Lady Musgrave Island with friends

Raby Bay to Pancake Creek
15 - 27 September, 2015
We set off on Tuesday at 1130 in a light northerly and motored until 1400 when the breeze got to 10 knots and we could kill the motor and start sailing. Our first tack took us in towards Scarborough and we decided to stop at Bribie for the night. Perfect anchorage in this wind as we dropped anchor about 1700.

Next morning we motored around Skirmish Pt in a light NW. By 1100 we had enough breeze to sail, although it was on the nose so we didn't get to the Mooloolah River until 1400.

Thursday we set off before 0600 for a slow motor/motorsail to the Wide Bay Bar for an afternoon low tide crossing. We arrived at Garry's Anchorage after dark and used Beach House's AIS as a guide for anchoring. Our plan was to accompany Lois and Kel for their first trip north to Lady Musgrave in their Catalina 355. The wind had gone to the S/SE during the night and with gusts up to 30 knots expected, we decided to spend Friday at Garry's.

On Saturday, the wind was still up so we headed off under jib only for a leisurely sail up the straits. We pulled up the main with a double reef off South White Cliffs and enjoyed the sail to Coongul Point. This is a beautiful spot that was popular in our trailer sailer days when we used to anchor in the creek.

At 0600 Sunday, we set the spinnaker for another fast sail to the Burnett River. We averaged over 8 knots (with a maximum of 15.3) and had the anchor down at 1200.

Beach House

Monday was another spinnaker run to Pancake Creek where we dropped anchor in the inner anchorage at 1530. Beach House was not far behind having enjoyed the conditions up the coast. We had elected not to head out to Musgrave with a couple of other boats as a southerly change was expected.

We enjoyed 4 nights at Pancake Creek waiting for good weather for Lady Musgrave. Lots of fishing for Warren and a walk up to the lighthouse with Lois and Kel.

Friday was semi finals for the football so we headed up to Gladstone marina to ensure we had good reception. The Broncos had a big win against the Roosters and we were all happy until we had to beat into a strong easterly back to Pancake Creek. We snapped our jib halyard when changing down to the self tacker but, as it had broken at the winch, we could tie the ends together and continue sailing.

Lady Musgrave Island to Raby Bay
27 September to 7 October, 2015
On Sunday we used the last of the southerly to head across to Musgrave. A great 2 sail tight reach and we were at the entrance to the lagoon earlier than planned. We entered against a 4-5 knot ebb tide and were anchored by 1200. We had 2 perfect days here with great snorkelling and time with new friends on Escape and Twoflower.

With another big southerly expected on the weekend, we left Lady Musgrave on Wednesday and enjoyed a spinnaker run in light northerlies back to the Burnett River. Warren caught a nice Spanish mackerel (our only one for the trip).

Thursday we went across to Wathumba Creek where we spent 2 nights being entertained by the antics of the whales close to shore here.

We sailed to Coongul Creek on Saturday to make sure of our TV reception for the NRL Grand Final. We had a double reef and got some good photos and video of Beach House well reefed and enjoying the flat water along the shore. If the Broncos are going to lose then a loss to the Cowboys is easiest to bear. On Sunday, we explored up the creek by kayak.

On Monday, we motored down the straits to Pelican Bay ready for an early morning crossing of the bar. We gave the shallow patch between waypoints 1 and 2 a wide berth and enjoyed a slow sail to Mooloolaba tacking into a light south easterly. What could have been a frustrating day was made memorable by the number of whale sightings, all seemingly enjoying the last of the warm waters before heading further south.

Our trip back to Raby Bay on Wednesday saw our closest encounter yet to a whale with one surfacing unexpectedly about 5 m in front of Phase2.

Luckily we were motoring very slowly at the time as we had seen the whales playing about 100 m away. In our 3 weeks away we had encountered 27 groups of whales while sailing.

Print this post