Wednesday, 11 October to Sunday, 5 November 2017
We left Abell Point marina on Wednesday morning in an easterly
breeze that, as predicted in our last post, turned to south-east as we entered
the Whitsunday Passage. Rather than struggling to Shaw Island as planned, we
went across to Beach 25 north of Hamilton Island.
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| Last Whitsunday sunset |
We motored down the Dent Passage then had a good sail to Minne
Hall Bay on Goldsmith Island. We spent 2 nights here before sailing the 13nm to
Brampton Island where we spent 3 nights waiting for the northerlies to return.
We had our first major rain on the trip while here. We walked on the beach near
the resort which is looking sadder every time we come.
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| Kayaked to Carlisle Island |
With the breeze expected to get stronger and go to the east, on
Tuesday we decided to go west to Port Newry, about 25nm north of Mackay.
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| The aptly named Wedding Cake Rock at the entrance to Port Newry |
This
is a beautiful anchorage in most winds and there are walks on both Newry and
Outer Newry Islands.
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| Anchorage between Newry and Outer Newry Islands |
There were 7 boats here sitting out the blow and unfortunately one
dragged anchor onto us about 10pm one night. Just one man on board who was
motoring to keep from hitting us but could not bring up his anchor. Warren
launched the dinghy and went to help him as his anchor had caught on our anchor
chain. Not what you need at that time of night and in 25 knots.
On Saturday, the winds had eased enough to get to Mackay marina to
wait for the next southerly to go through. We hired a car with the Sana Solia crew and did our shopping and
washing. There were a lot of cruisers waiting here for the wind to change.
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| Morning tea at Slade Pt |
On Tuesday, we decided to use the last of the south easterlies to
go 37nm out to Scawfell Island so that we had a better angle of wind the next
day. On this trip we ticked over 24,000nm in Phase2.
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| This turtle didn't stop to lay her eggs |
The trip to Curlew in a light easterly was the longest days
sailing in quite a while – 50nm. We anchored in the western anchorage with Joule and the Seawind 1000XL Simple Pleasures. This is a great
anchorage with little swell in an easterly.
On Thursday, we decided to head to Middle Percy Island for a
couple of days.
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| First mackeral of the trip - at last! |
We had a short stop to the famous A frame in West Bay to see if our sign had survived
cyclone Debbie (it didn’t) and make a new one that we hope is a bit sturdier.
We then went around to Whites Bay and spent the night with 23 other boats in
this beautiful anchorage.
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| Sunrise at Whites Bay |
On Saturday, we headed south to Delcomyn Bay a good NW-N anchorage
just outside Port Clinton.
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| Delcomyn Bay |
Next was around the corner to Perforated Point, a
very calm anchorage in the NE breezes. Lots of cruisers about so sundowners
very popular including helping Wendy from Attitude celebrate her birthday.
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| Perforated Point |
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| The calm before the storm |
We had a call from Escape in the Narrows to say it had hit
there with a 40 knot southerly which would have us on a lee shore. With 36
boats anchored in the bay, we elected to up anchor before it hit and motor out
to clear water. We were glad to clear the anchorage about 7pm before the storm
hit. We motored slowly towards Keppel Bay marina where we had a berth booked
for the following day. We had a maximum wind strength of 44 knots and lots of
sheet lightning with the occasional bolt and crack of thunder. By the time we
reached the marina at 2030, the storm had passed and we had an uneventful rest
of the night. We were pleased to hear only 1 yacht dragged but all spent a
rolly night with the southerly swell.
We spent another 2 nights in the marina including a great day when
we rode to Emu Park on the bikes. For a small town, they have an impressive WW1
memorial highlighting local men and women who fought in the war.
The local
museum was also worth a visit with a personal tour from one of the volunteers.
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| The Maritime Museum contained many models made by a local |
By Thursday, we had a forecast that we thought would get us to
Pancake Creek. We sailed all day in light winds with our genoa and anchored
just before 2000.
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| Farewell to the tropics - Cape Capricorn |
On Friday, we sailed to Lady Musgrave Island in a SE wind
that went E and required more tacking – never a favourite with cruisers.
The
reward of the beautiful clear water here, the turtles, coral and fish made it
all worthwhile. It is turtle mating season so there were lots about and many going ashore every night to lay eggs.
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| Ground too rugged here for the turtle |
We were pleased to find amongst the 25 boats here San Souci, Heemskirk and Zofia all
relaxing after returning from New Caledonia and Vanuatu recently. We are here
for 3 nights before continuing our travels south.
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