Sunny at last

Wednesday, 18 July 2012 - Haycock Is to Dungeness
We headed off early to make sure we entered the creek at high tide and moored alongside the pontoon at Dungeness. We had arranged dinner with Marie and Rob for the evening after going to see their new home under construction. Good timing saw us there to help "wet the roof" with the builders. Marie had earlier shown us the sights of Ingham.

The house has a fantastic view across Halifax Bay to Palm Island. It has a metal frame to ensure it will survive any cyclones and Warren was impressed by the stainless steel used for any exposed surfaces.

Marie, Warren and me on the front deck

Thursday, 19 July, 2012 - Dungeness to Orpheus Island

We had a lazy sail over to Little Pioneer Bay in 5-10 knots of wind. The sun had finally come out by the time we picked up a mooring. Yesterday (Friday) we kayaked around to the JCU Research Station however they were busy with visiting "big  wigs" so we will take a tour next trip. Call on Channel 81 to arrange a visit.

View from the Research Station beach

Today we planned to go around to Yanks Jetty in the dinghy, however turned around as the wind and swell was more than we expected. We went back to the small beach in our bay and walked up to the old cottage which is slowly being reclaimed by the surrounding bush. 

We will continue heading south again tomorrow, hoping that the current fine weather continues.

Phase2 on the southern mooring in Little Pioneer Bay

Rain, Rain Go Away.............

Wednesday, 11 July 2012 - Townsville to Magnetic Island
With 25 knots forecast again (it has been raining and blowing for the last 2 days), we leave the marina and decide to head back to Horseshoe Bay which we know is good in a blow. We spend 2 days here with only half a dozen other cruisers - we are not sure if there are less people cruising or it is too early in the season for them to be this far north.

I spent Thursday afternoon playing with a new App (Splice) for creating videos. It seems easy to use although does crash occassionally - it is free though! Here is a short video I put together of a spinnaker run I had filmed last year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcr7ick2J_0&feature=plcp   (and yes Josh I know now I should have filmed it in landscape not portrait!)

Friday, 13 July 2012 - Magnetic to Havannah Island
The wind has eased off completely and we motor the 27 nm to Havannah Island. The anchorage to the north of a small sand spit is calm and we see whales for the first time since Double Island Point. Warren caught a Spangled Emperor for dinner which was great as the trolling has been a disappointment so far. We are alone after the few tinnies fishing off the nearby Fly Island leave.

Fly Island in the background

Saturday we wake to a thick fog which hangs around all day and evening. Much of the day we could not see Fly Island at all.

Warren saw something in the water that we thought was a whale, then a dolphin, then a shark before we eventually work out it is a large manta ray about 2m across. We could only see the tips of its wings breaking the surface. It later came back and circled the boat so I could get a picture.

Manta Ray had us confused 

Sunday, 15 July 2012 - Havannah Island to Hinchinbrook Passage
A strong southerly blew the fog away about 4am and brought a nasty chop into our anchorage. We head for Little Pioneer Bay on Orpheus Island. When we get there we see a catamaran on a mooring, bucking in the swell coming into the anchorage so we continue on to Haycock Island in the Hinchinbrook Channel. It is very protected and we spend a lovely quiet night here. The weather is still overcast today so we will wait for things to settle. We hope to catch up with friends Marie and Rob from Ingham and see the new house they are building at Forrest Beach.

V8 Supercars - Loud and colourful

Friday, 6 July to Sunday, 8 July 2012
Warren has always loved watching the V8s on TV so when we just missed them in Townsville 2 years ago, he said we should try to coordinate our next stay in Townsville with the event. So for this trip we planned a week in Townsville to coincide. As I'm not a big fan, I thought I would volunteer over the weekend to keep myself busy and involved.

Carrerra Cup Porches ready to go on track

It is a street circuit just out of town and about a 45 minute walk from the marina. Warren had a great time and I also enjoyed it although I must admit it is only the true believers that love the noise and smell.

Grid girls seemed popular with the male patrons

I worked as a Corporate Facility Usher, resplendent in my lime green polo and V8 cap (more goods for the Louisiades) keeping the riff raff out of the corporate boxes.

Formula Fords up close

My Mum had had a visit from my cousin Ian recently and as he was also going to the event we arranged to meet. It turned out he was in one of the boxes in my area which was quite a coincidence. I was also surprised to see Murray from my TAFE ISAS project who now works for the V8s in Sydney. Small world!

Craig Lowndes and Dick Johnson were regular visitors to my area and I spotted a number of other celebrities including Can Do Campbell. The locals are hoping his Can Do attitude extends to funding this event in the future.

Craig Lowndes is very popular with the fans

It has rained almost continually since Monday morning so the organizers were very lucky with the weather. We leave the marina tomorrow, Wednesday, to spend a few weeks exploring the nearby islands.

Townsville

Sunday, 1 July 2012 - Bona Bay to Cape Upstart
We left at 0700 and after 45 nm of sailing and motorsailing in light winds, we dropped anchor in Upstart Bay about 1500. We were forced to hand steer all day as the autopilot compass has decided to play up. Our heading was oscillating around the compass and we were glad this fault happened now rather than half way across the Coral Sea to the Louisiades.

Monday, 2 July 2012 - Cape Upstart to Magnetic Island
66 nm today in a 15-20 knot SE that eased slowly throughout the day. This was the opposite to what was predicted - the weather men have been having a hard time of it lately. No electronic compass again so more hand steering. This was better today as we had the spinnaker up for most of the day. We eventually started the motors about 6nm from Horseshoe Bay and dropped anchor at 1800.

We spent Tuesday at Horseshoe Bay in beautiful weather (again, despite the forecast). Warren tried crabbing and fishing with no luck.

Moonrise over Horseshoe Bay

Warren has been in contact with Raymarine and their dealer in Townsville will look at the compass and hopefully have our AIS back from Sydney to reinstall.

Wednesday, 4 July 2012 - Breakwater Marina
A short sail and motor to the marina where we refilled the fuel tanks for the first time this trip. 115 litres in total used so far on our trip at an average consumption of  1.7L per engine per hour. We are very happy with this as we usually motor with one engine, only using 2 engines when going into and out of anchorages and marinas. Our 320 litres therefore gives us a theoretical 188 hours motoring (or 940 nm).

Barry from Navcomm has put a new circuit board in the SPX10 autopilot and reconnected the AIS which Raymarine could find no fault with. Worked fine when Barry tested of course.

Thursday we had to recalibrate the electronic compass which went well but surprise, surprise the AIS is still not perfect. We'll have to see how it goes over the next few weeks.