko applied some Japanese cream to her multiple bug bites…I escaped un scathed…I played Jackson Brown CD and dolphins appeared chasing schools of baitfish around the bay.
The other thing West Bay is famous for is being a uncomfortable anchorage in developed wind or swell. Well the following afternoon the wind did develop and brought with it a 1.5 ~ 2 meter swell …Now it’s too late in the day to sail for Digby Island 22 nautical miles away so we’ll just roll out a bit more anchor chain and hunker down till first light tomorrow. Wow what a wild night. wind whipping up a frothy sea, Areté was as uncomfortable as I’ve experienced in the three years of living onboard. She held tight and it didn’t take any persuasion at all to convince my wife to sail out of there the next morning…
Friday August 24th was not a day you’d want to be on the ocean, but just about anywhere was better than staying there…We furled out just a little bit of headsail and motor-sailed into a rough, sloppy sea…Overcast with clouds sailing buy, going every which way and the wind coming from just the direction we wanted to go….Slogging along, waves crashing under and alongside the boat, even with the motors I couldn’t get more than 4 knots of speed so the 24 mile trip took all day. Digby Island is part of the Beverly Group of the Northumberland Islands. Nice anchorage, tucked in behind three other islands and a few huge rocks which you could also count as an islands, gives it almost a lagoon setting. As the full moon is three days away on the 28th and this section of the coast having the biggest tides of all Queensland, we’ve got 5 meter tides now and at low tide lots of rocks are exposed so Hiroko can get fresh oysters again….If we can get the dingy ashore with that swell breaking on the beach? The wind was continuing to blow and blow and blow…
”It was so windy it would blow a dog off his chain” Weather Mackay was consistent with the forecast 20~25 knot wind with a 2~3 meter SE swell Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues…
We enjoyed three days relaxing onboard, I’d take the dingy out cruising around the bay but never got it ashore the shorebreak making landing nearly impossible…
Sunday August 26th we had a Humpback Whale and her calf spend four hours near us at our anchorage. They were mostly just floating side by side, my guess is that the mother was breast feeding which probably takes a few hours for that size animal? They left a little before sunset and were last seen splashing and waving with their tails, goodbye…
Monday the 27th with the weather forecast stuck like Groundhogs Day at 20~25 knots till whenever? We decided to sail for Mackay 46 miles away. As I’ve said nearing the full moon the tides were over 5 meters twice a day …this means strong currents between and around islands, causing overfalls, eddies and strange seas, add to that huge swells, whitecaps on every wave and O`ya the wind gusting and then a little bit of consistency before the next gust…Whoooosshhh …we sailed with just a little headsail furled out, I’d noticed a few of the days out at Digby Island the wind started off blowing hard in the morning and then picked up in the afternoon. Not knowing how much worse it might get sure keeps ya on your toes watching the clouds and hoping and praying it will calm down a bit…It did calm down a bit about lunchtime and I got out my fishing gear , put a bit more sail up and Bang! Caught another Tuna !!!! Hiroko went to work on it with the Japanese Houcho and soon it was just some perfect dark red filets that would cost an absolute fortune in Tokyo.
We arrived in Mackay Marina about 4:30pm wound our way through a maze of pontoons and fingers to find T-43 our allocated berth; a portside tie up, bow in. Damn, seeing so many million dollar boats made Areté feel small. We weren’t even tied up properly before a guy with an Easy Catamaran like mine came over to say G~day, and invited us over to see his cat Bad Habits, a fine vessel with every accessory imaginable. Hiroko is always impressed with boats with watermakers, washing machines, and large freezers. I was just tired after 10 hours at sea and the thought of a hot land shower was overwhelming. The marina office was closed but they had left us a key so Hiroko had her first land shower in 22 days and only the third one since leaving Brisbane 37 days and 665 miles ago…Tomorrow we’ll fly to Tokyo for Michiko’s wedding ( Hiroko’s little sister) it should be something special!
A week in Ol’ Edo and returning to sail out of the Mackay Marina and into the Whitsunday Islands.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Crossing "The Bar" in the moonlight...
Two days in Mooloolaba, a town perfectly set up for the cruising yachtie couple, a chandlery shop, hardware store, Tackle World and a gas station all 5 ~10 minutes from where we are anchored in the Mooloolaba River (right in front of million dollar houses)..
Hiroko loves Mooloolaba too as it has Kawana Waters Shopping Center, an Asian food store and The Bridge Seafood…Where else can you order by phone, take the dingy over to the jetty, tie off between the commercial fishing vessels walk through the dinning area pick up a Mochi Kaeri Ika Rings and clam chowder and back aboard Arete for fine dinning.
Ray, Tracy and Harrison joined us for sundowners or last night in port, Ray built "Tiata" at catamaran like Arete and we met them our last trip to the Whitsundays. He’s now building his dream vessel and I’m sure in three + years of hard work he’ll have an amazing catamaran, the last one was perfect but not exactly what he wanted…
The Met bureau forecast 10~15 knots increasing to 15~20 SW. The high tide at the Wide Bay , 60 nautical miles North was just past 7:00pm…We left Mooloolaba, down the river and out through the leads at sunrise..(see photo, a bit distorted ..?)
Put all the rags up and sailed in light winds, a fairly uneventful sail averaging 5~6 knots and trying everything to increase that…it’s over ten hours and there are not any suitable anchorages along that stretch of the coast till you get to Double Island Point and Rainbow Beach tucked back inside the Wide Bay just a few miles before "The Bar".
Later in the day as we were approaching Double Island Point (see photo) the wind picked up; speed is important when trolling for Tuna they hit when you are going over 7 knots, I’d caught a nice Blue Fin Tuna on this same trip last year and was doing everything in my power to repeat that this time.
It was Friday, three days before a full moon so I knew the moon would be up in the East a couple hours before the sun sets behind Fraser Island in the West. We passed between Wolf Rock and Double Island Point watching the sun set. The decision was made to sail on and used the moonlight and the GPS on the computer to go through the three waypoints of the Wide Bay Bar. It was just before the top of the incoming tide, plenty of water over the outer bar and I thought who knows what the conditions would be like tomorrow?.... It was an easy crossing with the moon laying down a golden path off our stern and back lighting the navigational lead lights.( See Photo ) We dropped the pick about 8:00pm behind Inskip Point. No fish but 65 miles of fun! Woke at sunrise the following morning with "that sandbar" a lot closer than I though we were…O~well "no harm no foul"…An early exit and North through the Great Sandy Straights along Fraser Island a world heritage site…and the sights were awesome;
Blue skies, picture postcard sunsets, Dolphins everyday, big Sea Turtles, Pelicans, Egrets, Gulls, Terns, Sea Eagles, a Forest Blue Kookaburra and a Dingo wandering down the beach at low tide….Two more days and we stopped at the Kingfisher Resort on Fraser Island. It is a great place, classy, eco-friendly and they welcome yachties…I had beer by the pool and Hiroko took a land shower, then I had "happy wife" which made it a great stop. Sometimes in Brisbane it took a trip to Hanaichi Sushi Bar or Korean Restaurant for "happy wife" but take them sailing for a few days and a land shower has great pull…
We are now anchored about 350 meters off the beach at Hervey Bay, last night about 9:30pm it was calm like a lake, the moon was up and I was reading a book when something under the boat made a huge splash, a huge splash…I ran up on deck…Hiroko even ran outside so you know it was something strange but I have no idea what it was…? It was too shallow for whales at 1~3 meters depending on the tide, and I didn’t see any dolphins….it was so calm you could see if there was something out there but it was left as a mystery….
I’ll keep ya posted….over and out!
Hiroko loves Mooloolaba too as it has Kawana Waters Shopping Center, an Asian food store and The Bridge Seafood…Where else can you order by phone, take the dingy over to the jetty, tie off between the commercial fishing vessels walk through the dinning area pick up a Mochi Kaeri Ika Rings and clam chowder and back aboard Arete for fine dinning.
Ray, Tracy and Harrison joined us for sundowners or last night in port, Ray built "Tiata" at catamaran like Arete and we met them our last trip to the Whitsundays. He’s now building his dream vessel and I’m sure in three + years of hard work he’ll have an amazing catamaran, the last one was perfect but not exactly what he wanted…
The Met bureau forecast 10~15 knots increasing to 15~20 SW. The high tide at the Wide Bay , 60 nautical miles North was just past 7:00pm…We left Mooloolaba, down the river and out through the leads at sunrise..(see photo, a bit distorted ..?)
Put all the rags up and sailed in light winds, a fairly uneventful sail averaging 5~6 knots and trying everything to increase that…it’s over ten hours and there are not any suitable anchorages along that stretch of the coast till you get to Double Island Point and Rainbow Beach tucked back inside the Wide Bay just a few miles before "The Bar".
Later in the day as we were approaching Double Island Point (see photo) the wind picked up; speed is important when trolling for Tuna they hit when you are going over 7 knots, I’d caught a nice Blue Fin Tuna on this same trip last year and was doing everything in my power to repeat that this time.
It was Friday, three days before a full moon so I knew the moon would be up in the East a couple hours before the sun sets behind Fraser Island in the West. We passed between Wolf Rock and Double Island Point watching the sun set. The decision was made to sail on and used the moonlight and the GPS on the computer to go through the three waypoints of the Wide Bay Bar. It was just before the top of the incoming tide, plenty of water over the outer bar and I thought who knows what the conditions would be like tomorrow?.... It was an easy crossing with the moon laying down a golden path off our stern and back lighting the navigational lead lights.( See Photo ) We dropped the pick about 8:00pm behind Inskip Point. No fish but 65 miles of fun! Woke at sunrise the following morning with "that sandbar" a lot closer than I though we were…O~well "no harm no foul"…An early exit and North through the Great Sandy Straights along Fraser Island a world heritage site…and the sights were awesome;
Blue skies, picture postcard sunsets, Dolphins everyday, big Sea Turtles, Pelicans, Egrets, Gulls, Terns, Sea Eagles, a Forest Blue Kookaburra and a Dingo wandering down the beach at low tide….Two more days and we stopped at the Kingfisher Resort on Fraser Island. It is a great place, classy, eco-friendly and they welcome yachties…I had beer by the pool and Hiroko took a land shower, then I had "happy wife" which made it a great stop. Sometimes in Brisbane it took a trip to Hanaichi Sushi Bar or Korean Restaurant for "happy wife" but take them sailing for a few days and a land shower has great pull…
We are now anchored about 350 meters off the beach at Hervey Bay, last night about 9:30pm it was calm like a lake, the moon was up and I was reading a book when something under the boat made a huge splash, a huge splash…I ran up on deck…Hiroko even ran outside so you know it was something strange but I have no idea what it was…? It was too shallow for whales at 1~3 meters depending on the tide, and I didn’t see any dolphins….it was so calm you could see if there was something out there but it was left as a mystery….
I’ll keep ya posted….over and out!
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