10 - October 2006

Sunday, 1st October 2006  -  Day 580  -  Laguna Quays

Chris and Shoo were up by 06:15 and up at the showers so we thought we had better get up too as they had a lot of packing to do and we also had a fair bit to do as well.  Bacon and eggs for brekky.  Peter and Christine came round to say goodbye to C&S and wish them luck with the rest of their trip, which was nice.  By 11:00 the car was packed, the journal printed off and it was time to say goodbye.  A sad time and a tear was close to being shed.  A great holiday, a great time and great company.  Wave until they were out of sight and we miss them already.

 Then it was work time!  All the clothes were washed, dried and put away, then all the linen and towels were washed, dried and put away and then start to clean up the boat a little, do my internet banking and credit card reconciliation (3 months worth), send off my journal, make up the beds etc, etc.  Stop  -  had enough  -  light tea, watch the Rugby Grand Final and bed.

Monday, 2nd October 2006  -  Day 581  -  Laguna Quays

Nice day and a few more chores around the boat to do, send off a fax to Gippsland Ports Authority deferring a berth allocation, send of an email to James Cook Uni about the footage of Mingaloo and then meet Peter at 10:30 to go into Proserpine to re-provision and send back Geoff’s Teva sandals to be replaced.  Back to 2AB and put all the supplies away.  Quite tired so relax until 6pm when we headed off to Pure Magic where a nice Roast Pork Meal was being prepared for us.  Early to bed as tired.  It must be the ‘let down’ after Chris and Shoo have left.

Tuesday, 3rd October 2006  -  Day 581  -  Laguna to Shute Harbour

Woken at 06:00 by a noisy catamaran opposite.  Got up around 07:00 as we were leaving today and had to catch the tide to get out of the marina as it is a very shallow entrance.  No email from JCU re Mingaloo.  Filled the water, washed off the boat, showered and paid fees and we were off.  On route we rang Sea World to speak to the marine scientist there, Trevor Long re the possible sighting of Mingaloo.  We spoke to his assistant, Aileen, and she said they would be quite keen to see the footage to see if it is Mingaloo as the only photos that are around have been taken from above from aircraft and not from sea level.  Geoff burnt the CD clips to CD and we will send it off to them when we get to Airlie Beach.  Even if it is not Mingaloo it might show that there is more than one white whale around.  The reason we chose Trevor Long was because we found him on the internet when we were researching Mingaloo and it said he was an expert on whales and Mingaloo.  It will be interesting whatever they tell us.  If it is, indeed, Mingaloo they will send it on the National Parks. 

After leaving Repulse Bay we headed towards Happy Bay on Long Island.  On route we passed a couple in a tinny and then heard someone calling Palm Bay from ‘tender one’.  They were calling repeatedly and getting no answer so Geoff contacted them and asked if they needed help.  The answer was “yes, they had broken down’.  We were able to contact Palm Bay as we were directly opposite the resort and report the breakdown and then get back to ‘tender one’ and let them know help was on the way.  This was our good deed for the day.  We got to Happy Bay around 3 pm and decided we would keep going to Shute Harbour where we anchored next to a cat, called Kaz2.  We had last seen this boat at Lizard Island last year as they were anchored just in front of us.  We waved but we have yet to talk to them to see if it is the same people.  Another early night for us.

Wednesday, 4th October 2006  -  Day 582  -  Shute Harbour

We decided to stay here for the day and just rest up after our fast schedule of the last 3 weeks.  We did take the tender ashore and have a look at Shute Harbour and buy a map and some milk but that was it.  Shute Harbour is still the same as last time …. Not much there.  Dinner, scrabble and bed.

Thursday, 5th October 2006  -  Shute Harbour to Airlie Beach

Up anchored and left just after 09:00.  Went past Kaz2 and found new people now owned her and they were from Perth.  They had owned her for just two weeks and had just sheared off a prop.  Oh dear … Murphy is with them as he is with all newbies.  (Note: the male member of Kaz2 cat was to disappear off his yacht along with 2 other crew members in 2007, never to be found, whilst taking the cat back to Perth).  

It was an uneventful trip to Airlie apart from passing the lovely tall ship ‘Whitsunday Magic’. 

We anchored at Airlie behind another Cloud 9 cat called ‘Dream Weaver’ and directly behind the sloop ‘Alice’ (David and Lynn) who we had also last met up with at Lizard Island, last year.  Geoff motored over to them and they remembered us after a little bit of prompting.  It was no wonder they needed prompting as they said they couldn’t remember much of Lizard as there only son had died in Sydney whilst they were there and had to go back to arrange things.  After that Lizard went by in a daze for them.  Now poor David has prostate cancer.  So….the moral of this story is ‘Enjoy life whilst you can’!   On the way back from ‘Alice’ Geoff visited ‘Dreamweaver’ and met up with Colin and had a quick chat.  They have only owned her for four months and it was, apparently, the very first Cloud 9 built in 1984.  We will catch up with them tomorrow, sometime.  Then it was off to Airlie to head off to the doctors to get prescriptions filled and a mole on Geoff’s back looked at.  The mole was fine.  Geoff had his blood pressure checked and then did it again with our little machine and they were very close.  It was funny, he had checked his blood pressure in the waiting room whilst we were waiting and it was normal.  Fifteen minutes later, when checked by the doctor, it was high so there really is a ‘white coat syndrome’ that doctors cause when they take your blood pressure.  On the way back to 2AB Geoff popped into the newly re-vamped toilets near the sailing club and was very impressed with the décor.  Above the urinal was glossy photos of four young females looking down on you whilst you used it.  (I had a quick peek inside).  I didn’t know whether to be offended that such a thing was in the men’s loos or be offended because we didn’t have photos of hunky guys in the ladies loos.  Seriously, I thought it a bit strange and though it was a bit degrading to have young females in that place.  Maybe I’m getting too straight laced in  my old age.  What do you think?

Friday, 6th October 2006  - Day 584  -  Airlie Beach

I was still in bed when we had visitors arrive.   It was Colin and Carmen from ‘Dreamweaver’ and they stayed for at least two hours.  As I said before, they have owned their boat for about four months so they really gave 2AB the once over, taking photos when they saw something that caught their eye.  They then picked our brains so it was nice to be giving out advice rather than taking it all the time.  After brekky Geoff went off to the dive shop to have the regulator of his dive gear fixed and go to the chandlery whilst I did some budget entry, journal, emails and rang Rob from ’Dream On’ (another Cloud 9 owner) to say there was a Cloud 9 convention happening here and where was he?  Then I rang up my superannuation firm to see how my funds were faring.  They were faring very nicely, thank you….nice surprise.  I suppose you can’t knock a return of 13.5% p.a. in a state guaranteed fund.  Geoff came back after a while and went to chat to Frank on ‘Moonshadow’.  Frank had replaced his front windows so Geoff was able to pick his brains and get some ideas and tips.  Me...well, I’m still really tired or is it that my eyes are really heavy.  Later in the afternoon I received a call from Rob (I had earlier sent him a text message) and he said he was actually looking at us.  I looked around looking for ‘Dream On’ but it was nowhere to be seen so I said “where are you’.  He was on the verandah of the sailing club so Geoff went in to pick him up.  More tales of woe….poor Rob!  He had driven up from Brisbane to check out his mooring in Shute Harbour, which he did yesterday and we missed him by a couple of hours.  Well, he couldn’t find the mooring so believes the balloon (the buoy part) must have come adrift in heavy seas and the actual mooring chain was probably on the bottom of the sea bed.  He has now hired a diver to go down where it should be and find it and attach another balloon and check it out and certify it for another three years.  Whilst he is doing all this he gets a phone call saying that ‘Dream On’ had broken its mooring at Dunwich on North Stradboke Island and traveled 25 nm and ended up on a beach at Redcliffe.  It had traveled all that way without coming aground on one of the numerous sand banks, had managed to avoid the many channel markers and navigation marks, not been noticed by passing boats and even beached

itself on a little bit of sand beach between two rock outcrops with very minor damage (or so it seems) to one of the rudders.   How about that?  It was noticed coming ashore by a trawler owner from his unit who thought it looked strange.  He then pulled it off the beach at high tide with a smaller boat and took it into his double pen at Scarborough where it is waiting for Rob to give it the once over.  How nice of him was that?  This effort definitely calls for a slab of beer or much more.  So poor Rob has to leave the mooring problem in Shute Harbour to the diver and head back to Brisbane to sort it all out.  BUT...it could have been a lot worse...someone was looking out for him (probably cos Murphy is living with the people on Kaz2 at present).

Saturday, 7th October 2006  - Day 585  -  Airlie Beach

Its market day today so we wandered around the market and bought a few things.  Then it was catch the bus to the new Centro shopping centre in Cannonvale where we had lunch. Back to 2AB.  We always have a large list of little things to buy and grab them when we see them.  This always leads to the finishing of a few odd jobs on the boat that are on the list to be done. We remembered to take the camera ashore so that Geoff  could take a photo of the girls in the men’s loo.  As you can see...the first one looks startled, the 2nd one is holding a tape measure (use your imagination), the 3rd is about to take a photo and the 4th couldn’t care less!  Put dinner in the oven and then over to ‘Dream Weaver’ so Geoff could put a program on for him.  Stayed too long and I must say the meat in the casserole was very tender by the time we returned.  Cribbage (he won), bed.

Sunday, 8th October 2006  -  Day 586  -  Airlie Beach

The cat next to us (too close really but they came in after us) has a couple of young men on it who came back a little worse for wear last night and played music and sang loudly from midnight to 2 am.  This morning we put our genny on at 08:00 just to keep them awake.  Bacon and eggs then Frank from ‘Moon Shadow’ came over to ask if we had ever found a 12 volt fully programmable timer.  He wanted one  for his fridge as he was having the same problem as us.  We said we had also been looking for one and would let him know if we ever found one.   He asked that we buy one when we are in the UK if he hadn’t found one by then.  Then we noticed that ‘Windsong’ was anchored just in front of us.  We had met Cheryl and David last year at Lizard Island and later at the Low Isles (where Steve Irwin died).  Cheryl was one of our Scrabble cohorts and was hard to beat. We will try to catch up with them later but not just yet as Geoff is in the middle of a major revamp of the salt water pump in the galley  He is trying to stop it getting an air lock every time we go in heavy seas.  We will see how it goes.  Got a text message from Sally saying they have loaded their new caravan to the hilt with all the goodies from Acropora and they are on their way home and have left Acropora sparkling.  I spent the morning sorting through all the cupboards down in the galley and being quite ruthless.  Out went stuff that I hadn’t used, out went food the was out of date and generally finding room for the pots and pans, mugs etc in the existing cupboards.  Some plastics I stored in the bilges as it doesn’t matter if they get wet.  Now everything is away and the galley and the adjoining bench top to the saloon looks much tidier and not so cluttered. This was all because I went onto ‘Dream Weaver’ and she shamed me with her neatness.  But, I must add, she also said she had only owned the boat four months so hadn’t managed to accumulate much junk yet.  After this strenuous effort we went ashore and I tried to load some more photos to yahoo photos but the connection was too slow and I had only managed to upload three photos in an hour so we had a nice swim in the Airlie Lagoon instead.  A first time for us all the years we have been going there. 

 Back to 2AB and Colin and Carmen came over for sundowners and nibbles at 6 pm and left after 9:30 pm.  They have been married a year tomorrow although they have been together for about four years.  It is her second and his third marriage.  They are working by cleaning private and charter yachts as they still owe money on their cat and are too young to retire.  Good on them for opting for this way of life.  Geoff then had soup for tea but I was too full up on cheese and crackers to eat much more.

Monday, 9th October 2006  -  Day 587  -  Airlie Beach to Woodwark Bay

Text message from Chris and Shoo first thing this morning and they are packing up ready to head to Cairns to fly out to Singapore.  They said they were a little disappointed with the reef trip and the rain forest as they had seen the best with us.  In hindsight, I think, they would have liked to have spent the extra time with us.  Never mind, there’s always next year.  It is supposed to come in at SE 25/30 knots later tonight.  It will be fine in Airlie Bay when it does come through but it is NNE at the moment and the swell is a bit of a nuisance.  We are thinking we may head off to Woodwark Bay for a change of scenery as we haven’t been there before and to get some fishing in.  Before we did this though we headed into Airlie to the public pontoon to pick up Geoff’s regulator for his scuba gear, pick up the loads of diesel, a little bit of fresh veggies, pick up the mail and steal a shower at the Abel Point Marina as we have a key.  The key was on 2AB when we bought her and is worth its weight in gold.  We also managed to pick up a 12 volt timer for the fridge so that is another job for Geoff to do!  On Geoff’s last diesel run he also stole some dirt, from a flower bed probably, to fill up our herb garden that consists of Coriander, Thyme and Lemon Balm.  We couldn’t buy a bag of potting mix that was small enough so he went ‘dirt stealing’.  Tch, tch!  We left the anchorage at 3pm with the tide with us and the wind not so bad.   We mostly motor sailed as the batteries needed charging and got into Woodwark Bay around 5pm and it is nice and calm here at present with a lot of other boats here as well.  At the moment we are the only cat.  Did a bit of fishing before tea but I only caught a tiddler and Geoff caught quite a big shark but it got off.  Now be wary…..as I write this last section I am in a very bad mood.  I have just kicked the lovely new $75 spotlight over the side.  I was putting up the canvas sides in the dark and couldn’t be bothered putting the external light on and I didn’t see it.  Geoff had been using it to look at the fish and had put it where I least expected it to be but I should have looked.  Even if we do manage to find it later I doubt if it will be any good.  I am so annoyed with myself and Geoff is too!

Tuesday, 10th October 2006  -  Day 588  -  Woodwark Bay

Didn’t sleep so well as I kept thinking of that expensive spotlight so I’m still a little P’d off .  The weather matches my mood as it is raining.  Mind you, we haven’t seen good rain for ages and Qld certainly needs all it can get.  After brekky, Geoff decided he would go for a dive to see if he could locate the spotlight.  The sun was now shining but it was getting windy.  It takes absolutely ages for him to get all kitted up and check it all.  Once in the water, down he went but he couldn’t see very far plus the new regulator (the dive shop had swapped Geoff’s for one of theirs) had a constant flow of air coming out of it and Geoff couldn’t turn it off.  So now that will have to go back to Airlie and Geoff will ask for his original to be fixed and given back (after all...he has already paid for it to be done).  Whilst he was in the water he scrubbed the hulls and added extra lanolin to the propellers.  Then it was the rigmarole of getting all the wet gear off and cleaned again.  What a paraphernalia!  We are starting to get some really strong wind bullets coming through now.  I tried ordering a new torch over the phone but to no avail so will try again tomorrow.  Geoff then spent the rest of the day fishing but only got tiddlers as well.  We decided to put up the rain cover then as it looked like we would get some more rain overnight and it means we cans still have our cabin hatches open as it can get quite muggy inside with no air.  Just before dusk we watched a pod of whales cavorting on the horizon but too far away to see them clearly.

Wednesday, 11th October 2006  -  Day 589  -  Woodwark Bay

It was very windy overnight but in fits and starts.  One minute it was so windy that the boat was really straining on the bridle and the next minute it was dead calm.  Plus we had some more good, heavy rain in the early hours of the morning.  You would have thought with all the strong winds that the voltage would have been right up but, no, it wasn’t.  We think this means we may have at least one battery that may be failing so we will have to get them tested.    We have no idea how old the original three batteries are that were already on the boat.  Now the sun is out again...strange weather!  We feel sorry for the charterers in this sort of weather and the forecast says it is like this until at least Saturday.  We are lucky as we can always find things to do.  So rain, sun, wind, rain, sun and wind and so it goes on.   Had an email back from Sea World and they say that they couldn’t really identify the whale as Mingaloo from the footage we sent them but have sent it onto to Parks and Wildlife.  Good news….dinner has now been caught...a nice Giant (but small) Trevally.  Played boat darts (beaten as usual), fished, read, did crosswords etc. 

Thursday, 12th October 2006  -  Day 590  -  Woodwark Bay

Awoke to brilliant sunshine and no wind but it didn’t last!  Soon it was blowing again and raining.  Then it was sunny but blowy...seems like a replica of yesterday.  I did a touch of fishing and it was my turn to catch a Giant Trevally so he is now in the freezer for dinner another day.  Then I caught a Long Spined Snapper but this one went back even though it was probably eating size.  Received a text message from Sally saying they had received an offer on Acropora which they are going to accept.  Boo hoo!  Great but sad!   We then went ashore to get a bit of exercise and to explore the shoreline.  There was a stingray just cruising around the shallows where we got out of the tender. It just shows you how easy it would be to just step on one and get the tail barb in your foot.  It wouldn’t be fatal, like poor Steve Irwin, but I have been told by sufferers that it is extremely painful. 
We then wandered up the beach to a house  and buildings set back from the beach with lots of huge signs saying “Private Property, Keep Out,  Trespassers Prosecuted”.  Don’t think they want anyone wandering on their property, do you?  Anyway, there was a main house and a lot of outlying smaller buildings and the whole area was immaculate, beautifully maintained and in a very lovely setting.  All the buildings had thatched roofs and a south seas island feel about them.  And so they should.  Apparently (by Lucas) they were built in under three months in 1996 for a television series called ‘Tales of the South Seas’ based on a novel by Jack London.  The novel I have heard of but the series is nowhere in my memory bank so where was I when this series aired?  They filmed 22 episodes from late 1996 to early 1997.  The series was based on a Tahitian village and the village was called “Matavai’ and cost up to $60,000 per day to make.  Wow!  I shall now have to do some research on it and see if I can obtain a DVD of the series.  It is all privately owned now and by people with money to burn by the look of it but it’s good to see how well it is kept. 

Back to 2AB and a game of boat darts and HE won again, of course.  He likes playing boat darts as he knows he has a very good chance of beating me as I usually beat him at Scrabble.  Rang dad and told him to have a nice relax when he goes up to Glyn’s and not over do it!  Geoff had another trawl for our spotlight but no luck.  Later in the afternoon, Frank on ‘Moonshadow’ arrived.  He was going to beach his boat at Long Island but said the sand was too soft and he didn’t like it.  Did some night fishing but nothing around but there was a lot of phosphorescence in the water caused by algae. 

Friday, 13th October 2006  -  Day 591  -  Woodwark Bay

Friday the 13th today so I think we had better stay here!  It is a nice, sunny day but it is still windy but it is supposed to ease off this evening.  Here’s hoping!  I have now counted nineteen boats anchored in this bay and some may even be out of sight in the next little cove over as Woodwark Bay is a huge bay.  So it was a lazy, lazy day.  We were both tired from not getting a restful sleep from the wind bullets last night and the flapping rain cover.  We have now taken the cover down.  The most energetic thing we have done today was take down the cover and put the rods in but even the fish were lethargic today and nary a bite.  Apart from that it was, read, crosswords, dominoes and snooze.  Too lethargic to even have a game of boat darts.  I did manage to cook roast beef for tea.  How I managed it I do not know!  Bed really early….8:30 pm, I think.

Saturday, 14th October 2006  -  Day 592  -  Woodwark Bay

Nice and still overnight so a nice, good sleep.  It is still a little windy but it is supposed to be easing off for a couple of days then may go back to 25 knots.  What’s with this weather?  When you think about it we were really lucky with the weather when Chris and Shoo were on 2AB with us.  I then baked some fruit scones and we headed over to ‘Moonshadow’ for a late morning tea and stayed for about three hours.  He has a nice boat but it’s the other version to ours with the head and shower in the back port hull.  It is a very neat and tidy boat and I like it.  Back to 2AB and once again got thrashed at boat darts.  What was worse HE actually beat me, just, at Scrabble later that night.

Sunday, 15th October 2006  -  Day 593  -  Woodwark Bay to Airlie Beach

Whilst we were having our first cup of coffee for the day Geoff put his rod in.  Within a few seconds his rod went berserk and whatever it was had gone under the boat and around the propeller.  Geoff had to get in the tender and unwind it.  When he eventually got it to the surface we thought, at first, it was a shark but it didn’t look right.  We soon identified it as a Cobia, otherwise known as a Black Kingfish, which we had eaten before and liked.  Geoff got him in and he weighed 2.5 kgs and was 75 cm.  This was small for a Cobia but within the legal limit and, once doused with the fish booze and a quick, drunken death,  we got four good steaks off of him.  Geoff had to take him up to the front deck to fillet as he was much too big to do on the small fish table on the back deck. 

Geoff then popped over to Frank to say bye as he was heading off today.  He left shortly after and Geoff took some photos of him under full sail so, hopefully, we can give them to him when we next run into him. 

 We left shortly after and headed towards Double Cone Island before we tacked and headed on a straight run right into Airlie, arriving around 13:40.  It took three hours to sail back to Airlie and two hours to get to Woodwark Bay from Airlie by motoring so not so bad considering we had to go out of our way to tack.  It was a really good sail down. It is more swelly here than at Woodwark Bay and the winds are getting stronger again tomorrow evening so we may have to head somewhere else, we shall see.  We need to pick up mail and get some washing done and then we can head off.  Geoff was then off to the dive shop to get his regulator swapped over (let’s hope it is ok this time) whilst I decided to make up fish cakes with the gummy shark (flake) we had caught a while ago.  What a lot of work for such a humble meal!  I reckon by the time I had cooked the fish, potatoes, chopped and mixed everything up, made them up, popped them in a milk/egg mixture and then breadcrumbed them and then the mammoth task of washing up everything that almost two hours had passed by.  AND I still have to actually cook them for tea!  Still, never mind….at least they have made two meals for us.  With all the fish we have caught lately we are definitely getting a good dose of Omega3.

Monday, 16th October 2006  -  Day 594  -  Airlie Beach

It was a nice, calm night but Airlie is a rowdy place with youngsters yelling along the foreshore until the wee hours.  It is a backpacker paradise here so a lot of alcohol is consumed, I think.  Me, being a light sleeper, got woken up constantly.  Sorted out all the dirty washing (yes, boring life goes on as well as the tropical paradise stuff), grabbed three empty water containers and our washing gear and headed off in the tender to Abel Point Marina.  Put the washing in, grabbed a shower and shampoo courtesy of the magical key (thanks Baza and Helen) and then had brekky at the little café there.  By then the washing was completed so we headed back to 2AB where, en route I got absolutely drowned as the waves were short and choppy.  Back on 2AB it was put all the clean washing away, rinse through my salt water sodden clothes with fresh water and then help Geoff take down the headsail, in between gusts of wind.  Geoff then headed back to the marina with the headsail to have a small tear repaired whilst I gave the galley a good going over.  After lunch it was back in the tender to the yacht club to leave it there whilst we went to grab our mail and then catch the bus to the hardware/marine shop in Cannonvale.  Bought a new spotlight (ouch) plus a few bits and then on to the fishing shop next door to buy me a new fishing rod as I had broken the tip off of mine.  Mind you, I still managed to bring in that Giant Trevally with only half a rod!  Back to 2AB and it wasn’t so rough going with the waves from the yacht club.  Good night on TV and good reception so a nice veg out.

Tuesday, 17th October 2006  -  Day 595  -  Airlie Beach

It got very windy overnight but it was comfortably and it rained heavily which was good for the little herb garden out on the back deck.  I got up very late by a phone call from Wade.  I then found Geoff sleeping in the port coffin bunk as he said the water bladder under his bed had sloshed badly during the night and kept him awake.  Not a shore day today as the wind is too strong (supposed to get to 30 knots today) and we would get very wet so it was stuff around the boat day.  There’s always things to do...much the same as there is always house work or gardening to do on land. 

Our garden

Oh dear…. I now feel a bit sick.  I have just watched Geoff slip with a paint scraper and slice into his thumb quite deeply.  I actually watched it happen and it seemed to be in ‘Slo Mo’.  Get out the butterfly clips, cloth plasters and tape and do a bit of nursing.  I bet it throbs later.  Time for a ‘Dark and Stormy’.  It is now 16:30 and I have just put the wind instrument on as it seems to be blowing a lot out there.  Yep, it is showing 29.1 knots at this time so I wouldn’t be surprised if it occasionally got over the 30 knots.  I have been looking in the log and over the last 40 days we’ve had 19 days of strong winds.  Unbelievable.  I shall keep a running total of it from now on.  Surely it must improve at sometime.

Wednesday, 18th October 2006  -  Day 596  -  Airlie Beach

The wind eased off overnight so a good sleep but it is now windy again, but nowhere as bad as yesterday.  It’s a grey day so far.  After brekky, Geoff went in to pick up the fixed headsail and the rain/sun shade which we had a new zip put in.  It’s much too windy to put the headsail back up so we will have to wait for a lull in the wind, if there is one!  After lunch we went ashore and caught the bus into the Centro shopping centre at Cannonvale to buy some new shorts for Geoff and pick up a few supplies. It was a bit of a struggle carrying it all on and off the bus and then to the tender, but at last it was done.  I didn’t get wet this time as I had bought a $2 plastic poncho that covered me from head to foot.  It’s a flimsy affair so I don’t know how long it will last.  It was a bit of a push and shove, huff and puff to get everything from the dock to the tender and then onto 2AB in the rough seas.  The new outboard is getting a bit scratched in busy places like the yacht club as other tenders bounce onto it.  We may have to get a cover for it.  ‘Windsong’ is back and anchored next to us again. Then another effort of putting everything away then a nice relax with a nice, cool drink.

Thursday, 19th October 2006  -  Day 597  -  Airlie Beach

A reasonable night as the wind dies down somewhat overnight, usually.  This morning is still blowy.  Got the weather and, blow me down, the weather is easing Friday and Saturday then back to 25/30 knots.  What’s happening with this “B” weather?  The northerlies are supposed to be kicking in soon!  So, it was off to shore again to pick up some alcohol that we couldn’t manage yesterday and stuff from the chemist that we forgot.  We had brunch whilst we ashore and then it was back to 2AB.  It is still blowing as strong as ever although it is supposed to be easing.  We can’t really go anywhere until we get the headsail back up but it is too windy to even think about it yet.  Mind you, we could always motor with the main.  The  rest of the day was taken up by just doing chores.  I’ve had a go at making some ice cream which is in the freezing stage at the moment.  I then have to beat it for five minutes with an electric beater, which I don’t have, so that will be interesting.  I will have to try the electric drill or dremel adaptation.  I will keep you posted.  I then cooked a chicken curry for tea and then we headed over to ‘Windsong’ for sundowners at 17:30 and stayed for a couple of hours. 

Friday, 20th October 2006  -  Day 598  -  Airlie Beach to Nara Inlet

Got up early and got the headsail back up before it got too windy and only just in time as the wind was soon blowing over 20 knots.  I am still keeping a tally and since the 1st September, out of the 50 days, 30 of these days have been winds of 20/25 knots with most of the rest being around 15/20 knots.  We haven’t had a wind free day during all that time.  Wind free nights...yes...which is really nice but not during the day.  We were so, so lucky with the weather whilst Chris and Shoo were with us.  Anyway, the forecast is ok until Sunday night so we decided to go in search of different scenery.  Carmen from ‘Dream Weaver’ popped over for a cuppa before we left and we discussed their leak in the fuel tank and showed her our tank.  We also noticed Frank on ‘Moonshadow’ had arrived back so there were the three Cloud 9’s all together again.  We left the anchorage at 10:30 and headed off for Nara under the Genoa.  Quite a lot of 25 knot bullets coming through in this stretch of coast.  One minute you have only about 6 knots and then the next minute you have a 25 knot bullet come roaring through, and I mean roaring!  It was a bit of a bouncy passage but we had a reasonable sail interspersed with some motor sailing.  Got to Nara Inlet and decided we would anchor in Refuge Bay with another monohull and a motor cruiser.  It is nice and secure and comfy here.  Checked the emails and there was one from Wade saying that their Journal of their Christmas trip on ‘Medina’ was on the CD he had sent us.  The next two hours were spent taking it in turn to read Chris’ journal out loud to each other and getting rather hoarse.  After this mammoth reading episode Geoff decided it was calm enough for me to winch him up the mast to put the bracket up for the internet antenna, another boat job to be done.  Whilst he was up there he dropped his tool bag and a screw bounced overboard.  Luckily the bag landed on the bimini cover and bounced but he did open up his cut in trying to save it so now its raining drops of blood.  I had to clean the cover when he had finished.  But he is tough and he finished off the job, but now he’s not too sure he likes it where it is so has only connected it up temporarily and it may be another winch job tomorrow.  It was then time to beat the ice cream…..well, the dremel didn't work, the electric drill battery ran out so it was the manual hand beater.  It was a hard job as the ice cream wasn’t runny but it is done and we will see what it is like when we eat it.  We have also decided to look out for a small electric mixer that will run off of the genny as it is just too hard to manage some jobs that require a mixer. Geoff cooked tea, Mexican Shepherds Pie.

Saturday, 21st October 2006  -  Day 599  -  Nara Inlet

A nice, calm night here but still a bit windy.  Beautiful day today and quite hot….so what did we do?  Worked!  The back transom steps, swim steps and external back area plus the inside walls of the back deck were in a bad need of a good scrub.  I couldn’t ignore it any longer so off I went scrubbing.  After a while I had to give it away and rest as my back was starting to complain badly.  It had never really come good since Gladstone.  Anyway, it looks a heap better and I’m pleased I have got it done.  Then I got the cleaning bug and washed all the salt off all the outside windows and then started on the inside.  Whilst I was doing this Geoff was having a go at fixing one of the engine display panels where one of the little display windows had been pushed in and broken.  I had given the inside of the boat a good clean a few days ago but now it looks like a bomb has hit it.  After a bite of lunch we went ashore with a bucket, hammer and chisel to get some oysters.  Then we went to have a look at the little bit of reef here through the bathescope.  The coral was okay but not as good as Cataran Bay.  Back to 2AB where Geoff opened and cleaned the oysters and I cooked them...Oysters Kilpatrick.  I ate three off them and now I know for sure that I am not keen on oysters.  Raw = disgusting,  cooked = tolerable.  I then put the left over bacon rind on my hook and dangled my new rod into the water to test it out.  And dangle was all I did, never mind, we are having fish and chips tonight.  The mackerel Geoff caught at Pearl Bay is on the menu, cooked by that famous boat chef…..Geoff White!

Sunday, 22nd October 2006  -  Day 600  -  Nara Inlet

A nice, sunny day again but the wind is picking up later so we have decided to stay here until the winds pass as it is nice and secure here.  Bacon and eggs, of course and then it was, once again, winch Geoff up the mast under the amazed gaze of the charterers on the cat anchored next to us.  He was re-aligning the antenna and temporarily taping it to the mast with duct tape to stop it banging when we are at sea.  He still doesn’t want to fix it permanently until he is happy where it is situated. 

Then he was off in the tender trolling for fish but with no luck.  There are fish here as we’ve seen them jumping but I think they are a bit canny and know what those hooks are all about.  Or they were being chased by the Hammerhead Sharks that this area is supposed to be the breeding ground for.  People swim here and Geoff has been in but not me.  I’m too tasty a morsel for a Hammerhead!  A game of boat darts then followed where I got thrashed followed by a game of Cribbage where I got beaten but not thrashed.  By this time it was blowing quite hard and it was overcast.  At least when the wind is really blowing you can have the laptop on without worrying about the power too much.  I then made a Chicken, Bacon and Prawn Hotpot….or is it really a Risotto...no a hotpot as Geoff doesn’t like Risotto.  Don’t tell him that it is really a Risotto.  Smells good and I am looking forward to it.  Yum.

Monday, 23rd October 2006  -  Day 601  -  Nara Inlet

A very windy night and spasmodic, heavy rain.  We had rigged up the small rain catcher on the back deck and managed to collect about seven litres.  We would have collected much more if we had put up the large rain shade/catcher but it is too noisy in strong winds and keeps you awake all night flapping.

  It is very windy today, overcast and drizzly.  Geoff is working on putting some order into Chris and Shoo’s movies.  He’s finished Part One which takes us to Laguna Quays and 2AB and now he is working on Part Two which is the sailing part of the holiday.  It takes ages to actually burn to the CD and he has yet to burn it to DVD.  We have decided that both Chris and Shoo got better at using the digital movie camera towards the end.  As for me, didn’t do much at all apart from getting the journal up to date and relaxing, doing things on my little laptop as we had the genny going. 

Tuesday, 24th October 2006  -  Day 602  -  Nara Inlet

It is now 54 days since the 1st September and 32 days of those have been winds of over 20/25 knots.  The wind eased of a tad overnight and it is sunny.  It looks like we could leave today but we have decided  to go tomorrow and let the seas die down a bit and do some more chores around the boat.  Geoff cooked brekky  -  ta!  After brekky Geoff changed the oil in the generator (we’d previously used the wrong oil) and then changed the oil on the Honda outboard (same problem as they use the same oil), whilst I was the “holderupper”. 

 After these couple of chores it was time for a round of games, which we quite enjoy.  I was beaten at dominoes, I beat him at 301 darts (wonders will never cease but he said he had a bad shoulder...excuses, excuses) but then he thrashed me with ‘Around the Board’.  We then had a large motor cruiser anchor next to us.  Really nice boat but very inconsiderate owners.  They went and put out a crab pot (no harm in that) but then decided to go past us really close and flat out in their large, centre cockpit tender which caused a large wake.  As they went past the word “wanker” drifted after them.  Geoff always says that people who own large motor cruisers are “up themselves” but I have always defended them saying they are probably very nice.  Not this time, I’m afraid.  Anyway, we will be rid of them tomorrow.  I then cleaned the side panel clears of smears and thumb marks and they look really good now.  After dinner I thrashed him at Scrabble.

Wednesday, 25th October 2006  -  Day 603  -  Nara to

I dreamt of cyclones last night, probably because of the really early and unexpected one forming north of Vanuatu.  Apparently El Nino is supposed to bring less cyclones so this one is a surprise.  I think this weird weather must be playing on  my mind.  I bet Sally and Martin are glad they are not at Vanuatu at the moment, or trying to come back in the weather we have been having.  We had a quick downpour of heavy rain and, of course, the rain catcher had been put away so, by the time we got it up again, we had missed our chance.  Now the sun is shining.  Got the weather and, glory be, it is supposed to be SE/E 10/15 knots today and even NE 10/15 knots on Saturday so we may be able to start heading back down south.  Please, please let the weather stay this way.  We left the anchorage at 10:30 and the seas were a little rough in some spots.  I’m not sure, at this point, whether we are heading for Cataran Bay, Border Island or Apostle Bay on Whitsunday Island.  I know Geoff wants to dive to check out his regulator that he swapped over.  Well, it is Cataran Bay and we grabbed a buoy on the outside area.  It is a little windy but comfy at present but last time we were here with Chris and Shoo I had a really bad night with a side swell.  Geoff donned his dive gear and I got into my wet suit (what a sight) and snorkel gear, grab the camera and, splash, we were in.  The current was strong but ok and we spent the next 30 minutes with Geoff testing the regulator, taking photos with me as his dive buddy on the surface to keep an eye on him.  The coral was still good but the visibility was a bit cloudy.  Geoff then started to get a bit of cramp so it was back to 2AB for a cuppa. 

 We then decided we would go over to Dumbell Island and grabbed a buoy there for a change.  Relax with a bit of squid on the line.  Whoops, squids off.  Decided to check the Great Barrier Reef  CD and this area has been declared a Marine Park B in the last three years.  Shows you, you can’t rely on the books you have on board as they go out of date.  Bit of a bumma as we had already caught a Blue Spangled Sweet Lips that was under size and went back.  Tch, tch!  After dinner we watched the fish jumping in the beam of the large 3,000,000 candle power torch and they put on a beautiful, iridescent show. 

Thursday, 26th October 2006  -  Day 603  -  Dumbell Island to Windy Bay

Not a bad night although the buoy had a squeak to it.  Geoff had indigestion and cramp a lot of the night so didn’t get much sleep.  We were woken by a boat going past quite close and it was Ragamuffin2 with a heap of backpackers on it.  They grabbed the other spare buoy and prepared to go diving and snorkeling.  We headed off to Whitehaven Beach and motored all the way and anchored at the far end near Hill Inlet in a side swell.  We put the tender in and headed off into Hill Inlet to check it out as we had only seen it from the lookout and not at sea level.  There was a nice little beach with interesting, sculptured rocks.  It was very picturesque and four stingrays lazing in the shallows, three tan and one charcoal in colour. 

I then decided I would rather swim at the beach near 2AB but this was a bad decision as the surf was too strong for our little tender.  Back to 2AB for a side swell lunch and then we headed off to see what Windy Bay was like.  And it is  really lovely and very calm at present.  Beautiful, picturesque, serene, interesting, warm and sunny.  There is a charter yacht and a large motor cruiser here with us but we are far enough away from the motor cruiser for it to annoy us.  Saying that, this time they are probably very nice people.  After a cuppa we headed ashore.  What a delightful, magical bay this is.  The sand was a little soft to walk on in parts but it was, once again, the white silica sand that you find at Whitehaven and Hill Inlet.  It is part of the big Whitehaven Bay area.  We looked on the chart and saw a depression right in the middle of the bay that dropped to 129 metres.  Is this the extinct volcano that we’ve been told about that still renews the silica sands?  This volcano is a ‘word of mouth’ story and cannot be confirmed by any of the books we have on board.  We wandered along the sands to the end and back and then went for a dip.  Not much of a swim as this bay is so shallow but it was very warm and refreshing.  We laid on the beach and dried and surveyed the beautiful vista surrounding us.  We have decided that this bay would have to be one of, if not the best, bay we have been in during our stay at the Whitsunday’s.  Perhaps it is under utilized because it is so shallow and you have the famous Whitehaven Beach just across Whitehaven Bay, about 5 nm away.  But, Whitehaven Beach is crowded and this is idyllic and you can fish here.  If you can catch them, that is.  No luck again.  I could see them but they are wily little creatures.  A really special day today!

Friday, 27th October 2006  -  Day 604  -  Windy Bay to Brampton Island

Up at 06:00 as neither of us could sleep as we know we need to be on our way south.  The forecast is for three days of NE winds at 10/15 knots plus we have the tide with us for the next six hours so we have decided to head for Brampton Island, 33 nm away which should get us in there around 14:00.  It took ages for the starboard engine to start so we are hoping it is not about to start playing up.  Once we had left Windy Bay I realized that I hadn’t taken a photo of the place...silly!  “Message in a Bottle” number 5 has been dispatched at E20° 22.3  E149° 07.02..  It’s a beautifully warm and sunny day and the sea is a fantastic colour of a darker aqua blue.  We only sailed for, probably, a third of the way and motor sailed the rest as the wind was very light and vairable.  Geoff had one trolling line out but to no avail.  It was an uneventrful trip apart from being passed by one small naval ship.  Hopefully the winds will be better tomorrow. 

Lazy type of sailing!

 Geoff thinks his cut may be infected so he has dosed it up with “Man and Beast” cream.  He will have to keep an eye on it but “Man and Beast” seems to fix everything.  We anchored in Western Bay, Brampton Island around 15:30 and I can’t work out why I am so tired as I haven’t really done anything. Maybe it is the longer than usual passage today of nine hours after spending 40 days island hopping in the Whitsunday’s.  But, nethertheless, after a cuppa I was revived enough for us to go off in the tender to explore and check how the two cats, inside the reef and tucked in behind an outcrop, got there.  Well, one of them was ‘Moonshaddow’.  Frank had beached her to give her hulls a good clean off of barnacles.  He told us it was safe to go over the reef two hours either way of high tide and it was a snug and secure anchorage there in most winds.  We shall see what the weather is doing tomorrow and make up our minds as to whether to go or come in over the reef and beach.  We then wandered up to the rocks and watched two Black Tipped reef sharks foraging in the shallows. 

We were going to go for a swim but it was so shallow that we gave it away.  You should see the national park facilities here on the edge of the beach.  Compost dunnies, of course, but a beautiful, stainless steel, gas bbq and for free.  But, we could only find one spot to put up a tent in the area indicated.  So, it would be a lovely secluded holiday for a camping enthusiast.   Back to 2AB and watch another beautiful sunset.  The sunsets always seem to be good at Brampton.

 Saturday, 28th October 2006  -  Day 605  -  Brampton Island to Pearl Bay

Up at 06:15 to get the weather and we have a two day weather window with NE/N winds, albeit light at present.  Got the Shoalwater Bay closure notices which start at 00:00 on 30th October and go through to 2400 30th November.  This also gives us a two day weather window but at least Pearl Bay and Port Clinton have been left open this time.  Anyway, we decided to do an overnight passage to Pearl Bay which should get us in before the strong SE/E change of 25/30 knots.  Depending on how kind the weather is to us, this passage should take between 24 to 33 hours.  We left Brampton at 07:15 with a poled out Genoa and the mainsail.  By 09:15 we were sailing with all sails.  We have the Spinnaker on the starboard side and the poled out Genoa on the port side and the main out

Nope the main is in now so that the other sails can take advantage of all the wind.  We were then doing 5.5 knots which was much better that the 3.5 we were doing before.  By 12:30 the wind had died down to below 5 knots so the Spinnaker came in and the motors went on.  Then the wind almost died altogether but then picked up from the north so the main was up again and we starting to travel quite well, doing around 6 knots which kept up until the sun slowly lost its heat and the winds died down.  It was then time to put a long sleeved shirt on.    According to ‘Weather MacKay’ that SE change will hit Yeppoon tomorrow evening so we have time to reach Pearl Bay before it comes in, even if we have to motor overnight.  We need to put the engines on anyway as the voltage is getting very low.  WAHOO!  We have just caught a Spotted Mackerel and of legal size so he is now in the freezer.  After a quick bite to eat it was off to bed for me at 20:00 for three hours sleep before my shift at 23:00.

 

 Sunday, 29th October 2006   -  Day 606  -  Still on route to Pearl Bay

Just after I went to bed last night the motors went on and have been on ever since.  I did an uneventful three hour shift from 23:00 to 02:30 then I got up at 06:00 to a calmer sea.  Is this the ‘Lull before the Storm’?  There is another yacht off our port side and Geoff said she must have been running without navigation lights as he couldn’t see her until dawn broke.  How dumb! We have an ETA at Pearl Bay of 10:30 so we have just over four hours to go.  We actually got in at 11:00 just before a squall came through.  There is a lot of fish feeding frenzy going on so Geoff was off trolling in the tender but no luck at this time.  He thinks they may be tuna, which we are not keen on anyway.  When he got back we had bacon and eggs and hash browns for lunch as we had forgotten it was Sunday and Geoff didn’t want to miss out.  Whilst we were relaxing with a cuppa the fish feeding frenzy arrived right on our doorstep so we went up on the front deck to watch.  Whilst we were there a guy in a small cat yelled across to us and asked us to turn our wind generator off as he hated them.  When  we had anchored he had been glaring at us and we had no idea why.  Most people just wave but he just stood there staring at us with his hands on his hips.  We weren’t even that close to him.  Anyway, once we were anchored he moved, which we though was strange but now we knew why.  He was anti wind generators!  Most Liveaboards have wind generators and it would be most unusual for anyone to be asked to turn it off in an anchorage, in a marina...yes…but not in an anchorage.  As we had plenty of power from motoring we turned it off but knew we would have to turn it on again as the power dropped as the sun was non existent so the solar panels were nigh on useless.  That’s why you also have wind generators...to harness the wind.  Later, two other cats came in with wind generators and he has been moving backwards and forwards to try to get away from them!  Ours was back on by then.  The fish were still going crazy so Geoff asked the guy on the little sloop behind us what they were and he said they were School Mackerel which got Geoff all enthused again and he was off in the tender again.  He got three strikes but no fish but he said it was fun.  We fished from the back of the boat and only caught Sucker fish so they went back..  Just before we went to bed we decided to be neighbourly and turn of our wind gen, whilst we could.  Hope he appreciates it.  

Monday, 30th October 2006  -  Day 606  -  Pearl Bay

The cat ‘Synergy’ that was anchored next to us has moved further in to shore and is now right next to the little cat ‘Double Dip’.  It is crewed by two beefy guys so I wonder if he will ask them to turn their wind gen off.  Ours is back on this morning as we are very low on power.  It’s another grey day today and there is a bit of a side swell when the tide is in the middle of its run but it is not too bad.  Geoff says it looks really rough outside of the bay.  Well, Double Dip has moved again and gone way down the bay trying to get away from ‘Synergy’.  The School Mackerel are still doing their thing and people are catching them quite easily from their dinghies so Geoff is off again.  He came back very quickly to show me the first fish he had caught.  A humungous Puffer Fish (Toad Fish) he had caught.  His top jaw was solid and he was certainly big enough to take off someone’s toe (let’s hope it doesn’t take someone’s toe off in the future, being that we have been kind and let him go).  He was then off again and came back later with three good fish and one that he let go.  I think we may be eating fish for a while yet.  Hey….Double Dip has come back...it must have been too bouncy where he had gone!  As he went by he thanked us for turning the wind gen off last night.  Wants to keep us sweet, no doubt, so we will turn it off again tonight.  Geoff then prepared  some of the Mackerel with various spices and we will have that tonight.  Apart from that it was a relaxing day.

Tuesday, 31st October 2006  -  Day 607  -  Pearl Bay to Port Clinton

A few of the other cats have left today for Yeppoon or the Keppel's.  We think the seas will still be running a little high so we have decided to do the sorter run of 8 nm to Port Clinton for a change of scenery as we haven’t been there before.  We left just after 09:30 and the seas, were indeed, rough.  The wind was E at between 8—10 knots so we were able to sail slowly as we could take our time.  It took just over two hours and it is a large, commodious anchorage with quite a number of boats already  here, but plenty of room.  The weather was looking decidedly iffy so I decided to put up the small rain catcher, just in case.  Then it was time to head ashore.  We found a group of yachties who had congregated at one end of the beach and some were having an impromptu BBQ.  Geoff went back to 2AB for some drinks even though I though it was a little early to start drinking (12:30).  A pleasant afternoon was spent chatting and putting faces to voices that I had only, up till then, heard on the radio.  Whilst all this socialising was going on a huge turtle cruised the shallows nearby.  Then a few big drops of rain was felt so it was time to think about heading back to our respective boats.  We only just got back in time when a heavy rain squall hit.  It wasn’t long in duration but in that short time we had managed to collect 10 litres of water.  I wonder how much we would have collected if we had put up our big rain collector?  So far, we haven’t got down enough to warrant putting it up.  There is a fish feeding frenzy going on here as well so there must be a lot of bait fish around at the moment.  We decided to have a fish from the back of the boat but all we got were lots of Puffer Fish so we must be anchored in Puffer Fish Alley.  Mind you, I actually find them quite appealing and cute looking in a strange way.  They have these big, round, sad eyes and look really pretty when they puff themselves up.  But, they are deadly poisonous so no good to eat, unless you take your lives into your hands like some Japanese do. Geoff tried to do some fishing on a float to get away from them but nothing.  There is a very strong current here in the bay but, funnily enough, it is keeping the boat stable and quite comfortable as it is stronger than the wind.  It, therefore, keeps us with the flow of the current so no nasty side swell.