Sunday
Last night Frank (from SV Bundeena) invited us aboard for dinner. We first met Frank at Island Head Creek. Frank is not a bad cook and is pretty handy with an acoustic guitar. After finishing our meal, he played a few tunes with us attempting to sing along. It brought back memories of being serenaded by Sam and Greg on board Shadie. When it was time to leave, we noticed that a few of the boats anchored around us had moved further away, we were sure it was due to the forecast wind change and not our singing, as we are awesome after a bottle of wine! 😉
It was a lovely sunny morning with 15-20 knots of trade wind blowing. It was going to be a bit lumpy on our sail across the passage so as a precaution Georgie took a Phenergan tablet (which has been working a treat with her sea sickness). We pulled up anchor at 0730 and motored towards the channel leading out of the inlet. A motor-boat was ahead of us with 6 guys, towing 2 tinnies and a dinghy. They struck a spot of bother when their tinny and dinghy lines got tangled and they were blocking the entrance to Nara Inlet. There was a slight traffic jam as boats waited in line to enter and exit the channel while they frantically tried to get out of the way.
We sailed across to Airlie for a quick walk around town and a top up of provisions prior to sailing onto Woodwark Bay where we would spend the night. It’s not very often I get a chance to get any dirt on Mark, but an opportunity arose when we went to the supermarket. Mark does not like shopping at the best of times, so when we go shopping, he is the trolley driver. Well at one stage I looked at him and realised that he was so focused on what was next on the list that he’d accidently left our trolley (half full in an isle) and was pushing around some poor staff member’s trolley full of empty cardboard boxes! That made my day 😊
Monday-Tuesday
The morning was spent with Georgie doing her schoolwork and preparing the boat for the next sailing leg. The trip up to Gloucester was going to take 3-4 hours.
At 1100 hours we picked up anchor, put up the mainsail and let out the genoa with a very pleasant 15 knot south easterly wind. We averaged about 6 knots. As we neared Galoucester Passage (between the main land and Gloucester Island) Mark yelled out to Georgie and I as he’d spotted a whale 100 metres off the port side. Unfortunately, we were not quick enough to get the genoa in or get a photo as the boat and the whales were heading in opposite directions.
We arrived at Cape Gloucester at 1330 and dropped anchor putting out 30 metres of chain in 5.5 metres of water. Cape Gloucester is well known for its annual Shaggers get together. I must be honest, when I first heard this mentioned, I thought it was just a group of oldies reminiscing about free love – the hippie years in the 1960’s. I was wrong (although, some members do like the double meaning!) The Shag Islet Cruising Yacht Club (SICYC) is a legitimate name. The SICYC is a not-for-profit incorporated organisation which has over 7000 members who are all identified as vice commodores. (the motto is “Exclusively, Non-Exclusive”) The aim of the club is to provide a social network in Australia and world-wide.
The name of the yacht club originated from Shag Islet at Gloucester Passage in the Whitsundays where a Rendezvous is held each year, on the last full weekend in August. Shag Islet Cruising Yacht Club’s primary charity is the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA). Since May 2009, just over $654,000 (AUD) has been raised by SICYC and its members to aid Prostate Cancer Research and Awareness.
Wednesday
After a rolly night with not a lot of sleep, we took Lucy for a walk along the beach and then picked up anchor at 1000 and motored over to Gloucester Island. Along the way we saw a young hump back whale happily swimming by itself. Shortly after we arrived at 1100 and instantly noted that the anchorage was a lot calmer.
We jumped in the dinghy and went for a quick scout with the bathyscope looking for coral and fish. The water was milky so we did not see a lot. Mark grabbed the fishing rod and instantly caught some small fish that he could use as bait to hopefully lure something larger – with no luck.
Later in the afternoon SV Fortuna joined us in the bay. We went ashore at 1400 hours and spent the afternoon on the beach. Georgie and Harriett made multiple sand castles and created different games which kept them entertained. Just as the sun was setting we noticed two sharks swimming between our boats and the beach. The boats were anchored about 100 metres from shore, the sharks were about 50 metres off the beach. This was our first sighting of a shark.
Thursday
We picked up anchor at 0800. The sun was shining and it was our first glass out day since being in the Whitsundays. The wind was predicted to freshen in the afternoon and blow from the north so we decided to slowly motor over to Bowen in preparation for the northerly.
45 minutes into the trip Mark spotted a whale ahead. It turned out that there were two whales. So at about 500 metres away we turned the engine off and got out the drone. We could not believe our eyes as the whales started approaching us, they seemed to be as interested in us as we were in them. The whales slowly cruised across our bow and did a full circle around Escapade before continuing on. It was so awesome and has been the highlight of our trip. Lucy could not take her eyes off the whales and seemed overwhelmed when she realised there were two. Georgie was so excited, taking a lot of photos and video footage with her phone.
We arrived at Bowen at 1300 hours. After anchoring we went ashore, disposed of our rubbish and had a wander around the township. Bowen reminded both Mark and I of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, the wide streets, very dry, the bushland and the hotels with wraparound verandas on each corner.
Friday
At 0900 we pulled up anchor and with SV Fortuna set sail on a 6-hour passage towards Cape Upstart.
As we neared the Abbot Point coal terminal mark checked the shipping schedule to confirm that we had a window to stay on the same tack past the port. As we reached the approach channel we noticed that the 230m coal carrier “BISON” had got underway early and was heading our way. We pulled in the genoa and altered course so that we would pass astern of the ship. Shortly after SV Fortuna did the same.
We reached Cape Upstart at 1600 hours and dropped anchor just inside the Cape along with 2 other yachts and 5 fishing boats, Mark set the anchor and Georgie started making dinner. There were bullets of 25 knots of wind shooting down from the hills, but we seemed to be holding OK. Two hours later the anchor alarm sounded, we had dragged 16 metres. Making a call sooner rather than later we pulled up the anchor and motored in the dark further down the bay where it seemed to be a lot calmer, set the anchor again and had a restful night sleep.
Saturday
SV Fortuna had some bad luck the previous day, they’d torn their mainsail as they were taking it down. Thankfully Simon had some repair tape that he could use as a short term fix (it wasn’t gaffa tape, although gaffa tape fixes everything! 😉). Mark gave Simon & Dina a hand and after allowing time for the glue to dry the main was fixed back into place in preparation for the voyage tomorrow.
The afternoon was spent hanging out on the beach with Simon, Dina and Harriett joining us mid afternoon. Georgie, Harriett and Lucy spent the time beachcombing, paddling in the water and playing games on the beach.
We had started the day with just two yachts in the bay, but by the end of the day there were 6 yachts and the neighbouring bay had 7 fishing vessels which were all in a single line.
Sunday
We pulled up anchor at 0600, facing into the wind we put up the mainsail and then let out the genoa before pointing the bow towards Cape Bowling Green. The wind was short lived and before long we had no wind and were motoring. We arrived at Cape Bowling Green at 1430 and anchored in 3 metres of water.
Cape Bowling Green is the longest sand spit in Australia, extending north for over 14 km as a narrow, low spit, to form the eastern boundary of Bowling Green Bay. (NOTE: not to be confused with silt jetties which are formed at the mouth of a river, such as the Mitchell River Silt Jetties which are over 8 kilometres and the second largest silt jetties in the world. The Mitchell River silt jetties are the longest in the southern hemisphere.
Georgie and Harriett spent hours paddling around the shore with Lucy rounding them up to make sure they did not stray. Lucy was never really interested in swimming, she would enter the water up to her belly and then walk back up the beach. But with the warmer weather (24-27 degrees), Lucy now launches off the front of the dinghy when we are about 50 metres from shore and swims into the beach. Now when we are swimming Lucy will come and join us.
Cape Bowling Green doesn’t offer the best shelter, hence its nickname Cape “Rolling” Green. We were very fortunate as there was no wind, which meant a great night’s sleep.
Monday
At 0900 we pulled up anchor, put the main sail up (for looks only, as there was no wind) and motored out of Cape Bowling Green Bay. Three hours later we were still motoring out of Cape Bowling Green Bay as it is a huge bay!
It was a slow trip, the wind was less than 5 knots, the sea was like cellulite, and we arrived at Magnetic Island (along with 6 other yachts) at 1500. First thing we did was put our boom shades up to deflect the heat of the sun and then went ashore to get an ice-cream and go for a walk (to walk off the ice-cream). Tomorrow we’ll be catching up with Al, Leanne & Georgie 😊.