North to new cruising grounds

Wednesday 14 July, Airlie Beach to Double Bay
After stocking up at the Cannonvale Coles, I visited the local campus of BRIT to catch up with Natalie while Warren got a haircut. We also found a great fishing shop at Cannonvale where we got some new gear and advice so we are looking forward to finally catching a mackeral.

We started our trek north into …..you guessed it – a northerly. So we motored the 10 nm to Double Bay East. Unfortunately we had no phone signal so I missed the estimates broadcast for DET. As you can imagine I was very disappointed. Stayed the night and caught several good sized bream. Only 2 other boats here which was nice after the crowded anchorages around most of the Whitsundays.

Thursday 15 July, Double Bay to Cape Gloucester

Another short but this time fast sail to Cape Gloucester in a fresh SE breeze. We anchored off the Eco resort and went for a walk along the beach to Monte’s resort. Both pretty low key but very popular it seems with the fishermen. We had a relaxing 2 nights here. The anchorage was good but got a bit rolly in the mornings with a SW (reminded me a bit of a night at the Sandhills in this regard).

I started a new book on my Kobo ereader that Ben got for me at Borders. It has 100 free classics and I am working my way through them. So far it is good – the battery lasts about 2 weeks, 5000 page turns, and it is easy on the eyes. You can adjust the print size and it bookmarks where you are up to. I’m reading Jane Austen’s Emma at the moment as I recently read the novel The Jane Austen Book Club.

Saturday 17 July, Cape Gloucester to Cape Upstart
Sailed the 52 nm to Cape Upstart along with a couple of other boats from Cape Gloucester. This was another good anchorage and although it is a national park there are about 300 houses. The land was sold before it was declared a park and you can only get here by boat. While we didn’t go ashore, some looked a lot bigger than beach shacks.

Sunday 18 July, Cape Upstart to Cape Cleveland

Another long day, 64 nm, the highlight of which was when 3 whales surfaced 50 metres off our port side. They were accompanied by a few dolphins who I like to imagine were making sure the whales didn’t get any closer. They did a few tail slaps and pectoral fin waves before disappearing south. No time to get the camera unfortunately. Another good anchorage and with a good forecast for the next few days which will deteriorate as the week progresses, we decide to go to Magnetic Island instead of Townsville while the weather is good. Print this post