Tuesday 17th June - Mackay Marina
We had a full day of shopping ahead of us.
Kristie had booked the “Rent a wreck” from the marina, hire car for the day.
We both went up to do the paperwork, and Kristie went off shopping and jobs while I did school with the girls and got in some work.
Kristie went to:
- pick up a new wireless anchor remote
- get her dive prescription lens put in her new mask
- hair
- bottleshop
- Woolies pickup
- Coles (for eggs & sourdough that Woolies was unable to supply)
Back up for lunch - hot chook (seems to be our regular lunch when ever we stop in a marina for shopping).
Once lunch was done, my turn to head off. I had a reasonable list to get through, and Pete from Nauti Kitty needed to visit most of the same places so he tagged along.
- Yamaha yard - I picked up some spectra to replace the furling line on our smaller jib.
- BBQ Galore to pickup a wok.
- BCF - new fish rod and squid light
- Anaconda - picked up some new sailing jackets - mine is probably 15yrs old and in need of replacement.
Got back to the marina after 4:30 or so - dropped the car keys into the box.
Back on the boat to put the shopping away and vacuum seal the meat/ham/salami.
The week ahead:
Dinner onboard.
Wednesday 18th
We had to check out today, but there wasn’t a rush - technically we didn’t have to be out until midnight ;)
Did the usual boat jobs, water, engine checks.
We only had a quick sail across to Keswick, so we didn’t have to leave too early.
I removed the old wireless anchor remote (the buttons on the remote were no longer working).
New remote was easy enough to install. It’s a generic remote (~$100, vs the Lofrans $800 version!). It works!
With the boat ready, we motored over to the fuel dock to top up.
Tied up and put in about 90L of diesel, for 27hrs of motoring since we left Gladstone.
Not the smoothest exit off the fuel dock, and then out into the main harbour to do a few laps while we pulled up fenders and lines and get ready to sail.
We put the mainsail up while in the protection of the harbour (much nicer than doing it in 1-2m swell!).
Our the marina and over to Keswick Island. It was a good 15-20kt SE. One of the crew from a pilot boat that was fueling up at the same time mentioned it was a bit messy out there!
With 2nd reef in, but full head sail out we were making quite good time, 8-10knts.
The seas started to pick up a bit, along with the wind. We had a good 2-3m swell.
It was starting to get a bit wild so pulled in the head sail, and that made things much easier.
Still going along at 7knts or so.
Once we got past the headland of St Bees it calmed down a lot. We dropped the sails and motored around to find somewhere to stop.
The moorings at the bottom of St Bees were bobbing around too much, so went around the corner.
The area just north of the runway was ok. Wind chop but no swell.
Settled in for the night.
Thursday 19th
School and Work.
Eventually we had to get off the boat. The girls were happy onboard so just Kristie and I jumped in the tender.
Tried landing just at the end of the runway, but a “no access / keep out” sign suggested we landed elsewhere.
Went down the end of the bay there the walk across to Connie Bay starts.
Tender up on the beach and walked up and over the headland.
Steep walk up a dirt/grass road.
Kristie scared off a snake with her scream after nearly stepping on it.
It was 600m up the top of the hill, then another 600m down to the beach.
Not much on the beach, but it was nice and calm.
On the way back we spotted Nauti Kitty arriving. Their first impressions of our chosen anchorage wasn’t the best, so they went to check out the other two options off the top of St Bees & Keswick.
Back to the tender, then went across to check out Turtle Beach. Also calm there when your standing on the beach out of the wind, but too much swell coming around from both sides out on the water.
It wasn’t long before Nauti Kitty circled back and dropped anchor where we were.
Back to the boat, we got the girls and went straight across to the beach on St Bees.
We’d told the other boats we’d be heading over, so it wasn’t long until the crew from Margot and Nauti Kitty were on the beach.
Drinks and nibbles and good fun.
Dinner onboard.
Friday 20th
School and Work for the morning.
Dropped Kristie into the beach at the airport. I went back to the boat.
Not long after Kristie stepped foot on the sand, she was approached by airport security.
The were a couple of trainee pilots practicing landings and take offs and the runway (only access to the island) was closed.
About 1/2 an hour later, they were finished with their training and Kristie was able to set off and walk every track on the island - steep tracks, some good views and not too sociable residents.
Late arvo I got a call over the VHF. The caller was checking in just to see if anyone had been trying to contact her.
I let Jess know that it was possibly Kristie as she was off wandering the island.
After some confusion, the caller identified herself as Kristie.
This gave our boat friends (who were listening on VHF) a good chuckle.
James jumped on the VHF call and invited everyone around to Connie Beach for a quick fire.
Kristie had a quick walk down from Horseshoe Bay Lookout to join them.
I couldn’t convince Emma to make the effort for 1/2 an hour, but Kristina was keen to head over for a quick play on the beach with the boys.
Marshmallows on the fire, a 0 beer from James, then back to Lazuli before the sun set.
Kristie got a ride back with James & family so Kristina and I could get back quicker in the rough conditions.
It was a wet tender ride home!
Saturday 21st
Very wet/windy day.
School and work.
Didn’t get off the boat.
Sunday 22nd
Another wet day.
School and work.
Put on the wetsuits and got to Turtle Beach for some shell collecting. Made a quick dash to the trees a couple of times, to hide from squalls coming through.
Got the call late afternoon from Nauti Kitty that the boys were going to watch A Minecraft Movie and invited us to come over.
Got the girls geared up for the tender ride across.
Jess was cooking popcorn - salted and caramel.
Movie was enjoyable - the kids really enjoyed it. Our girls had watch lots of previews and other Youtubes about it and gave a good running commentary!
Monday 23rd
Time to move on today. The wind has been howling the last few days and was supposed to be dropping off today.
We were pulling up anchor the same time as Nauti Kitty. They were off to Scawfell, we were heading north.
We got to Brampton but it was too rolly there, so we kept heading up to Goldsmith. It was much better up there.
We ended up picking up a mooring at the northern end of the bay.
We had occasional small swell wrapping around the top, but manageable.
We were the only boat when we go there, but ended up with 4 other boats in the bay by the time we left.
Tuesday 24th
After a bit of a rolly night I dropped Kristie into the beach for the morning.
Blue skies, warm sand and 2 40cm reef sharks cruising through the bait fish in knee deep water.
Back on the boat I helped the girls with their schooling, then got busy with work.
Picked up Kristie for lunch.
Bit of time on the boat then took the tender ride to check out the snorkeling options and the bay.
Water was cloudy, and not too much of interest to entice us into the water.
Saw a couple of reef sharks swimming around in the shallows.
Got the squid light out, but no squid came along.
Wednesday 25th
School and then motored across to Thomas Island.
It was still really foggy, cloud down to sea level.
Generator on as our batteries were a bit low after a few days or rain and bad weather.
Into the beach to go exploring.
Collected shells, explored the rocks, went for a swim.
Kristie had a quick snorkel. Cloudy water, lots of weed, little bit of coral and a few fish.
First time in a few weeks that we’ve had no wind, calm water & blue skies. So Kristie set off for a SUP.
Thursday 26th
Woke up to blue skies for the first time in a while.
There is a walking track from our side of the beach across to the other side.
The girls geared up for the short trip across to the beach.
On the beach we had to walk up and down a bit to find the start of the track.
The boating app said follow a dry creek bed.. The only creek was quite wet!
I didn’t go quite far enough the first time, and after pushing a little bit further found signs of the track.
Plastic (thongs, oil bottles) etc as trail markers.
Quite a bit of the track was overgrown and had to carry the girls a little bit.
We got to the other side and it was super windy. The girls both declared it wasn’t worth the walk!
Back to the boat and got Lazuli ready to sail across to Shaw.
Given it was still blowing 20knts+, we sailed across on just our #2 jib. Easy downwind sailing at 6-7knts speed.
Got to the end of Shaw and gybed to sail back across into the bay.
There were already half a dozen boats there hiding from the wind.
We motored up to “The Neck” to see if was any better there but turned out worse, a much longer fetch and more swell coming into the bay.
Back down the other end to drop anchor with everyone else.
Lunch.
Very very windy.
Didn’t leave the boat.
Friday 27th
School, no work today (already done this week and next weeks as well!).
With guests coming onboard tomorrow I needed some time to clean up the boat and make room for guests.
I had bought a bunch of down lights when we were at Gladstone and hadn’t had time (or inclination) to install them.
I got them all installed. They are also push button on/off, which will be helpful.
With the wind gusting up to 30knts I ended up with a few straps around the mainsail to lash it down for the night.
Saturday 28th
No particular rush this morning as we don’t have too far to go, and we can’t get into our berth until 12.
It was still windy and overcast.
Breakfast and then getting ready to sail.
Anchor up and got going by 8:45. It didn’t seem as windy or swelly as we expected.
Went with our #2 jib only, the main will still lashed down from the day before. Still going along at 6knts or so.
Until we hit the main Whitsunday passage, and we started fighting the flooding tide heading south :(
Once we dropped to about 4knts it was time to fire up the engine and start motor sailing.
A bit rolly at times, but I called in at around 12:30 to get our assigned berth.
Half an hour later I called on the VHF to give them the 30min heads up, and again called in when we got to the channel markers just outside the marina wall.
We had someone to catch our lines. My first attempt I got the angle wrong, but 2nd time nailed it.
All tied up and secure.
We had a bunch of jobs to do before our first guests turned up:
- Cleaning both bathrooms (and emptying the composting toilet)
- Filling up the water
- Two loads of washing+drying
- Offloading all the rubbish
- Charging batteries (for my squid light!)
- Showering!
Justin, Jo and the kids turned up just after 4pm, and once unloaded Justin took Kristie to collect our Woolies order (and more drinks!).
Back on board was a bit of chaos, bags of cloths, gear, shopping everywhere.
Got it mostly stowed away, and then we walked up to Hogs Breath for dinner. Curley fries FTW.
Kids needed a quick run around in the park to burn off the ice cream.
Tomorrow we’re off exploring the Whitsundays.
We’ll be around here for at least the next month and a half!