Thursday
At 0730 we cast off our lines and motored out of the Gladstone Marina. As we motored alongside the shipping channel we passed an incoming LPG tanker with 4 tug boats assisting. It was 295 metres long with a beam of 60 metres (the length of the Tommy Norton dredge). Very impressive!
The forecast was for northerlies of 10-15 knots on a 0.5 metre swell, the forecast was wrong! There was no wind, and the swell was 1.5 metres beam on which, much to my disgust made me sea-sick for the first time ever. It may not have helped that I was sitting in the saloon completing book work and rather than get up and take a break, I worked through the uneasy feeling which slowly escalated till there was no return. I didn’t get any sympathy from Mark and Georgie who were both amazed/bemused to see me throw up. It only happened the once and then I moved on 😉
Five hours later we arrived at Pancake Creek with 3 other vessels already anchored. Shortly after a flotilla of 11 Riviera power boats motored into the creek, it was just like being back in the marina!
Friday
With rain and thunderstorms predicted we planned to stay in Pancake Creek for the day. Peter & Sal were making the journey from Gladstone and would arrive at Pancake Creek early afternoon.
The Marine Parks vessel was checking moorings, so we decided to delay Lucy’s run on the exposed sand banks (low tide) until they had departed, no need to poke the bear!
Saturday
The weather forecast was favourable for Saturday and Sunday with less than 10 knots of wind and clear sunny skies. The planets had finally aligned to allow us to go out to Lady Musgrave Island – a 5 hour voyage. We pulled up anchor at 0545 on a high tide and slowly motored our way out of Pancake Creek.
Once in open water we put up the mainsail and genoa setting a reasonable pace of 6.6 knots in the 10-15 knot northerly. We arrived outside the lagoon at midday which was perfect timing to allow us to safely navigate the entrance and bommies with the sun directly above us. We carefully motored into the lagoon and anchored in sand. The water was crystal clear, straight away we unpacked the snorkelling gear and set off in the dinghy with the bathescope to search out the best snorkelling spots.
There was an amazing variety of hard coral, and the fish of all shapes and sizes were fantastic. The turtles were very tame allowing us to swim up close. You know the tropical photos you see displayed at travel agents with the gorgeous colourful fish in huge schools swimming just below the surface, this was what it was like. Mark and I took turns driving the dinghy and snorkelling with Georgie until we were all totally waterlogged and our skin was wrinkly.
The company Lady Musgrave Experience (from Bundaberg) have installed a reef & sleep pontoon at Lady Musgrave which has 3 levels. The top level had glamping accommodation. The bottom level has an underwater observatory also containing bunk beds, the middle level also had bunk beds along with bathrooms, kitchen, lounge and lockers containing all dive and snorkelling gear.
We left all the snorkel gear on the side deck and blew up the stand-up paddle boards, ready to be used first thing in the morning. Taking the dinghy to the beach with Peter & Sal we went for a walk and came across a wooden hut-like structure with windows that was very impressive and must have taken a long time to build. After watching the sun go down we motored back to the boat looking forward to the next day of exploring the reef, but it was not to be.
Sunday
Internet access at Lady Musgrave was intermittent with the signal fading in and out. At 0600 we checked the weather and noticed the forecast had changed, the wind was due to pick up early afternoon to 20-25 knots. It was high tide so if we were going to go, now was the time. We quickly deflated the paddle boards, grabbed the snorkel gear, secured everything on deck and in the cabin, pulled up anchor and did a runner.
Once in open water we put up the mainsail and genoa, averaging 7.5-8.5 knots. We were disappointed that our stay at Lady Musgrave had been cut short, but were thankful that we were able to leave before good times went bad.
The sail to Burnett Heads would take 9 hours, shortly after lunch the wind speed increased along with the following swell and sea. As we neared the entrance to the channel at Burnett Heads it was time to lower the main sail, which was going to be interesting as the wind was on the stern and we had to turn into the wind meaning we would be momentarily side on to the swell/sea. Neither Mark or I were terribly excited about what had to be done…Mark loosened the preventer he had on the main, I pushed the throttle down to spin Escapade around facing the waves as quickly as possible so that Mark, wearing life jacket and tethered to the boat, could go out on deck to lower the main. At this stage we were taking some nice waves over the bow of Escapade as we faced into the swell/sea, I had backed off on the power so that we were slowly making way into the wind. Mark lowered the main in lightning speed, and once he was back in the cockpit securing ropes, I waited until the next set of waves rolled through and then pushing the power down again quickly turning Escapade 180 degrees so that we were facing the Burnett River once again. Although Escapade was rolling at times up to 25 degrees (to those salty sailors out there, 25 degrees would be nothing) it was not an issue and the boat handled the conditions extremely well.
Monday
Anchored in the Burnett River upstream from the port, we were unable to get to shore in the dinghy. There was a strong wind blowing at 20-25 knots. We had booked a berth at the marina but Mark was not comfortable entering the marina with such strong wind.
Just after the sunset we had a thunderstorm roll through and the wind picked up to 37 knots causing us to drag 60 metres in the soft mud. We had 55 metres of chain out in 3.5 metres of water but it was not enough. There were a few tense moments as Mark started the engine, Georgie and I had spotlights making sure that we were not going to hit any other boats. We pulled up the chain, motored forward and reset the anchor with even more chain out. The storm passed and so did the wind, dropping to less than 5 knots for the rest of the evening, the damage had been done though, we did not rest well over night.
Tuesday-Sunday
The rest of the week was spent doing jobs and catching up with Matt, Riley, Tayla & Ryan. The next time we will see the family will be January in Victoria (COVID permitting).
Glad I wasn’t there for that Rolly swell. If it was bad enough to make Simone throw up I would have needed an emergency airlift !
Yep it was pretty ordinary – I would’ve taken an airlift if one was offered 😁