Nimrod catamaran

GoPro shots of Nimrod under sail

2011-11-24T20:03:00.001+10:00

I recently got a little GoPro underwater video camera. Here are some shots of Nimrod under sail. The camera gets attached to a boat hook, and held over the side to see unusual angles.

Fraser Island 4WD

2011-11-18T08:15:00.001+10:00

After Lady Musgrave Island, the wind turned gently from the north-east, which made it possible to sail directly to Rooney Point, on the north-western tip of Fraser Island. A long day, but a pleasant one. We walked on the beach in Platypus Bay, and caught 13 sand crabs of various sizes which turned into a fantastic seafood chowder in due course.

Then a beautiful 25 nm kite run the length of Platypus Bay to tuck in behind Moon Point.

On Tuesday we had some shore time in Urangan, topping up fuel, water and provisions. Its a whale watch town, now out of season, and pretty quiet. The whales and their calves are on their way to the antarctic.

Urangan marina

On Thursday we rented a little Suzuki 4WD from Kingfisher resort on Fraser Island and went for an explore. Some beautiful places, but the driving is not for the fainted-hearted. The sandy tracks were very dry, and churned up by the big 4WD backpacker coaches, so very easy to get bogged in if we didn't keep our speed up. Hair-raising at times!

Lake MacKenzie

Kookaburra

One Day on Earth (Lady Musgrave Island)

2011-11-14T17:36:00.001+10:00

I first heard of heard of the One Day on Earth project last year, when 10/10/10 was the day when people shot video from all around the planet, which was edited into a compilation.

You can see the trailer here.

This year the date was 11/11/11.

We sailed from Pancake Creek out to Lady Musgrave Island, starting under a full moon at 2.30 am.

Lady Mus is a fantastic place. It is a coral cay, one of the best in the world. We walked around it, and did some powerdiving and snorkelling. We shot some video for the One Day on Earth project.

Yes, I know it doesn't match the standard, and none of it will make the final cut, but, hey! you have to start somewhere.

After leaving Lady Musgrave, we had a tight reach to the tip of Fraser Island, picking up a nice Spanish Mackerel on the way.

Keppel Bay to Gladstone

2011-11-10T09:01:00.015+10:00

George and I flew to Rockie and rejoined Nimrod at Rosslyn Bay. She had had her diesel infection dealt with in our absence, and the filter bowl looked like Chardonnay rather than Pernod. All happy.

Rosslyn Bay marina

Next day we rented a car to do the big provisioning raid on Yeppoon supermarket, before collecting our friends Brian and Meredith from the airport. They are both psychiatrists, known to George and I independently for about 20 years.

We had a lovely four day cruise with them, taking in Great Keppel Island, North Keppel, and Corio Bay. Some nice kite runs, and a bit of snorkelling.

Considine Bay, North Keppel Island.

George turned on some great meals, as usual.

Corio Bay

On Tuesday, Brian and Meredith flew home, and we reprovisioned again, before setting off south. Pacific Creek was a peaceful night, before catching the tide to traverse the Narrows between Curtis Island and the mainland. There is a lot of industrial development going on, with the coal seam gas plant being built, and extensive dredging. There has been considerable controversy about the dredging in particular, intensified by a recent run of sick fish being caught near Gladstone.

We passed a Friends of the Earth operation and gave them a cheer.

We are now relaxing in Pancake Creek, planning our next move.

Waiting for the trades to ease

2011-09-06T03:40:00.005+10:00

GRIB files are very useful maps of future wind speed and direction. We can get a fairly accurate image of the next 7 days, and plan accordingly. Over the last week we have been staring at maps with a mass of 20-30 knot arrows all pointing in exactly the opposite direction to where we need to go.

We use the PocketGrib app in the iPad, or I have recently discovered zyGrib for the Mac.

So we have been 'hanging out' or 'gunkholing' first in Island Head Creek, and today in Port Clinton. Another big crab. George cooks the most fabulous crab chowder.

Island Head Creek is one of our favourite places, so it has been extremely relaxing.

Island Head Creek

Port Clinton

But tomorrow is the big push, so we have to make it south to Rosslyn Bay marina, put the boat into mothballs, and then fly home on Friday.

Marty the Mudcrab

2011-09-01T17:49:00.006+10:00

From Mackay, we made a break south to get to shelter before the next bout of predicted strong winds. First to Middle Percy,

then to Hexham Island,

South Passage - sail training schooner, at Hexham Island.

before sneaking inside the huge wilderness area of Shoalwater Bay. This is a military reserve that is sometimes closed for war-games, and hardly anyone goes there. The tides are huge.

We spent one night in Canoe Passage, and another up Mistake Creek. Beautiful and remote.

You may have heard the comic story of 'Marty the Mudcrab'. Hear it here. The good news is that we found Marty. The biggest crab I ever saw. 600mm from claw to claw.

Tonight we have made it to Island Head Creek, and are nicely settled in for a few days.

Coverage is extremely iffy. This is being written from up on the boom.

Fog

2011-08-28T08:55:00.005+10:00

After slogging into a head wind for a couple of days, we got to Mackay, rented a car, and unleashed the quartermaster (aka George) on the supermarket. Amazingly, Nimrod is still afloat!

The weather forecast is not too flash, featuring some strong SE winds starting on Wednesday, exactly on our nose as we head down the Queensland coast.

So today we made the most of the calm to motor off towards Digby Island, and possibly Middle Percy Island.

Thank God for radar. This coal ship loomed out of the fog.

Back on board

2011-08-24T08:41:00.012+10:00

Thursday 18th August.

George and I flew to Proserpine and loaded a minibus with provisions before going to Nimrod in the Laguana Quays marina.

Pond at Laguna Quays

All was well. Next day we sailed to Hamilton Island and met Anna and her boyfriend Sim, who had arrived from Melbourne.

Sim and Anna

We then did a gentle circumnavigation of Whitsunday Island, doing some power-diving at Border Island, some walking at Hill Inlet and Whitehaven Beach, and some kayaking up Gulnare Inlet.

Power-diving (with a 12 volt compressor and hose).

Hill Inlet

Anna

As we dropped them off at Hamilton Island, the Hammo Race week fleet were starting a race, which was exciting.

Ouch! That looks expensive!

The two of us are now setting off south for Yeppoon over the next two weeks. Currently holed up on Shaw Island in some strong wind.

Kite dropping technique

2011-07-01T17:51:00.019+10:00

We came across a number of people who are scared of putting their spinnakers up, because of the challenge of getting them down if the wind increases.

We have developed this technique, which seems to work well.

1) Always wear sailing gloves. The sock can race up pulling the thin sock rope through your hands at speed.

2) Pull in the tack-line so the tack is easy to reach from the bow.

3) We use a quick-release snap shackle on the tack line, and completely release the tack. Merely letting the tack-line out, or the sheet, sometimes leaves the kite with pressure in it, and a round-shouldered kite can be quite resistant to having a sock pulled over it. The brand we use is called Wichard. Another one is Tylaska. Conventional snap-shackles can't be relied on to release under load.

The end of the cruise

2011-06-23T20:37:00.002+10:00

Some photos from the last days of our cruise from the Gold Coast to Laguna Quays.

Backpackers ready to dive off their boat at sunrise.

A bush-fire at sunset behind the Laguna Quays hard-stand

Seawind regatta

2011-06-21T10:38:00.008+10:00

We have spent the last few days enjoying the company of Graeme Nolan and his wife Enriqueta, who came on board while we took part in the informal version of the Seawind Whitsunday regatta. Graeme used to be production manager at Seawind, and is a fund of useful information and entertaining stories.

The formal regatta had been cancelled for lack of participants, but our version worked just fine. We had an exciting race on Sunday, in which we flew our kite in a 25 knot wind, narrowly missing overtaking a Seawind 1250 called 'Imagine' (bigger and faster than our 1160).

Unfortunately I yelled out 'Yer big Nancy!' to their Scottish skipper Chris, because he was afraid to fly their kite. He was provoked into putting it up, and staved off our challenge. Still great fun, fast sailing on a lovely day.

Then down to Whitehaven Beach again, with nightly parties.

The Whitsundays are a lovely cruising ground, with lots to see.

Backpacker daytrip on an old racing yacht 'Boomerang'.

The beach at Hill Inlet on Whitsunday Island.

Whitehaven Beach

2011-06-17T16:12:00.002+10:00

A beautiful stopover on one of the great beaches.

Whitsundays

2011-06-15T16:23:00.004+10:00

We arrived in the south Whitsundays yesterday, at Brampton Island. The resort is closed 'for renovation', but it looks like its a GFC mothball job.

We went for a nice 8km walk around the island, before heading north again to Shaw Island, just near the Lindeman Club Med resort.

Goanna with tongue stuck out.

Another goanna.

Dugong

2011-06-14T11:37:00.003+10:00

After waiting out the stormy weather in Island Head Creek, we moved on north, but not before seeing a dugong working the creek near the boat.

After passing Townsend Island, the wind picked up and we had a fast kite reach up to the Duke Islands, where we stopped at Marble Island, and went ashore for a walk.

Leaving Marble Island at dawn.

Next morning on to Curlew Island, where we had a spectacular beach all to ourselves.

Now we are motor sailing further up to Brampton Island, near Mackay.

Gunkholing

2011-06-11T18:26:00.006+10:00

We raided Rosslyn Bay in commando fashion. Swept in and topped up with diesel and filtered water. The diesel needs 1/100 'Fuel Doctor' because we have had an infection. Then we borrowed a free car from the marina, and hit the supermarkets in Yeppoon to provision for the next stage of the cruise, through remote wilderness with limited access to shops or coverage.

Thursday 9th an early start and a pleasant kite run up to Pearl Bay, a gorgeous spot in the Shoalwater Bay Military Reserve. Initially we were all alone, but then two Seawinds turned up and we were invited aboard for a drink.

Friday we went on to Island Head Creek, a favourite place, which George and I visited in 2001, as well as a number of other times. Not dissimilar to Pittwater, but completely isolated.

Island Head Creek

And here we are, hanging out as a cold southerly and pouring rain comes through. Cosy as, with the genset giving a squirt to the reverse aircon as required, and entertainment like reading (George is reading 'Cutting for Stone' by Abraham Verghese, and and I am reading 'Lovesong' by Alex Miller on my iPad), and watching 'War and Peace' (the 20 episode BBC version with Anthony Hopkins).

The technical expression for this type of cruising is 'gunkholing'.

The Great Barrier Reef

2011-06-07T17:41:00.012+10:00

The Great Barrier Reef lies about 30 nautical miles off shore, and there are not many all-weather anchorages. The main one we have used several times has been Lady Musgrave Island, which has a large lagoon with a boat entrance.

Leaving 1770 on Sunday, the weather was extremely calm, with a forecast of trivial winds for the next few days. Not good for sailing, but a great time to check out some of the reefs which might be uncomfortable in more normal conditions.

Leaving 1770

So first to Fitzroy Reef, a spectacular coral lagoon with no island. It was glassy, like being in a huge swimming pool way out in the ocean.

We did some diving, with the 12 volt Divemaster airpump following in the kayak, and George went for a paddle. You can get the feeling here.

Lovely sunset.

Then on to North-West Island, via Heron Island. NW Island has a large lagoon, but no boat entrance. We went ashore and later did another dive. Stunning fish life. The Divemaster lets me go down to about 10 metres, without the need for compressors, tanks, BCDs etc.

Now back to Great Keppel Island and Rosslyn Bay for reprovisioning, before we hit the wilderness between here and Mackay.

Cruising north 2011

2011-06-05T09:16:00.013+10:00

I set off with my mate Steve Davis on Friday 27th May, and we sailed up through Moreton Bay. Steve is a comedian, and we have sailed a lot together over the years.

Steve playing 'Air ukelele'

Winds easy and mostly following, with the kite up a lot of the time. A particularly good romp from Tangalooma on Moreton Island to Mooloolaba, much of it at 15 knots boat speed. Then across the Wide Bay Bar into the Great Sandy Straits. A large fish got on the line, and carried off the rod-holder, rod, reel, hook, line and sinker!

Up to Garry's Anchorage, and a night in Platypus Bay, before a rendezvous with George in Burrum Heads, a little settlement on the west side of Hervey Bay. Steve drove George's car home.

Nimrod in Platypus Bay

Platypus Bay, storm brewing

Burrum Heads

Burrum Heads

The Womens group in the Burrum Heads caravan park.
The brollies are to protect against poop from rainbow lorikeets roosting at dusk!

Burrum Heads fisherman

June 2nd, George and I carried on north to Burnett Heads, and then to the town of 1770, where we met up with our friends in their new Lightwave 45 'Blue Spirit'. I made a video of the launching a few weeks ago.

A trawler in the Burnett River at dawn.

1770

1770

Blue Spirit

As I write we are motoring out to the Great Barrier Reef in calm conditions. We hope to do some diving this afternoon at Fitzroy Reef, then go one tomorrow via Heron Island to North-West Island, before ducking back to Great Keppel Island. These reefs are better visited in calm conditions, so this is a good opportunity. We will try out the kayak and Dive-master 12v air-compressor.

Tin boat race

2011-03-22T19:49:00.006+10:00

A rainy day in Iluka was enlivened by a colourful spectacle. A club of dotty enthusiasts racing boats built of corrugated iron and cast-off sails.

Run down the beach and they're off!

The winner is the first to hug the tree!

From Iluka a long days sail to Tweed Heads, where we crossed the bar in style, surfing on a wave at 18 knots, trying to look as if we were under control. Yeehar!

Into the Mystic

2011-03-20T06:43:00.013+10:00

I've been using quiet times on the boat to practice video editing and incorporate clips into the blog.

Here is one, from the voyage south.

Did you know that Van Morrison's 'Into the Mystic' was rated top song to operate by in a survey of surgeons?

Navigating north by temp

2011-03-18T13:00:00.007+10:00

One of the curious things about navigating in this part of the world is the use of different instruments. After four nights in Port Stephens, which is a lovely bay, we are heading home now, trying to avoid the southerly set of the East Australian Current.

This involves getting a recent infra-red satellite picture of the EAC, and using the thermometer attached to the log paddle-wheel to try and stay in the cold north-bound eddies, (blue and green) and avoid the warm current itself (red).

23rd Feb 2011

17th March 2011

By sneaking in along the coast and watching the thermometer and drift rate, we can make a lot more progress. Its also interesting to watch the coastline.

We hit quite a squall when approaching Port MacQuarie, with lightning and wind hitting 57 knots. The Hastings River was peaceful, and we had company from a number of swallows.

Coffs Harbour tonight.

On the way to Port Stephens

2011-03-14T21:04:00.011+10:00

Plenty socializing in Camden Haven, with various lovely people.

Then on south to Port Stephens, after a 4 am start to cross the bar as safely as possible. Initially quiet, but the northerly built gradually until we had a spanking kite run with an escorting troupe of dolphin acrobats.

Deco and Conor

Deco on deck

Camden Haven

2011-03-11T07:33:00.003+10:00

Leaving Coffs Harbour in the early morning.

A kite run down the coast to Camden Haven, which is a lovely spot just south of Port Macquarie, and not far from George's old stamping grounds at Taree and Lansdowne, so easy for socializing with old friends.

Camden Haven entrance

Camden Haven entrance from North Brother

Point Perpendicular

Pelican

Ketches in the rain
Melissa and Anthony

Meandering down the NSW coast

2011-03-09T11:43:00.008+10:00

The wind and rain kept us in the area of Yamba, Angourie, Iluka and the Clarence River for six nights. A lovely place to hang out, with walks, shopping, and plenty of delicious seafood. $8 for a kilo of whiting filleted in front of your eyes by the fisherman. We love hanging round the fishing harbours, buying from the boats whenever possible. A particularly good deal is 'headless green prawns', which are the ones with soft shells that don't stand up to distribution to retailers. The fishermen chop their heads off and sell them for around $25 per kg, which, since the heads are about half the weight, gives you as much meat as normal prawns at $12/kg! Big juicy fresh ones for the BBQ.

Our friends Fitch and Sue are setting off for a photo trip round Lake Eyre, and they swung by with their camping 4WD rig. We took them on a river cruise up the Clarence to where the Pacific Highway bridge blocks sailing boats.

Then a night in Iluka, waiting for the weather to clear, before an early start for Coffs Harbour.

Coffs Harbour

Quite a lumpy sea, and George looked a bit green for a while. But the afternoon turned into a lovely sail, and twelve hours later we arrived in Coffs, to a 'Cooee' from the jetty from my old mate Rog. He is one of my oldest friends, going back 42 years to Bristol University where he was a dental student. He actually introduced me to Liz.

We had a relaxing time in Coffs, re-provisioning, and hanging out with Rog and his partner Wendy.

Wendy

And now we are traveling again, gently running down the coast with only the kite up, and the
EAC under our keels, trying not to arrive too soon to cross the bar into Camden Haven tonight.

March 2011

2011-03-04T09:45:00.007+10:00

Hi readers,

The good ship Nimrod is off cruising again, after the summer of floods and cyclones was spent safely tucked up in Southport.

We had a refit done at the Gold Coast City Marina, a very impressive place indeed, with lots of different subbies on tap. There was a lift-out and anti-fouling as well as service of the diesels, and various repairs and improvements. Nimrod has a nice new Rocna anchor system, and fresh, longer chain. There are few things more scary than dragging anchor in a squall in the middle of the night.

So Monday Feb 28th we set off with a brilliant sunny day and 20 knot NE wind for a vigorous broad reach to Tweed Heads in time to cross the bar.

Surfers Paradise

Burleigh Heads

The next morning, there was another fair wind for making some southerly miles, so we made a dawn start and sailed fast for 12 hours south to Yamba. A beautiful day.

Leaving Tweed River at dawn

We are now hanging out in the Yamba and Angourie areas, making use of a rental car to explore, while some wet weather passes through.

Yamba trawler fleet

Angourie beach

Wallaby on Angourie cliff walk

Pandanus palm roots

Flannel flowers

Angourie headland 2011

Angourie headland 2001

Brooms Head

Lady Musgrave Island

2010-11-04T10:31:00.011+10:00

After Yeppoon, George and I set off alone for the next leg. First out to Great Keppel Island, which has lovely bays and walks, and is much nicer than suggested by the resort promotion 'Get Wrecked on Great Keppel'.

Then down to Yellow Patch on Curtis Island, Facing Island near Gladstone, and Pancake Creek, before heading out to sea to the atoll lagoon on the Great Barrier Reef, Lady Musgrave Island. The island is tiny, but the lagoon is huge, with a very narrow entrance in the coral.

There we were met by our friends Steve and Sue, who come from across the valley in Austinville.

They are both keen photographers, which inspired attempts to capture some of the masses of White-capped noddy terns on the island.

Pirelli Calendar girl

We also had fun snorkeling on the reef, and diving with our 12 volt Powerdive compressor, which allows you to go down to 10 metres without a scuba tank. Beautiful!

Beating south

2010-10-27T18:01:00.012+10:00

The plan had been that we would cruise downwind northwards in May, with the steady South-easterlies. That happened.

Then in August we would meander from Hinchinbrook Island to Mackay, through the Whitsundays. Not a particularly ambitious project, partly because the area is interesting, partly because we aimed to have guests aboard, and partly because we knew that the winds would still be from the south-east. It all happened as planned.

But the next trip, from Mackay to Southport, from mid-October to mid-November, was supposed to coincide with the arrival of the North-easterlies, thus making it a down-hill run.

That is what happened exactly nine years ago, when George and I did a cruise in Sahula from Mackay to Tin Can Bay in the first fortnight of October 2001 (three weeks after 9/11) at the very beginning of our relationship.

But this time the northeasterlies are nowhere to be seen. Its steady on the nose all the time.

The good news is that Nimrod handles it very well. We have the small self-tacking jib on (which lets us point higher than the genoa) and when it gets choppy enough to slow the boat down, we put on one engine at 2000 - 2200 rpm and motor-sail along at 8 knots. That has the added benefit of topping up the batteries, and giving us hot water for showers at the end of the day. One engine uses one litre of diesel an hour, so its very economical.

The first week of this trip we were joined by our friends Greg and Jan, from Sydney. They are about to get a share of a Lightwave 45, and took the opportunity to help us from Mackay to Yeppoon.

Greg & Jan

We went from Mackay to Scawfell Island, and then down to Curlew Island, before stopping at Middle Percy Island, with its remarkable yachties shrine.

Middle Percy Island

George went exploring in the new inflatable kayak.

Pearl Bay

We dropped Greg and Jan off at Rosslyn Bay marina near Yeppoon, and are now cruising gently south via Great Keppel Island, Yellow Patch, and Facing Island, outside Gladstone.

We have had some good luck fishing, with several tuna and also plenty of crabs.

Settled in Mackay

2010-08-20T17:13:00.009+10:00

Friday 20th August.
In a relaxing end to the cruise, we meandered down from Goldsmith Island to Brampton Island, where we enjoyed the lovely walks and amazing clouds of Blue Tiger butterflies.

Then on to the Mackay marina, where we spent a day reprovisioning and cleaning the boat before flying home.

Multis in the mist.

Music to charm whales

2010-08-16T12:50:00.005+10:00

Monday 16th August

A gentle sail from Shaw Island to Goldsmith Island was enlivened by some close encounters with whales. We saw two pairs of mothers with their new babies.

It was very close to where we saw a mother and calf a few years ago.

Slidehow here.

We experimented with different music to attract them closer. Fat Freddy's Drop "Based on a True Story". Dire Straits "Communique", (perhaps suiting trans-species communication?) and Jan Garbaret.

None really conclusive!

Whitsunday relaxation

2010-08-14T17:47:00.008+10:00

Saturday August 14th.

We are happily settled in the Whitsundays after some determined sailing. We did 70 nautical miles on Thursday on a tight reach in up to 30 knots of wind from Cape Bowling Green to Bowen . Two reefs at times. We caught a nice 5 kg Spanish Mackerel on the way.

Sunset in Bowling Green Bay, looking back to Cape Cleveland and Maggie Island.

Anchored off the beach at Bowen.

Then on Friday, another full day sailing through the Gloucester Passage to Blue Pearl Bay on Hayman Island. Some lovely snorkelling.

Blue Pearl Bay.

Today we called in to Hamilton Island to refuel and water, and are now near Lindeman Island.

Twas a dark and stormy night....

2010-08-11T10:33:00.007+10:00

Saturday 7th August.

Anna flew home to Melbourne after a lovely cruise with us. She eventually found her sea-legs.

Nadine (George's step-daughter) and her eight-year-old son Leroy arrived, and we had a brisk sail out to Horseshoe Bay on Maggie Island.

We saw our friends Mal and Lucy blitzing the fleet in their cat 'Barbarella'.

Leroy is a very active boy, and we had a lot of fun practicing grand-parenting.

This is a photography lesson. Set the speed low and pan with a fast moving subject. 'How fast can you run?'

Tuesday 10th August.

Nadine and Leroy flew home, and we set off south to Cape Bowling Green. An easy trip, with a quiet anchorage, initially, but a front came through in the night with howling wind and rain, threatening to put us on a lee shore. We upped anchor and motored round to a safer place, but not before we copped a load of seawater through a hatch onto our bed. Bummer! So lots of stuff hanging out to dry today while we wait for the weather to pass through.

Maggie Island

2010-08-05T10:27:00.003+10:00

One week gone, and the first leg has been achieved successfully.

We had a few of the usual dramas: Anna felt pretty queasy for a couple of days. The holding tank blocked up and was a smelly worry before resuming normal service. It seems that a sort of papier mache lining gets created inside the tank when it is allowed to settle for a couple of months.

But the good news is that our fish-drought got broken yesterday with a nice Mackeral Tuna.

We had a brisk sail through the Palm Islands and made it to Magnetic Island last night.

Beating south

2010-08-03T11:56:00.015+10:00

We are back on Nimrod after a couple of months work and winter on the Gold Coast. This time Admiral George, Captain Dave, and Midship-person Anna.

We all flew to Townsville and rented a car to raid the deli and supermarket on the drive two hours north to Cardwell.

Nimrod seemed in good nick, thought there was a fair amount of swallow-poop to hose off before we left the Port Hinchinbrook. We had a slight 'contact' between one prop and a rock-wall when refuelling just as we left her in May. I had been worrying about this, so we sailed out to Goold Island and I went for a snorkel to check for any damage. All is fine, which is a big relief.

Next day, south a little to Hinchinbrook Island, where we did a 5 hour bush-walk on the Thorsborne Trail. Really lovely. Clouds of butterflies.

On the third day, Sunday 1st August, We sailed out to the Brook Islands where we had such a good snorkel in May, when Joan was with us. Even better this time, with lots of fish.

I saw one clam that was one metre wide. George cut her finger sticking it another one's mouth.

Brook Island turns out to be the site of a tragedy. In 1944 the Allies used it to test mustard gas in preparation for using it against the Japs. It successfully killed goats, so they tried it on volunteers, recruited from US jails. All fifty died.

A brisky, sunny sail down the outside of Hinchinbrook Island to a sheltered spot for the night.

Next morning we mosied round to the famous Zoe Bay, and walked up to the waterfall.

Video: Gold Coast to Hinchinbrook

2010-06-22T16:29:00.019+10:00

Mission accomplished

2010-05-28T20:39:00.007+10:00

Friday May 28th.

The mission was to sail Nimrod from the Gold Coast to Hinchinbrook, and leave her safely tucked up in Port Hinchinbrook. We pulled it off, thanks to perfect weather and following trade-winds.

The last few days have been relaxing. After Dunk Island we motored back to the Brook Islands, which feature some particularly good snorkeling. Joan walked on the reef, while George and I snorkeled. Lovely. Some huge clams.

Then to Hinchinbrook Island, where we sped up some mangrove creeks, in the RIB, looking for crocs and a boardwalk to join the famous Thorsborne Trail. It looks stunning, and will be an early point of call when we return at the end of July.

Then further up the Hinchinbrook Channel, beautiful, but with plenty of mozzies.

Finally, just as we were heading for the marina where we have left Nimrod, Joan caught a small shark, which she expertly dissected (her old degree in zoology coming out of storage), and then she cooked us a great last supper.

So this leg of the cruise is over, and we have flown home to resuscitate our respective practices, and will go north again at the end of July to do the next stage.

Signing off for now,

Dave and George

Orpheus to Dunk Island

2010-05-24T18:09:00.003+10:00

Monday May 23rd.

We spent Sunday night moored peacefully at Orpheus Island, a pretty member of the Palm Island group. We climbed a hill for the views.

Then today we sailed past Hinchinbrook Island, a large and spectacular island with quite high mountains.

Zoe Bay, Hinchinbrook Island

Zoe Bay

Hinchinbrook Island

Because the forecast is for the wind to go around to the north in a few days, we decided to go further up to Dunk Island before coming back to Cardwell with the nor-easterly on Wednesday. This is approaching the Family Group of islands.

I've been reading a book "Confessions of a Beachcomber" by Edmund Banfield, courtesy of the magic of Kindle. Banfield was Australia's answer to Thoreau. He lived on Dunk Island at the beginning of the twentieth century, writing about his life of natural simplicity. Dunk is a lovely place.

Palm Island - Tropical ghetto

2010-05-23T15:17:00.005+10:00

Sunday May 23rd.

We collected George's Mum, Joan, from Townsville airport and motored and sailed back to Horseshoe Bay on Maggie Island.

Joan settled in quickly. We went for a beach walk past a wedding.

Some small boys in 'stinger suits' were playing on the stinger net. Stingers are seriously dangerous jellyfish, to keep you on your toes when you are not thinking about sharks or salt-water crocodiles.

And today, a gentle kite-only sail about 30 miles north to the Palm Island group. The largest of these is infamous for containing a settlement of aborigines with plenty of social problems. Palm Island got in the Guinness Book of Records for being the most violent place in the world outside a war zone.

**Estimated Violence Rates Per 100 000 people** 1976/77 to 1981/82
	Aboriginal Communities	Queensland	Palm Island
Homicide	39.6	6.15	94.3
Serious Assault	226.1	45.9	929.9

Quite incongruous to have such problems in such a beautiful place. Read more here.

Experimental flythrough

2010-05-21T08:12:00.001+10:00

I've been playing with ways to record our cruise. This is a Google Earth flythrough of the places we have been between Southport and Magnetic Island. See if it works on your computer.

I came across a nice quote from Mark Twain.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did so. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

Maggie Island

2010-05-20T15:33:00.005+10:00

Thursday May 20th.

Chill-out time at last! The trip up to Townsville involved quite a few miles every day, early starts and long hours. But now the pressure is off, and we are hanging out in beautiful Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island, which is just off Townsville. A lovely place, with walks, cafes, and lots of spectacular rock formations.

Tomorrow back to Townsville to reprovision, and get the mainsail cover which needed repair. On Saturday we will be joined by George's mother Joan.

Salvage operation

2010-05-18T12:50:00.002+10:00

Tuesday 18th.

Sitting quietly in Townsville marina doing repairs and jobs on the boat. We had a lovely meal last night with our friends Lucy and Mal, who moved up here from the Gold Coast a few years ago. Lucy is an obstetrician, and they have a beautiful Schionning catamaran called 'Barbarella', and a house with an amazing view of Maggie Island.

After leaving Bowen, we had a bit of excitement. We were out to sea near Cape Upstart with the kite up when George spotted a floating tinnie behind us. We thought there might have been someone in distress with an outboard failure, so we dropped the kite and motored back, ready to resuscitate a dehydrated fisherman.

No-one to be seen. So we took it in tow and pulled it all the way to Townsville.

We passed it on to the water police. It turns out it had broken its rope in the Gloucester Passage and blown out to sea.

Welcome home Jessica

2010-05-16T07:28:00.000+10:00

Saturday 15th May

We were trying to dock at the fuel wharf in Bowen as the TV was showing Jessica Watson arriving home in Sydney. So moving. She is such an inspiration.

I think she serves as a Rorschach test for people to project their patterns and beliefs about issues such as:

Coming of age rituals and ordeals,
Emancipation
How parents should manage teenagers, with what balance of 'protect and control', vs 'liberate and tolerate risk'.

Coming from a tradition of early independence and encouragement of calculated risk-taking, I am greatly relieved that she came home in one piece. If she had drowned, it would have unleashed a tidal wave of schadenfreude from the cosset'n'control crew.

I just hope she has as much luck coping with a tidal wave of celebrity.

We had a nice sail north from Butterfly Bay through the Gloucester Passage, and had a walk over a headland in Bowen, where some of the film 'Australia' was shot. Today we have an eight hour sail to Cape Bowling Green, within striking distance of Townsville.

Surfing the South-east Tradewinds

2010-05-15T08:36:00.006+10:00

Thursday 13th May.

An early start as dawn broke, with a 15-25 knot wind right behind us. This is not the best angle for a cat, as the angled back shrouds, to compensate for no backstay, prevent you putting the boom out enough, or risk chafe of the mainsail against the shrouds.

We have found that the kite (aka spinnaker or MPS) alone is a great cruising downhill rig, and we have been getting increasingly confident running it in stronger winds. Gotta remember to wear gloves when working with the kite-sock ropes!

And what a ride. We covered 80 nautical miles to the southern Whitsundays in 10 hours. Hooting along, ducking and weaving past 60+ moored coal ships outside Mackay and Hay point. Signs of the mineral boom export to China, as well as poor rail and port infrastructure.

AIS symbols of ships on the chartplotter

We stopped at Thomas island, a pretty spot where I have stayed a few times before.

Friday 14th May.

A big debate today as to whether to linger in the Whitsundays, or press on to Townsville and Hinchinbrook. The trouble with Australia is that the distance between A and B is further than you think!

So we had another kite run up past Whitehaven Beach,

and had lunch in Tongue Bay under Hill point.

Hill Inlet

Then on round the north coast of Hook Island to Butterfly Bay.

Into the wild

2010-05-12T15:10:00.025+10:00

Saturday 8th May.
No crabs in Pacific Creek. Plenty shopping-list writing, prior to a motor-sail, turned kite run, to Rosslyn Bay marina.

We fitted into a tiny mono sized berth. Confidence building. Then the marina offered us a ‘courtesy car’ for a couple of hours to hit Woolies 10 km down the road in Yeppoon. George is a serious shopper, and we made the most of the last opportunity to stock up before the wilderness of Shoalwater Bay and the islands we will go through before Mackay or the Whitsundays.

Sunday 9th May.
Snuck out of Rosslyn Bay at the late start hour of 6.30am, and carried on northwards with a 20-25 knot wind behind us. Waves built up to 3-4m. We put in a couple of reefs. Pretty nice sail. We are getting more confident with heavier conditions.

Round Manifold Island and on to Port Clinton, part of the huge Shoalwater Bay military reserve. I love it. I’m sure that if the army hadn’t locked it up, it would have been ‘developed’ or mined. Instead it’s this huge area of unspoilt country, available to yachties. We went up the top of Port Clinton, and ‘gunkholed’ in a mangrove creek miles from the next human.

Monday 10th May.
A slow start in the quiet anchorage. George scrubbed the boat to the point where you can see through the fibreglass. I fixed stuff. One definition of cruising is ‘doing repairs in exotic places!’

Then on to Island Head Creek, a very special place. A brisk reach across the shallows at the entrance to Port Clinton. Picture a 38 foot Hobie cat playing in the surf. Then through some very pretty islands along the coast past Pearl Bay.

Island Head Creek is about as big and beautiful as Pittwater, but has no houses and hardly any boats. There is a beach you could land an airliner on.

We walked it, before going upstream to a cyclone hole, where George and I stayed on our first cruise in 2001, and I also stayed another time with my Kiwi friend Richard. A sacred site.

Tuesday 11th May.
Out of Island Head creek, passing a Fusion 40 cat like one we nearly bought a few years ago. No regrets. Then a tricky days sail with not quite enough wind and some fidgeting with kite, genny, main and motors. The kite got stuck up the mast at one point, which lead to plans to climb and free it in the next quiet anchorage, but we managed to find another solution.

We passed Strong tide Passage and the Cannibal Islands.We anchored at Hunter Island, in the Dukes. A pretty spot with a hill to climb, where George gave her phone a workout. We have been out of mobile range for a few days.

Keeping up with email sometimes requires climbing to the top of an island!

A large stag startled us by leaping out of the long grass and galloping away.

Wednesday 12th May.
Onward ever onward to the north, through masses of lovely uninhabited islands. All as nice as anything in the Whitsundays, but without the crowds and charter fleets.

Today to Curlew Island, described in Noel Patrick’s cruising guide as “Curlew Island is one of the most beautiful. Anywhere.”

Keppel Bay

2010-05-07T18:18:00.003+10:00

Friday May 7th.

How lucky are we being with the weather? Every day sunny, with 15 knots of wind to give us a reach or kite run. It doesn't get much better than this.

So we are making great progress, powering up the coast at an average of about 10 knots, (looking a bit like this.)

Nimrod reaching

From Burnett Heads (near Bundaberg) we made an early start at 4am, and romped up the coast for 10 hours to Pancake Creek. More wilderness. Just lovely. Birdlife galore.

Cormorants

Then today, a further jump through Gladstone and The Narrows to a little creek on the south side of Keppel Bay.

Pilot boat passing a bulk carrier

Ship loading

Hervey Bay

2010-05-05T20:09:00.003+10:00

Wed May 4th.

An easy motor sail across Hervey Bay, with the usual 'one-that-got-away' story.

We went up the Burnett River and topped up with fuel and water. A fantastic crab dinner.

Platypus Bay

2010-05-05T09:23:00.010+10:00

Tuesday 3rd, we mosied quietly up through the Great Sandy Straits, letting the tide and spinnaker do the work. The smell of crabs cooking.

Then on up alongside Fraser Island to Platypus Bay, which is the western side of north FraserIsland, with a gentle off land wind, making it a peaceful anchorage. We went ashore for a long walk on the unspoilt beach. A lovely evening.

In the morning, a fog, lifting as the sun came up.

Could we find the crab pots? We did, with 8 crabs, five of them legal!

Now off to Burnett Heads, near Bundaberg.

Nightsail to the Wide Bay Bar

2010-05-03T13:48:00.000+10:00

After an uncomfortable night in Bongaree, at the southern end of Bribie Island, in which we woke at 4am to discover we had dragged our anchor, we set off for Mooloolaba. A rock & rolly sail, as it often is in that patch of sea where the rhythms of the ocean fight with the waves from Moreton Bay.

After losing a big Mangrove Jack, and getting part of a wave through the open hatch over our bed, we got into Mooloolaba and dropped anchor for a rest.

The Wide Bay Bar is the channel between Fraser Island and the mainland. Its like ducking through a narrow pass in the middle of two surf breaks. Many yachts have foundered there. Its the most scary spot in Queensland cruising. To cross it, you need reasonable weather, no extreme swell, daylight, and the last three hours of a flood (incoming) tide. High tide on Monday was 11am. So we could cross it between 8am and 11am. And its nine hours sail from Mooloolaba. Mmm!

The deal was that I would get the boat going alone at midnight and let George sleep in until five. It was exciting to creep out of Mooloolaba under the moonlight and get the sails up. Perfect conditions, a 15 knot wind on the beam, and we were soon creaming along at 10 knots, with the moonlight glinting off the waves. Nimrod went beautifully. I love night sailing.

We got to Double Island Point as the sun rose, and slowed down a little to cross the bar without incident at 8am. Triumphant and exhausted.

Now we are anchored peacefully in Garry's Anchorage, a sheltered spot on Fraser Island, which hosted 1000+ yachties on Saturday in the Bay to Bay trailer sailer race. I've done it myself a few times; there is an amazing party in the middle of the race that often features choppers bringing in rockbands, big marquees, and bulk grog for lots of happy sailors in the middle of the wilderness. It reminded me of a scene from Apocalypse Now! Around us as I write are lots of small boats with hungover crew returning from Hervey Bay to Tin Can Bay after the race.

Dave & George

Nimrod cruise up the Queensland Coast.

2010-05-01T19:54:00.002+10:00

Saturday 1st May.

Our friends Tiff and Dawne kindly drove us down to Southport Yacht Club, and we were on our way by 8 am, to catch the tide and get through the shallows of Canaipa Passage.

George tidied all the provisions away, while I motored up through the Broadwater. We made good progress, and the wind filled in after lunch.

George finally got to relax after all the effort to achieve escape velocity.

We popped the kite up and sailed briskly across Moreton Bay to Bongaree, the southern end of the Pumicestone Passage between Bribie Island and the mainland. It is near the Glasshouse Mountains.

A lovely sunset and peaceful meal at anchor.