Pancake Creek and Keppel Bay

Wednesday, 31 July 2013 - Bundaberg to Pancake Creek

Another beautiful day sailing under spinnaker in a 12-15 knot breeze that started in the SW, then S, SE before finishing in the east.

The pirate party ashore was another good night and with the perfect weather we decided to stay another night and catch up with the fleet at Great Keppel on Friday.

Treasure hunting

We spent Thursday morning hunting for the unfound treasure from the previous night (Warren spurred on by the hope that it might be a bottle of rum) and hiking to the Bustard Head lighthouse.

View south over Jenny Lind Creek

Warren was glad that he had on his big boots and gaiters as he nearly stood on a snake on the way back to the boat.

Friday, 2 August 2013 - Pancake Creek to Great Keppel Island
As we had 66 nm to cover today to get to the beach party on GKI, we had to motorsail most of the day in the light SE winds. Warren caught a large Blue Fin Tuna that he released. We spotted 2 whales close by inside the reef protection buoys off Monkey Beach on the way in.

On Saturday we motored over to the Keppel Bay Marina for the final night party. Unfortunately the light winds meant none of the race boats had yet finished which I think disappointed some of the local ladies looking for the fit young sailors!

The always smiling Dawn and Ian

Congratulations to Ian and Dawn and their team of hard workers for a fun, well organised week and to all the participants who made the trip so special. We met a lot of people we might not have otherwise met and would recommend this cruise to members.

A visit to the shops and boat chores filled in Sunday while we watched the marina fill with race boats glad to finally arrive.

On Monday morning we stayed to see the governor present the trophies to the winning yachts before we headed to North Keppel Island to escape the easterly swell. Nice anchorage although there was a bit of swell when the breeze went to the NE in the late afternoon and evening.

Tueday, 6 August 2013 - North Keppel Island to Corio Bay
With northerlies forecast for the next couple of days we motored the 10 miles to Corio Bay to find shelter. A beautiful spot we haven't visited before. We crossed the bar just before high tide and had 5.2m. We are now anchored behind the headland in 7.6m.

Print this post