On to Panasia

Thursday, 20 September to Sunday, 23 September 2012

We had a leisurely sail under jib only for the 10nm from Duchateau to Panasia, arriving all together to be guided by dinghies through the narrow entrance to the lagoon.

Charts can't be trusted up here

As we rounded the sheer limestone cliffs of Panasia which rise out of the deep blue ocean, we were stunned by the picture postcard turquoise water.

Only a few families live on the island however for our visit a large group of Brooker islanders came via sailaus and motorised long boats. Bananas, paw paws, lobster, pumpkin and corn were traded.  The school children from Brooker came to perform a ‘sing sing’ for us, beautifully dressed in grass skirts and lovely leaves. 

Woven headdresses with delicate chicken feathers surrounded their heads and they waved their leaves rhythmically while they sang and danced. Everyone enjoyed meeting them and their families afterwards and hearing a little about their lives.

On Friday we visited the skull cave on Little Panasia. This was a short dinghy trip for some while those of us with smaller motors hired 2 long boats for the trip. This proved to be fast but wet! 

There are many skull caves on the island (one for each family) however most are too hard for “dim dims” to get to.

We arrived back at Panasia in time for lunch prepared by the Brooker Island Ladies Group. Paw-paw scones were a highlight. We purchased woven bags and vegetables after the lunch. 

A barbecue that night, hosted by John and Gwen from the island, featured more lobster while the locals tried our meats and salads. 

On Saturday we ventured around to the western side of the island to visit Judah and Allison’s village and their huge limestone cave.

This is now a popular swimming place however it has been used in the past to hide from warring clans. Kids (local and dim-dim, big and small) had lots of fun diving into the pool. 

We walked back to the village as they had prepared a mumu (feast) for us. 

Pork, lobster, yams, pumpkin, sweet potatoes had been cooked in a pit covered with banana leaves. Warren was cautious about eating the feast and we both avoided the pork on advice from our friend Lois who is a parasitologist. Lucky there was some lobster on the menu again. 

New shelter built for our visit

Popcorn prepared for the local kids was quickly devoured. Panasia was a great introduction to the friendly villagers who are so welcoming to us all.

Lydia and Millika came back from the village with us to get some batteries (and a few other gifts). They tried to teach us some words of "Misima" - the local language. 

Made it!

Tuesday, 18 September to Thursday, 20 September 2012 
Duchateau Islands

We anchored at the Duchateau islands at 1400 Tuesday after travelling 543nm at an average of 7.2 knots.

We had two beautiful days at Duchateau, three small sand cays surrounded by fringing reef. This was a perfect introduction to the Louisiades - white sand beaches, coconut palms and the most incredible turquoise water.

Deeper Blue 

Sailaus brought Brooker Islanders who traded with us and gathered lobsters which they barbequed to accompany our sundowners on the beach. 

Kids in new caps happy with the trade

We were all amazed at the sailing skills of the sailau crew, manhandling the whole rig to change tack, while balancing the canoe with outrigger loaded with their families.  

Wednesday night boaties provided Dim Dim (the locals name for white people) food to accompany more lobster than 65 people could eat! 

The first batch of lobster

The Brooker Island people enjoyed the variety of food and all the children loved playing soccer, the glow sticks, streamers and sparklers.

Coral Sea crossing

Saturday, 15 September to Tuesday, 18 September 2012
The sail over was with the best weather rally organiser Guy Chester has ever seen in the Coral Sea. Winds averaged 15-20 knots for the first two days, then slightly less for the rest of the trip.

Heading into Grafton Passage

I suffered from seasickness on the first 2 days along with many others but Guy reminded us “The difference between an ordeal and an adventure is your attitude”! My queasiness wasn't helped by salt water getting into our water tank through the breather holes. We drank our emergency bottled water once we realised there was a problem. Seawind 1250 Wind of Change suffered the same fate!

Phase2 and several other boats flew spinnakers during the day as the winds went south in the second half of the trip. We encountered several cargo ships as we neared the Louisiades as all ships going between Australia and most of Asia go through the nearby Jomard Entrance. We called any close ones (including the 3 below) to advise of our intentions. Wind of Change can also be seen on the plotter.

We put in a double reef to be safe the first 2 nights but had to motor sail the last night in light winds to ensure we got to the Duchateau islands in daylight so we could see the reefs. We knew we needed to maintain a 7 knot average to arrive in daylight of the 4th day.

Sunset, day 2

All systems go!

Friday, 14 September 2012

Well the last 10 days in Cairns have flown and we are leaving for the Louisiades (in PNG) tomorrow morning. It has been a great learning experience with the rally organiser and other participants (16 boats in total are going) sharing their knowledge.

Today we cleared customs and the weather looks great (touch wood).

We won’t have mobile or email access until we return to Australia around the end of October.

Our son Ben will be updating this blog regularly and also http://skipr.net/ using updates from us via Satphone. No photos unfortunately until we are back.

The rally also has a website that will have information about various events. http://www.louisiades.com/yacht-rally/2012-rally/. 

We are looking forward to finally starting the adventure, however I will be relieved when the passage to PNG is over (should take 4 days 3 nights if all goes to plan).

North to Cairns

Tuesday, 28 August to Wednesday, 5 September 2012
We left the Shaggers Rendezvous in company with 7 other yachts for the trip to Cape Upstart. Spinnaker run most of the way in perfect conditions. 2 school mackeral finally landed (and another released). Fresh fish for dinner! 13 yachts here overnight including many heading to Magnetic Island Race Week.

On Wednesday we covered the 70nm to Magnetic Island under spinnaker and anchored in Horseshoe Bay for 3 nights. Our departure further north was delayed through lack of wind but this is always a nice spot to spend a few days.

Highlight of the next few days was seeing a newborn whale as we were leaving Orpheus Island. We had been watching a whale lying on the surface for quite a while when we suddenly saw a second fin and then a small spout.

2 Dorsal fins 

The mother seemed to be pushing the whale in front of her. Eventually the baby got more and more active until it started breaching as we were leaving. Amazing!

Baby whale breaching off Little Pioneer Bay

Sunday night we were anchored at Dunk Island after a fast run with main and jib in the fresh conditions. A walk ashore revealed that not much has happened here since Cyclone Yasi although the pool has been cleaned and some staff are living in one group of units.

Dunk Island Jetty

Main restaurant and bar

Monday we sailed to Mission Bay which is just south of Cairns. Another good day for the spinnaker with a 7.3 knot average for the 68nm. Mission Bay appears to be a better anchorage than Fitzroy Island in swelly conditions.

On Tuesday with winds of 20 - 25 knots, we decided to head out Grafton Passage and practice reefing and setting our storm jib. A double reef and self tacker gave us speeds of around 8 knots then 7.5 knots with the triple reef in these conditions on the course to Louisiades (40 degrees magnetic). There was a good swell as we approached the end of the passage so it went some way to simulating the conditions we may encounter when setting the storm jib.

We took the opportunity to check how long to reach Duchateau Entrance in the Louisiades. 91 hours with storm jib and triple reef. 

Wednesday we headed to Half Moon Bay marina at Yorkeys Knob.On the way in we set the drogue - easier to set than retrieve.

We are here for 10 days to prepare for our first offshore passage. Some other yachts already here and there have already been many discussions around weather, provisioning etc. Guy Chester's preparation program begins on Tuesday. It looks like being a busy week!

Shagger's Rendezvous

Tuesday, 21 August 2012 to Monday, 27 August 2012
Tuesday we sailed up through the Gloucester Passage and anchored off Eco resort. We were joined by 130 other boats for the Shag Islet Cruising Yacht Club "Vice Commodore" Rendezvous 2012.

Gloucester Island 

Ken and Rhonda had a full program of events including ladies tennis, welcome drinks, Shag Islet Party, Parrot Head party at Monte's Resort and Pirate party at Dingo Beach. We caught up with old friends and made many new ones. There was a wedding on the beach and over $30,000 was raised for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and $2500 for Whitsunday VMR.

Impressive cake that depicts Shag Islet

Party ends as high tide approaches

About 400 people had a great time in an event that has traditional clubs wondering the secret of its success. Good fun, good value, member driven..........SICYC has over 1700 Vice Commodores (there are no Commodores or ordinary members) spread across the world. 

Ready to party (Photo by Nancy Jenks)

Snorkelling the Whitsundays

Saturday, 11 August to Monday, 20 August 2012
After getting the forestay fixed in record time, we went into Abel Point Marina on Saturday to pick up friends Lois and Kel for a 10 day cruise of the Whitsundays. After restocking, we headed off Sunday towards Cid Harbour.

Airlie Beach Race Week fleet

We had our first whale encounter off North Molle Island where we had to dodge a mother and calf cruising north. Monday morning we climbed Whitsunday Peak. Having walked the Inca Trail earlier this year, Lois and Kel found it a bit easier to breathe on this climb from sea level.

Lois, Kel, Warren and Debbie on Whitsunday Peak

The views from the top of this climb are picture postcard perfect (although I read recently the term now is screensaver perfect).

Looking South towards Hamilton Island

Later, we were pleased to catch up with Len and Isla who arrived with their new Fusion 40 Waterfront. It is very spacious and looks a treat.

Tuesday morning we sailed up to Blue Pearl Bay in a strong south easterly and had our first snorkel. Lots of fish, large coral but the water was a bit cloudy due to the wind. Wednesday morning the wind had eased so we motored around to Luncheon Bay and found the coral much brighter (when the sun came out) and the water clearer. Plenty of fish to watch here.

The weather has continued to ease so we decided to head out to Bait Reef on Thursday. On the way out, Lois got a fright when she saw a large whale breach directly in front of us about 40 metres away. The rest of us just saw the massive splash. All moorings were taken when we arrived however Seawind 1160 Amour De La Mer radioed to say they were leaving as we were contemplating heading to Hook Reef. Less fish to see on the reef here although they like hanging around the boats.

Warren swam with this huge Maori Wrasse

The coral was bright and intricate in design and the water very clear. Warren spotted a couple of crown of thorns starfish on a dead patch of reef.  We stayed the night with 5 other yachts and had another snorkel in the morning before heading back to Stonehaven.

We spent Saturday at One Foot Island off Langford Island. With no wind, it was ideal conditions to snorkel here and see turtles resting on the reef.

Relaxing at One Foot Island

Sunday we sailed back to Airlie in windy, overcast conditions. Quite a contrast to the weather over the last week. On Monday afternoon we were treated to an impressive display from the RAAF Roulettes who performed amazing acrobatics over Airlie Beach.

Watch those masts!

A nice finish to Lois and Kels stay!

Top Gun stunt from the RAAF Roulettes

Lucky us!

“You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.”
― Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men

To continue our story from the previous post, we are anchored in Tongue Bay having had a good sail down from Butterfly Bay. Lunch is finished and I am enjoying my cup of tea. Suddenly we hear what sounded like a rifle shot. At first, I thought someone had rammed the boat in a tinny. I raced up on deck asking Warren what had happened. He said "I don't know but the rig is slack." He went and checked the forestay and discovered this.

The forestay turnbuckle had exploded! For the non sailers reading this, the forestay is one of 3 main wires needed to keep the mast standing upright. We quickly stabilised the rig with the spinnaker halyard, lowered the boom to take the weight off the mast and took down the genoa and used the jib halyard to further stabilise the rig. Luckily there was only about 5 knots of breeze in the anchorage. With no phone or internet coverage, we decided to head off early back to Airlie in hopefully light winds and get in contact with Seawind and Tempo Spars.

Roland from Tempo advised that there had been a recall of these turnbuckles by Ronstan and over 20 Seawinds had had them replaced. Somehow we had been missed off the list! 

Broken turnbuckle

As luck would have it, Spot, the Ronstan man who had replaced them all, was in Airlie Beach for Race Week. He came to the boat as soon as we got to the public pontoon, confirmed this was the issue and arranged to get a new turnbuckle from a local rigger which he installed. All fixed within a couple of hours of arriving. A good outcome as we had thought it might take days to fix.

Spot reassembling the furler

So there was some good luck to fix the bad luck. Of course the worse luck would have been if the fitting had given way when we were sailing which might have led to losing the whole rig. Even worse if this had happened half way to PNG!

South to the Whitsundays in company

Friday, 3 August to Sunday, 5 August 2012 - 
Magnetic Island to the Whitsundays
Friday we sailed 85 miles to Upstart Bay - most of it to windward in perfect conditions for our genoa.We averaged 7 knots in winds that were 10-15 knots. Another 53 nm to windward on Sunday to Bona Bay. Less wind today and we motorsailed for much of it. Then an easy 31 nm to Blue Pearl Bay in light winds. It was champagne sailing that was made very special by the marine life we encountered along the way. We dodged whales (literally) all the way south.

We were entertained by breaching, tail slapping and this pair that kept bobbing their heads out of the water practising their synchronised swimming. We kept a very good lookout but were still surprised how many times we didn't see the whales until they were quite close. The closest surfaced 50 m off the starboard bow.

When we left Bona Bay we encountered 2 groups (pods or schools??) of manta rays. The first sailed right underneath the boat and gave us a good look at these graceful creatures.

We also saw dolphins, turtles and 1 sea snake. Only 1 fish landed, a large queenfish that we released as they are not great eating and don't freeze well.

Monday, 6 August to Wednesday, 8 August 2012 - Whitsundays
With such perfect weather, we decided to head out to Bait Reef - the closest outer reef to the Whitsundays. Very little wind most of the day and we motorsailed the 19nm out and motored back. Unfortunately we had a high tide in the middle of the day but the snorkeling was still good although not as clear as we have seen here previously.

School  of fish on Bait Reef

On Tuesday we snorkeled Luncheon Bay (great coral) and Manta Ray Bay (good coral and plenty of fish).

Butterfly Bay

On Wednesday explored Butterfly Bay by kayak before sailing south to Tongue Bay in a good breeze. We anchored in close in a nice protected position. What happened next had both our hearts racing...........

Halifax Bay

Sunday, 22 July to Thursday, 2 August 2012
We had perfect weather as we explored Rattlesnake and Herald Islands. Both were named after royal navy survey vessels that surveyed the area in the 1840s.

Rattlesnake Island

Rattlesnake looks as you would expect an island that is bombed regularly to look while Herald looks like the perfect desert island scene.

Herald Island Anchorage

Until you go ashore that is!

The anchorages here were fine in the conditions we had but with more wind forecast we headed back to Horseshoe Bay. We had 4 nights here and we walked to Balding Bay (local nudist beach) and Radical Bay and caught the bus to Nelly Bay. We then headed back to Townsville as the new GPS antennae for our AIS had arrived. We decided to stay at the Townsville Yacht Club which is situated up Ross Creek.

Ross Creek

While motoring in, our compass malfunctioned again so we contacted Raymarine who agreed to replace the unit with a new one. Barry from Navcomm Electronics was very helpful in resolving this issue without any further delays.

We  headed back to Horseshoe Bay on Wednesday, 1 August to catch up with Pam and John from Allikat II. They were at Lizard Island with us last year and are also doing the Louisiade Rally this year. We didn't get there until after dark and very surprised by a light on the sail that looked like a torch. It turned out to be  the moon reflecting off the water into the sail.