The Whitsundays - We made it!

We try to keep the blog as interesting as possible so hope you enjoy the latest news post.

The journey so far has made us appreciate how much the weather affects every decision we make and where and when to next set sail. On checking the weather as usual with all intentions of heading home we found perfect conditions to push north for the coming week mmmmm................. so that's what we did, we'll save Lady Musgrave for the homeward leg.

The first thing we started to notice was the landscape changing and the feeling of being very remote; no phone, VHF radio or Internet. The temperature started to become quite clammy and tropical and the water had turned an intense colour of turquoise in the sandy bays; very inviting for a swim. We took our time cruising through the Northunberland Isles just below the Whitsundays which are made up of small deserted islands overnighting at Pearl Bay and a group of islands called the Percy Isles.

It was on to Mackay to restock supplies where we had to navigate through 100+ tankers; whoops a bit close. Then onwards and upwards to the Whitsundays yippee! We plan to cruise around this area for at least a couple of weeks and when we've had enough start the return journey. The homeward leg should be quite exciting as whales are migrating north at this time of year heading to the warmer waters so we'll have to keep a close lookout as they pass us by.

This is probably going to be the last post for a while unless we have something news-worthy to report.
We hope you have enjoyed our journey so far and look forward to catching up with you soon.

Dave, Caroline & Archie :)

Rosslyn Bay Marina - Great Barrier Reef

After a rocky night at Great Keppel Island we headed to Rosslyn Bay to re-fuel, the south easterly was forecast to get stronger so we decided to stay a night at the marina: special treat. We took this opportunity to organised a mechanic to check over our engine as it hadn't been starting first time. Lucky for us when the mechanic came to look at it he couldn't get it started and found the starter motor had broken - now replaced phew!

Archie couldn't believe his eyes when he spotted a turtle feeding at the side of the pontoon. We had to carry him back to the boat or he would of been in the marina beside the turtle.

This is the point we decided its time to head home. We've had a great experience and now feel ready to resume life on land. Our adventure started 6 months ago and to us it feels like we've been away for ages. Its not over by any means it will take us 6 weeks plus to sail back to Sydney and hope to stop off at Lady Musgrave Island where the snorkeling is meant to be amazing. Looks like we may be at the marina for several more days though as the southerlies have set in for the moment :(

Great Keppel Island

We're currently trying to tuck into a bay at Great Keppel Island with 6 other cruising yachts eager to keep out of a southerly swell. Despite being on the north side of the island the swell is working its way around the corners. A couple of the yachts are using different techniques to stop them rolling around; one has his sail up, another has his boom out at 45 degrees with a weight holding it in place and we are attempting something else, running a second line from the back of the boat to the anchor chain to hold us into the swell. None of these methods seem to be working too well and we are all still rolling all over the place. No sundowners tonight as we are feeling too queasy.

Today we took the opportunity of getting onto terra firma and exploring the island which has a resort, a couple of restaurants and some nice walking tracks. We walked through clouds of blue and black butterflies which seem to have all hatched at the same time - impossible to photograph. The tides here have a bigger range than in NSW with close to 4m between high and low and when we returned from our walk the dingy was 100 meters up the beach. Poor Dave had to drag it down to the water himself as my knee is still recovering.

Up to Mooloolaba

Sunrise the morning we left Ballina, the sea was calm and the bar was totally flat. We had decided to continue heading north if the weather improved which it had.

When we returned to the boat we found we had a lot of cleaning up to do. The boat had been anchored in a bird sanctuary for the last three weeks and an osprey family nesting nearby had moved in. Samurai had become a handy perch to look for fish. Archie loves feathers and was very pleased with himself when he found one of the large osprey feathers.

We covered 200 nm in three days stopping briefly at Southport and Morton Bay arriving at Mooloolaba for Easter. The town was a buzz with people holidaying over Easter with great cafes, restaurants and a beautiful beach.

Having spent 3 days here we're now preparing for the next few legs up the coast to Bundaberg. In order to arrive at Wide Bay Bar close to high tide, we'll be getting up at 3:30am in the morning...uggh! About 450nm to go to the Whitsundays.