Raby Bay to Pancake Creek

 Friday, 11 August to Thursday, 24 August 2023

We departed Raby Bay at 1450 for the short first leg of our trip to the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. 

Great to have the family farewell us

Dinner in the bistro was appreciated after the rush of the last few days and we caught up with fellow sail cruisers from the club. With light wind predicted for Saturday, we headed off expecting to motor most of the 62nm to Mooloolaba. 

Early start from RQYS

We had an 0600 start to take advantage of the early SW winds and favourable tide. We sailed and motor-sailed in light winds until lunch time when the wind went to the NE and strengthened to 10 knots so we could finally turn off the motor. 

Glasshouse Mountains

Tacking close inshore we eventually made it into the Mooloolah River and anchored in the pond at 1645. We saw our first whales of the trip south of Point Cartwright.

Dusk at Mooloolaba

We had northerlies for the next few days so after 2 days anchored where we caught up with last minute boat jobs, we moved to the marina for 2 nights. This made it easier to visit friends, ride our bikes and I even managed a surf.

Leaving Mooloolaba with Meltemi

On Wednesday, with the wind finally in the south, we departed Mooloolaba at 0615 for Fraser Island in company with two other Seawind 1160s, Meltemi and Alibi. We carried our spinnaker all day, dropping it at 1530 to begin our crossing of the Wide Bay Bar. It was a couple of hours after low tide and the bar with the incoming tide was quite benign (my favourite word to describe the WBB). We spent the night at Pelican Bay.

Garry's Anchorage

On Thursday, we motored to Garry's Anchorage to hide from more northerlies. We caught up with Southern Exposure and walked up to Gary Lake to get some exercise.

Walking along the fire trail

On Saturday morning we crossed the Sheridan Flats at high tide and anchored behind Big Woody Island ready for an early start on Sunday to the Burnett River. Another good day for the spinnaker so we were anchored in the river by 1430. 

Dinghy in to buy fresh bread at Burnett Heads

On Monday, we headed for Pancake Creek. Light S, SE winds allowed us to carry the spinnaker until 1340 when we realized that our slow progress would mean an arrival after dark. We decided to motor and got the anchor down just before dark after 12 hours. Pancake Creek is one of our favourite anchorages - with fishing, kayaking and hiking all possible.

Pancake Creek

We managed to do all of these in our 3 days there. 

Warm day for our walk

Iconic Bustard Head Light

Jenny Lind Creek

Well maintained cemetery

Plane taking off from Aircraft Beach

We kayaked from Pancake Creek to Jenny Lind Creek. This is possible at high tide although with neap tides (lower highs) we had to walk about 50 m dragging the kayak through the shallow sections. We made it though and I enjoyed my first fishing for a couple of years. Fresh whiting is certainly hard to beat.

Nice day for a kayak

Creek is wide initially

Caught enough whiting for dinner

LARC from 1770 dropped in after visiting the lighthouse

Not much room as the tide drops

Our route

Whitsundays 2023 - Here we go again!

Even though we have had a mild winter, we have once again decided to head north for the sun and warm waters of tropical Queensland. Our departure was delayed so we could attend a very special event - our granddaughter's 5th birthday party.

In preparation for our cruise we hauled out at Boatworks, serviced the sail drives and antifouled and polished the hull. Warren had the 3 side hatches replaced, and we bought a new mainsail and sailcatcher from Neil Tasker at Barracuda Sails. 

Going well in light winds

We also replaced our chartplotter and radar with the latest Raymarine equivalents. The improvements in the technology in the last 12 years are very impressive.

Raymarine Axiom 2 Pro S

So we were ready to go - departure planned for Friday 11 August, 2023