Saturday 31st May 2008 - Cid Harbour to Hamilton Island

We awoke to a fog and light drizzle. So far no sunshine for Ben's visit - just like Christmas 2007. Luckily he is going home tomorrow and we expect perfect weather for the next 6 weeks. We relaxed and read enjoying the quiet surroundings. Highlight of the morning was seeing a huge (1m) turtle cruise by. We motored around to Hamilton Island Marina after lunch. An easy dock, beside our next purchase if we ever decide to get a powerboat. Ben and I rode our bikes around the island. This island is where golf buggies rule... they are everywhere! Notably sulpher crested cockatoos may even outnumber the golf buggies... well maybe not.

Friday 30th May 2008 – Shaw Island to Cid Harbour

Departed 1100, Strong Wind Warning SE 20 – 25 knots
Overcast and windy. Timed our sail to catch the last of the ebb tide down the Whitsunday Passage. Cid Harbour is very protected and we anchored off Sawmill Beach. Went ashore and hiked around to Dugong Beach. Our first exercise for a couple of weeks. No dugongs but we did see a couple of turles. Warren still promising the chocolate cake which he baked for dessert.

Thursday 29th May 2008 – Mackay to Shaw Island

Departed 0730, Strong Wind Warning SSE 20 – 25 knots
They are talking about a gale warning tomorrow so we have decided to head further north than originally planned as Ben is leaving Sunday from Hamilton Island. 2 reefs in the main but we still made good progress and arrived at Shaw Island about 1430. We have now officially reached the Whitsundays and we had a bottle of champagne (thanks to Suzanne and the ISAS Upgrade team) to celebrate. Warren promised to bake a chocolate cake but it didn’t appear.

Wednesday 28th May 2008 – Curlew Island to Mackay

Departed 0715, SE 15 – 20 knots

Uneventful trip apart from having to detour around the 21 ships at anchor outside Hay Point. This is a secure pilotage area and you cannot enter we discovered. Called Ben on the way in and he did our shopping for us as he had just arrived from Melbourne. We were so happy to see him again. Ben shouted us dinner at the marina Steakhouse which we would recommend.

Tuesday 27th May 2008 – Island Head Creek to Curlew Island

Departed 0630, SE 20 – 25 knots
As we are picking up our eldest son Ben tomorrow, we decided to try to get to Curlew Island (about 75 nm) so we have less to travel tomorrow. Seas very rough as we left the creek but we are finding Next Phase handles them well. New speed record for me 14.8 knots surfing down one of the swells. Warren was in the head (toilet) at the time and found it particularly exhilarating. The wind eased after lunch or so Warren assured me, so we hoisted the spinnaker to keep the speed up. We surfed along at 10, 11, 12 knots until we needed to gybe at Middle Percy Island and decided that the breeze was back over 20 knots so dropped the spinnaker.

Monday 26th May 2008 – Island Head Creek

After the big clean up we moved towards the mouth and the middle of the creek – as far as possible from any shore! Warren tried the fishing without success. Met Paul, another Seawind owner, who gave us a red emperor as he had found a good spot. We went over to try ourselves and Warren hooked a big one that unfortunately headed for the rocks and broke the line.

Sunday 25th May 2008 – Rosslyn Bay to Island Head Creek

Departed 0610, SE 10-15 building to 20 knots
Another predawn start - those that know Warren and I may doubt we are on the go this early. If you have 60 nautical miles to cover then an early start is necessary. We used 6 knots as an average when calculating our trip so 10 hours has us arriving at 1600. You don’t want to be any later when going to an unfamiliar anchorage. Luckily the wind was favourable and we had a spinnaker run most of the way and arrived at the entrance of the creek at 1340.

The creek was much bigger than we expected. We had a choice of anchorages and went for the one towards the head of the creek. Very quiet and only one other boat with no sign of life on board (we were soon to discover why). Warren went to lay the crabpots while I tidied up. We noticed a few bugs so put down the canvas covers for the saloon and lit the mozzie coil. Had our showers and settled down for a quiet drink when we noticed bugs had made their way into the saloon area…..lots of bugs!! We retreated below, turned off the lights and hoped they wouldn’t follow. We awoke to the sight at left!! Zillions of dead bugs that took hours to clean.

Saturday 24th May 2008 – Cape Capricorn to Rosslyn Bay

Departed Cape Capricorn at 0745 hrs.
SE 15-20 knots
While the wind had eased a little overnight there was still a 2-3m swell so we made good time towards Yeppoon. We put the spinnaker up 1135 hrs as the breeze eased and arrived at Keppel Bay Marina at 1300 hrs. Rode our bikes into Yeppoon to do some shopping then washing, refuelling……..the fun doesn’t stop.

Friday 23rd May 2008 – Pancake Creek to Cape Capricorn

Departed Pancake Creek at 0715 hrs.
SE 20-25 knots.
Breeze at last and with the big swell running we had our best sailing of the trip so far including a top speed of over 13 knots on one ride. The boat handled it all with ease with a full main and jib. We had to tack downwind and arrived at Cape Capricorn at 1300 hrs. We took the dinghy around to Yellow Patch to check the entrance as we hope to stay here on the way home. Stood on the cabin top to try to ring our friend Jane for her birthday. Eventually got her - standing on a mountain top in South Africa.

Thursday 22nd May 2008 - Pancake Creek

Decided to spend a day here as it is very pretty and Warren wanted to try the fishing. He caught a couple of good sized bream early but that was it for the day. Pancakes for dessert tonight!

Wednesday 21st May 2008 - Bundy to Pancake Creek

Departed Port Bundaberg Marina at 0600 hrs.

SSW – S 5-10 knots in the morning, NE 5 Knots in the afternoon
Set the spinnaker to make the most of the SSW breeze but after a couple of hours it had died again and we were back to motoring. We arrived late at Pancake Creek so we anchored at the outer anchorage. Warren caught 2 mackeral today including a 65cm one as we approached Clew Point (on our good old spoon lure). Fresh fish for dinner.

Tuesday 20th May 2008 - Fraser Island to Bundaberg

Departed Yankee Jack anchorage 0720hrs.

Southerly - Less than 5knots

We awoke to a heavy fog on Fraser this morning but little wind. Called our friends Phil and Marie at Burrum Heads to get a few fishing tips from Phil, as we motored passed Burrum Heads at 1130 hrs. The predicted NE breeze did not arrive so we had a day of motoring dodging the crab pots in Hervey Bay. Tied up at Port Bundaberg Marina at 1630 hrs.

Yeppoon

Trip going well. Finally got a steady breeze. Left Yeppoon at 0600 this morning heading towards Island Head Creek for a couple of days. Picking Ben up in Mackay on Wednesday and will upload more infomation and pictures then.

--editor's note: Thanks Ben for uploading this update when we were having connection problems.

Monday 19th May 2008 - Wide Bay Bar!!

Departed Double Island Point Lagoon 0520hrs

Westerly 5 knots
Had a very comfortable 2.5 hours sleep in a place Alan Lucas describes as the worst anchorage on the whole east coast (thank goodness for a SW wind and no swell penetrating the lagoon). Now for the big challenge of crossing the Wide Bay Bar. Called Coast Guard Tin Can Bay to register our crossing and donned our life jackets. The crossing was very smooth thanks to the westerly of the last few days and little swell (no waves were breaking on the bar). Very light winds so we motored to Garry’s Anchorage (pictured), stayed for lunch and some fishing (nothing of size caught). Upped anchor at 2pm to motor to Yankee Jack anchorage at South White Cliffs. We touched bottom at the S24 red buoy (very disappointing!!!). Note - DO NOT travel between Gary’s Anchorage and Yankee Jack anchorage on less than half tide.

Sunday 18 May 2008 - Raby Bay to Double Island Point

Departed Raby Bay Marina 0910hrs
Strong Wind Warning West-South West 20 -30 knots
We started our second big trip in a strong wind warning - better than the gale warning on our last trip when leaving Pittwater for the Gold Coast in May last year. The WSW gave us a good reaching angle north, except for a rough patch up the Spitfire Channel, where we motorsailed. It was much better once we were reaching along in the lee of Bribie Island. We cleared the NW2 beacon at 1505hrs and were off Point Cartwright at 1630hrs, still on a two sail reach (No. 2 reef in the mainsail all day). Started our 2 hour watch system at 6pm (Debbie on first watch) and we reached in a steady 10-15 knot SW breeze until 0045 when the breeze dropped. We started the motors and dropped anchor in Double Island Point lagoon at 0210hrs.