Farewell to the Tropics

Monday, 11 November to Tuesday, 19 November 2013
On Monday we continued our trek south hoping to take advantage of the north easters forecast for the week to get down to the Keppels. Light breezes initially meant some motoring but we managed to sail most of the way to Plantation Bay on Lindeman Island.

Cosy at Curlew Island

An early start Tuesday as we had 80nm to cover to get to Curlew Island. A good 2 sail reach all day had the anchor down by 1730 in the small bay on the western side of Curlew. Lucky we were the only yacht there as there was not a lot of room. A bit rolly but tolerable. We awoke to find tracks on the beach that Warren thought was a croc at first before we decided it was a turtle that had laid it's eggs ashore overnight.

Another long day on Wednesday, 82nm to Port Clinton. Light winds and the notorious Shoalwater Bay tides meant the engines ran most of the day. By comparison, Thursday was an easy 44nm to Great Keppel Island under spinnaker most of the trip. Anchor down in time for lunch. Weather was very unsettled with storms around and multiple wind changes.

On Friday we celebrated Warren's birthday with sundowners with Len and Isla (Waterfront) whose youngest son Warren shares "big Warren's" birthday.

Beautiful GKI

On Saturday we upped anchor to motor to Rosslyn Bay Marina just as a large storm cell hit. We got a steady 40 knots for about half an hour. We were glad to tie up in the marina and looked forward to a couple of quiet nights. We caught up with John from Hadja and also had dinner with Trevor and Jan from Nefertiti while here. 

Monday, we left at 0600 again for the 73nm to Pancake Creek. a reach early, a few hours motoring and then a northerly for a spinnaker run in the afternoon. 10 boats here when we arrived with all but 2 leaving this morning while we decided to have another day at one of our favourite anchorages.

Bound for Curtis Island?

Melbourne Cup at Maggie

Sunday, 3 November to Sunday 10 November 2013
We caught a cab to the airport to drop off Ben for the flight to Melbourne and pickup a hire car for the day. We wanted to catch up with friends Marie and Rob at Forrest Beach (near Ingham) and see their new home. Last year we were there for the wetting of the roof and we wanted to see the final result.

It looks great - right on the waterfront, it has views across Halifax Bay to Great Palm Island. Beautiful lunch including an impressive upside down potato salad.

On Monday, Barry from Navcom came and installed the new AIS, a Raymarine 650. All good until we realised after he had left that it did not have the latest software installed. Tip of the week - if you have a 650 and your vessel appears in the AIS list then you need to update the software. Of course this is not an easy task so the rest of the day was sorting this out.

Tuesday was Melbourne Cup so we left the marina before 1000 to get to Horseshoe Bay for the BBQ lunch on the beach with Wirraway, Thalassa and New Horizons. The outlook was as beautiful as ever and I got second in the sweep.

With south-easters for the rest of the week, we enjoyed another stay here. Warren caught 3 crabs and nearly lost a toe while practising his crab tying skills. Boules and a BBQ lunch on Thursday with everyone was a fun way to fill in the day. The ladies had a win 13-11 in a close fought and very competitive match.

Saturday, we headed south in company with Thalassa with a forecast of ENE that stayed in the east most of the day (which of course was where we were headed). 10 hours to cover the 30nm to Cape Bowling Green tells the story. Luckily the breeze went NE after that and we had a good reach to Cape Upstart where we dropped anchor at 2030.

Thalassa

On Sunday, we sailed to Bona Bay in light winds. Final sundowners on board Phase2 with Gary and Bev of Wirraway as they are staying in Airlie for a while, and Kate, Graham and Rob (Thalassa). Fresh fish for dinner.

Wirraway at Bona Bay

Cairns to Townsville - 3 POB

Sunday, 27 October to Sunday, 3 November 2013
Our eldest son Ben flew into Cairns on Saturday from Melbourne. On Sunday we tacked down to Fitzroy Island in a moderate SE breeze. As more south easters were predicted for Monday we decided to stay 2 nights and wait for more favourable winds on Tuesday. The water was very clear and we enjoyed a long snorkel off the resort. Patches of good coral and fish to be seen.

On Tuesday, with an easterly forecast, we headed off early to sail the 60nm to Dunk Island. The resort is still closed however there is a new jetty so boats can bring day trippers and the National Park camp ground is also open.

After checking out the resort on Wednesday morning we raised the spinnaker and headed for Zoe Bay in a welcome northerly. We chalked up a milestone on this leg - 10,000 nm in Phase2 since her launch in May 2011. Bubbles at Zoe Bay to celebrate!

Thursday morning we climbed to the top of the waterfall before breakfast to escape the worst of the heat.

Then on to Little Pioneer Bay on Orpheus Island.

Scrambled eggs on the go

Sad sight at Horseshoe Bay

On Friday we sailed the 35nm to Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island in a 15-20kn north easter.

Saturday we headed across to Breakwater marina. Dinner at Summerie's Thai restaurant was a great way to finish the week with Ben. He caught a flight back to Melbourne where the forecast for Monday was a chilly 6-14 degrees!!