Wednesday 12th November - Coral Sea Marina

School in the morning.

I went to office to pay for our stay, sort out fuel, and book the parking (more on that later!).

We had motored a lot (too much!) to get down there, so I needed to fill up the diesel.
With Lazuli already secure on the dock, it was easier for me to make a few trips in our tender to top up fuel using the jerrycans.
Also, no need to book or wait if you just turn up in your tender!

Since we were going to be here for a month, and possibly sell Lazuli here we decided having our Landcruiser up here would be handy.
We also wanted to have the storm-sails and some other equipment we’d left in storage onboard when/if we sell.
Slight problem - it’s all still in Brisbane.

Kristie came up with the idea that I should drive a hire car down instead of fly.
This way we could load it up with all the stuff we have on the boat that we don’t need anymore and declutter ready for any inspections.
Timing worked out well, as Dad was going into surgery today so I’d be able to see him when I got down there.

Kristie helped the girls pack all the stuff they don’t need - oodies, blankets, most of their warm/winter cloths.

We got a bit of rain throughout the day.

Emma and I cooked Banana Bread during one of those rain periods.

Kristie took the courtesy car to Bunnings and Silly Sollys to get packing bags and boxes.

I got busy on the boat:

• Packed away the wind generator (it’s not that useful when you’re plugged into shore power!)
• Removed the boat logs (speedo/depth sounder) and cleaned them; no point keeping them in if we’re not going anywhere.
• Lashed the sails on the boom.
• Filled water.
• Flushed tender outboard.

More packing.

I walked into town at 2pm to get hire car, ended up with a nice hybrid RAV4.

We packed the car, needed a few trips with the trolleys to get all our stuff up there!

Charlee came over for a play with the girls (Exhale was on the public pontoon for the night - coming into the marina the next day).

I took Kristie to GP and pharmacy, then a quick trip to Coles.

More packing.

I had everything sorted so I could just get out of bed and head straight to the car in the morning.

Thursday 13th

I was in the car and on the way to Brisbane just before 4am. Iced coffee to get me through to my first stop.

Back on the boat:

• the girls did school.
• Exhale came in so Kristie and the girls helped/see them come in.
• Back to the boat for more school.
• Charlee came over for another play.
• Arlo (another boat kid) got dropped in, and they all went for a swim at the resort pool.
• Kristie and Kristina walked home, leaving Emma with Niki.
• Kristie cleared the clears.
• Girls hung our on Exhale for a bit more.
• Kristie walked to town for postcards and Woolies.
• Laundry - soaked the cousin covers.

I was making good progress.

• Maccas for Breakfast in Mackay.
• Had a good chat with my brother while he was driving to work
• Lunch at a servo
• Listened to lots of episodes from my favourite podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/on-the-wind-sailing/id711410636
• Got to Graceville by about 5pm after nearly 14hours driving.
• Unpacked the car.

Shower, and then went out with mum to get takeaway from Ceylon Inn (our local Indian).

The girls FaceTime’d before their bedtime.

Friday 14th

Busy day for me:

• Walked over to the Graceville shops to get dinner - caught up with my cousin Chris.
• Dropped off the hire car at Rocklea.
• My brother picked me up from there and took us over to our house where the Cruiser was in the shed.
• Discovered both batteries had died completely and couldn’t even hold charge after jump-starting :(
• Borrowed my brothers ute to go buy two new batteries.
• Fitted batteries - drove back to Darra.
• Dropped one of his staff back to Oxley to drive his ute back to Darra.
• Back to Darra to get stuff out of storage.
• Back to Graceville via the shops.
• Fitted a wireless CarPlay adapter to the Cruiser
• Train into the Wesley to see Dad. Good news - he’s doing very well and he’ll be out tomorrow
• Train home
• Dinner with mum.
• Went over to catch up with Evan and Prue - his 50th party was on tomorrow and I wouldn’t be able to make it as I’d be driving back to Airlie :(

Back in Airlie:

• The girls did school.
• Kristie 2 load of washing.
• Girls sorted and packed the washing away
• Hung out the heavy cousin covers.
• Girls played on Exhale.
• Kristie cleaned deck and cockpit.
• Rust remover helped with the cleaning
• Borrowed a Gernie from Exhale, but our inferior hose couldn’t handle the pressure :(
• Lunch.
• Kristie took the curtsey car and the girls (and Charlee) shopping for stinger suits. They had to try Annaconda, BigW, Best & Less, and finally BCF (to get the same suits they had at Annaconda!).
• Woolies.
• Back to the marina the girls walked to the pool with Kenny; Krisite gave them a head start while getting a few more jobs done before joining them in the pool.
• Picnic dinner on the ocean deck. It’s much nicer for Kristie to sort dinner and dishes when not on a moving boat (Kristie assures me that even if a boat is tied up in a Marina it still moves).

Saturday 15th

I was able to hang around and pick up Dad from the hospital at 10am.
Mum got the train in early, and I waited for their call.

Pickup went smoothly. Got Dad home and settled in.

Early lunch and got in the Cruiser to start driving.

I’d booked a motel in Gin Gin, so it wasn’t a big driving effort and was done around 4pm.

Back in Airlie:

• Kristina went to shops with Exhale. Emma needed to rest.
• Kristie scrubbed cushion covers and some more soaking.
• Charlee came over for a play.
• More stainless steel polish.
• Lunch.
• Swim at the lagoon with Charlee.
• Swim at the resort pool on the way back.
• Take away dinner on Lazuli.

Sunday 16th

I was up early again to drive the rest of the way back to Airlie.
Had rain/light spitting for the first half of the drive.
There’s nothing between Gin Gin and Rocky, so Maccas breakfast when I got to Rocky!

While I was driving:

• Kristie did more washing. How is there still things to wash?
• Charlee came to play on Lazuli.
• Kristie did more stainless polishing.
• Lunch and rubbish run.
• Walked up to meet me and help unload.

Kristie then took cruiser to Coles, Silly Sollys, and finally to get some sushi ready for tomorrow.

Viv and Russ arrived - they had been back in Mooloolaba for a week and got back to Airlie today.
Had a quick chat with them.

Kristie got the cushion covers on, and then baked a cake for Emma’s birthday tomorrow.

Goodbye sips and dips on Exhale. They are off south now; hopefully we’ll see them again when we sail south.

Monday 17th - Emma’s Birthday

Birthday pressies.

Breakfast: Fairy Bread for Emma, and French toast for the rest of us.

As Exhale was heading off this morning, we had Birthday Cake straight after breakfast so Charlee could be part of it.

We were then off to Bredls Wildlife / Farm: https://bredlswildlife.com/
We had a great time and loved it here.

Kristie ended up with quite a few scratches where the Koala was clinging on a bit too tightly!

They were very relaxed about everything (except for this one time a toddler ran off towards the pond where crocs live!).

Once the tour was done we sat down at the shelter shed there and ate our sushi, and chatted with a family from overseas who were heading south in a campervan.

Back on the boat, and sorted out our insurance (need to extend our coverage again for being north of Gladstone in cyclone season).

I needed to have a quick arvo nap, still recovering from the drive down and back up.

Drove into town for Hogs Breath dinner.

Followed by Cold Rock afterward.

Tuesday 18th

As well as the resort pool, as marina guests we also get use of their gym.

It’s not massive, but it has a few cardio machines and weights.
I was there not long after 6am.

Girls had a sleep in - (8:30 for kristina).

School and work.

Our boat friends Stuart and Sanne (Vanetta) have left their boat at the marina while they spend some time on land.
She’d sold their surfboard (not much surf up this way) so I grabbed that from inside and walked it up to the gate to meet the buyer.

It was then time for cleaning. We need photos to put online.

I cleaned and took photos of both bathroom and all 4 cabins. It required quite a bit of moving stuff around as we still live in it, and despite taking a car load home we still have a lot onboard!

Fed the girls dinner, and went to have a few cocktails and some cheese with Russ and Viv on Bella Amalfi (a few boats down from us).

Viv put together another one of her amazing platters, and Russ made a lot of tasty cocktails!

Late night, lots of drinks any never any “proper” dinner, just lots of nibbles. Got back to our boat sometime after midnight.

Wednesday 19th

Sore heads all round, no gym this morning!

School and work.

Had to have a quick mid-morning nap.

Lunch.

Cleaned and took photos of saloon and kitchen.

Another nap.

Got a bit of work done.

Caught up with Viv and Russ. Apparently we’d gone through a bottle of vodka, a bottle of gin, a bottle of red wine, we’d finished off my port, and a had a few shots of their schnapps as well.
They had been suffering nearly as much as us - they have aircon in their boat which would have helped!

Thursday 20th

Gym in the morning.

School and work.

Farewell hugs with Viv and Russ. They are off to Mooloolaba, we definitely plan to catch up with them when we sail south (or drive up to go diving!).

More work.

Kristie did another load of washing.

Released the back stay to get the stay sail down and off as we had to replace the chain plate.

Friday 21st

Gym to start the day.

School.

Removed the chain plate, which was hot and difficult work as I needed to climb into the anchor well, and Kristie into the sail locker.

Delivered it to the local fabrication mob to get a new one made up.

Hoot turned up - said hi to them. They’ll be in for 2 nights before they head south.

Work.

Kristie off to woolies and postbox.

Sip’s and dips with Andrew and Bride, this time on Lazuli: one of the benefits of being right down the end is we get a good afternoon breeze.

Off to dinner at KC’s with Andrew and Bride and our girls.

Posted the add to list Lazuli for sale online.

Saturday 22nd

Girls and I did the Parkrun/walk (just over 1 hour and only just ahead of the tail walkers).

Breakfast at Rainbow Cafe with Bride and Andrew.

They borrowed the Cruiser afterward to do jobs/shopping.

We were going for showers, but the girls ended up just playing with Mia (off Tandanya) at Ocean Club.

We all had some down-time on Lazuli.

Andrew came over with some glue to help fix the lining. I’d been trying to find a solution for the last year but nothing stuck.
The stuff he had was magic and worked very well! Thanks Andrew.

Swim at resort pool - happy hour - so we enjoyed a Mango Daiquiri’s with Bride and Andrew.

I walked back with wet togs and to get our BYO drinks, and met girls back in Airlie by the lagoon.

Out to pizza for dinner. It was busy, so we had to wait quite a bit. The girls were done, it’s been a big day for them!

Kristie ordered an Uber, so she, Bride and the girls went home in that, Andrew and I walked back.

Sunday 23rd

Quick walk to Hoot to borrow the glue to stick down some ply. Worked a treat.

Then spent some time changing some of the remaining lights over to the LEDs, and to fix the wiring on some of the others.

Goodbye hugs with Bride and Andrew as they are off. We probably won’t see them on the water, but we’ll be catching up once home.
It’s been awesome to hang out with them these last few weeks since they got to Lizard.

I went out to by some oil and new step for the toilet. The old step was a left over from family day care, so a new one will look a lot better.

Replaced fine fuel filter, and then changed the oil (and oil filter).

Rubbish run.

Monday 24th

Went for a run in the morning. It’s a nice path all the way out towards Cannonvale. Just over 2km each way.

Back on the bot, I found that the hot water hose split and dumped a tank of water into the bilge.

School for the girls.

I did the hot walk to chandlery at the other end of the marina, but they don’t have any suitable hoses.

Walked back to the Cruiser and then went for a drive to a local hose/plumbing supply store.

Replaced hose and sponged out the water.

Kristie did a load of laundry

Disposed of the old oil (you need to get a key from the Marina).

Kristie went off to Woolies.

I got in some more Work.

Kriste filled up the water and cleaned up bird poop. As more and more boats leave, the chances of getting unwanted attention from the birds goes up proportionally :(

Tuesday 25th

Gym. Morning storm while I was at the gym, the girls shut the windows.

The Ocean Club here also has a coffee machine, so morning routine is Gym –> Shower –> Coffee –> long walk back to Lazuli
(it’s just over 500 steps from our boat to the Ocean Club!)

School downstairs as upstairs was still wet after the storm.

I worked.

Swim at the lagoon after lunch with Mia and Shaan (Tandanya).

On the way back I bought a new float switch for our bilge pump.

Krisite got post from the marina (we have had quite a few deliveries sent to the marina here!).

I drove out to get the chain plate as that was ready.

Kristie did a quick check on Vanetta to see how it was going inside.

Wednesday 26th

Work and school.

Empty water - still more coming out of the hose fittings - needed to tighten the hose clamps more.

Removed the old/broken float switch and fitted the new one.

Thursday 27th

Run. Same track as last time.

Attached the new chain plate. Still hot with Kristie in the sail locker and me in the anchor well.

I dropped one of the nuts into the pile of anchor chain and couldn’t reach it; Emma climbed into the anchor well and tried to get it but only pushed it further down.

School and work.

Lunch.

Kristie drove out to the newsagent and then BigW.

I cleaned the stainless steel that hadn’t already been done.

Friday 28th

Gym, followed by coffee.

Off to the chandlery to get some stainless steel nuts and washers.

Kristina had to help put the last/top nut on the chainplate, as it was right up behind some mouldings and there’s no way I could bend enough to get in and reach it.

Swim at the pool with Shaan and Mia.

Ice cream on the way home.

More Work.

Emma had a play on Tandanya.

I re-attached the forestay to the chainplate.

Kristie and I enjoyed a date night (no kids) at the Garden Bar. Food was amazing, and they have some great cocktails!

Saturday 29th

Rain showers in the early morning.

Parkrun day - Emma had already tapped out the night before, and Kristina decided not to run in the rain.

It stopped spitting just before the run started. It would have been nice if it had kept up as it was so hot.

Kristie did a load of laundry.

We got a message from someone looking to inspect Lazuli. Arranged to do that on Monday.

Headed out to the markets. It was hot, and not much stuff of interest there (except for a bag of delicious lychees.)

Woolies. Hot chook for lunch back on Lazuli.

Time to tidy up downstairs ready for the inspection.

Kristie and the girls put the Christmas tree up; my involvement was extracting it from its storage location.

Baked banana bread with Emma.

Attempted to hoist the staysail, but it was too windy (and in the wrong direction).

Cleaned all the underfloor storage.

Still more water coming in. Tightened another hose clamp.
Ended up needing to remove the old hose, but I had to go get smaller (6mm) spanners first.
It takes longer to walk from the boat to the car than it does to drive to Bunnings!

Back to replace the hose.

BYO dinner at the Ocean Club with Tandanya. Girls enjoyed making some necklaces.
They have a BBQ at the top, so we cooked sausages and steaks and had a nice salad.

Sunday 30th

Hoisted the staysail back up the tracks and furled it.

Filled water.

Kristie washed and scrubbed the cockpit.

I checked water and didn’t find any leaks!

Cleaned engine bay (changing the oil is a messy process for me!) and checked oil.

Cleaned out the salt water foot pump - removed the intake hose and flushed it many times with fresh water, disinfectant and finally vinegar.

Kristie did some more polishing, our bimini frame looks excellent now.

Drove to Bunnings to get endcaps for the ladder, BCF for more toilet paper, and supercheap for a cloth.
Click and collect Woolies on the way back.

Kristie and I enjoyed a swim at the pool by ourselves. Happy Hour so had to have a few more Mango Daiquiri’s.

Light rain while in the pool so we had it all to ourselves.

More rain after dinner.

Monday 1st

Gym and coffee.

Eddie the Elf arrived with advent calenders for the girls.

Tidy and clean inside. Birds had been busy overnight. Perfect timing as we had arranged Dan and his family to come and have a look at Lazuli today. Kristie cleaned the deck, clears, infill and solar panels of their mess.

Glued endcaps on the ladder.

Kristie polished the steering wheel, and then the clears.

First inspection after lunch.

During the inspection, Kristie and girls went up to the lounge and enjoyed the aircon and comfy couches.

Rainy afternoon.

I ended up having to walk umbrellas up to the girls for the trip back to Lazuli.

Tuesday 2nd

Early morning run.

Time to head up the mast to replace the wind anemometer bearing.

Kristie managed the 2nd manual halyard, with Kristina pressing the button to hoist me on the main halyard.

The girls were both keen to have a turn going up the mast. Kristina went up first, all the way to the top at 19m.

She got stuck for a bit at the top, as one of the halyards got a bit stuck. It was easy enough for me to straighten out the sheath and Kristina enjoyed the view while waiting.
Glad it got stuck for Kristina and not me. Kristie made a comment that if I was up the top, she would have had to go for help to try and get me back down.

With the halyard sorted, it was Emma’s turn. She also enjoyed going all the way to the top and was able to wave to Tandanya when they were on the way back in after testing out their anchor.

Kristina ran over to Tandanya and invited Mia and Shaan to come and see Eddie the Elf.

They had a quick visit, then Kristina went back with them to have a play on their boat with Mia.

I worked.

Kristie did some washing.

Took the afternoon to head out to Cedar Creek Falls, only about 30min drive. We thought there’d be more water there given some of the rain we’d had in the last few weeks.

We visited when we drove up 2 years ago. That time there’d been even less rain and the bottom was stagnant, and we didn’t swim.

Movie night. Kristina chose “In your Dreams”.

Wednesday 3rd

Kristie went out shopping for Christmas Presents.

I took up some wrapping paper to the Lookout Lounge so she could wrap the pressies.

I worked.

Movie night, Kristie’s choice: Wicked.

Thursday 4th

Gym.

Work.

Dropped the gas bottle up to be refilled. It wasn’t empty, but it’s convenient to fill it here and means we shouldn’t have to worry until we get back to Brisbane.

Took the big cyclone mooring ropes back to the Cruiser as we won’t need them going south.

Kriste did one last check on Vanetta and replaced their moisture containers.

Kristie off to Woolies and bottle shop.

Two trips to Bunnings for their Christmas activity (we took the 3 from Tandanya as well).

There was:

• Craft
• Free sausages / drinks
• the Grinch made an appearance
• One of the staff dressed up as Santa, the most un-Santa looking Santa you’d see (he must have drawn the short-straw) so there wasn’t much interest in any of the kids having their photo taking with him!
• There were also reptiles, so the girls got to hold a snake and lizard.

Back the marina, and straight to the showers; Kristie stayed there to do laundry while I got the girls to bed.

Whilst being one of the more expensive marinas, the facilities here are great and Airlie is a great place to hang out.

Tomorrow we leave the marina, and leave Airlie as we start to head south.

But first we will have a few nights exploring the Whitsunday Islands one last time before we start heading south.

Tuesday 4th November - Cairns Marlin Marina

A few final jobs before we leave - filled up the water and offloaded what rubbish we still had onboard.

Left the marina at 7:40am and started motoring out to Sudbury Cay

It was forecast to be 5kts, but it was gusting 15 on the way out.

Had the line out, and caught some seaweed; we had 3 hits on the lure but nothing stuck :(

Motored through a rain squall before finally grabbing one of the two moorings out at Sudbury Cay.

Lunch.

Hoot was on the way out so we were in contact with them. They’d gone to check out a reef further north but ended up on the other mooring here.

Kristie and I geared up for a snorkel; we saw flat worm, maori wrasse, and 3 large cuttlefish.

Andrew and I both had our spear guns. Andrew got a tusk fish and cuttlefish.

I tried to get a cray with hand spear but just pissed it off and it fled back into the safety of its rock :(

Bride and Andrew were walking around the cay when we were done with our snorkel. We stopped to have a quick chat and organised sip’s ‘n dips.

Back to Lazuli to wash and get dry. We were going to Hoot for dinner (fish and calamari!), so I made up some potatoes to take over and put them in our billy boil.

Got drinks and cheese and headed into the cay with the girls.

Andrew had brought in one of their coconuts and the means to open it up.

Having drinks with friends on a tiny bit of sand in the middle of the ocean is one of the many things we’ve really enjoyed this year. It never gets old.

Dinner on Hoot. Delicious fish, and lots of calamari!

Wednesday 5th

Kristie awake to see the sunrise; the sand cay is quite small and offers very little protection from the swell, so it’s very rolly.

We left at 7am and motored (no wind) to Russell Island. Hoot stayed there to wait for the wind.

Kristie had a nap, and I got in some work while underway.

Arrived at 9:30am and picked up the most northern of the 3 moorings there.

School and more work.

The other boat there left, so we took it’s mooring as it was a bit further down and should protect us from the swell a bit more.

Lunch.

Tender into beach for beach combing.

Found a few shells, and had a good chat with a lady who had just arrived and was spending a week camping on the island.
She suggested that as it was low tide we could walk across to the other headland and there was a track to the top.

With our togs, wetsuit/water shoes on we walked across to the other headland and looked for a path up.
It was a bit of a scramble; and only Kristina and I climbed to the top.
Kristie and Emma got about halfway up, then went back down and made their way back across.

Great view; the wetsuit boots not the most sturdy option for rock climbing.

We all enjoyed a sit in the water to cool down once we were back across and closer to where our tender was.

Bride and Andrew had turned up and were out snorkeling/spearing.

We dropped the girls on Hoot; and with Bride’s permission, Emma set their fish (live bait) free!

Kristie and I went back to Lazuli to get the swim mat to take back to Hoot.

Bride had set up a line running from the front to the back, under the middle of their cat that could then be used for some in-water tight-rope walking.
The girls played on Hoot’s davits/lines for ages.

We made good use of the mat while the girls were playing.

Dropped the girls to Lazuli, gave them dinner, back to Hoot for sips ‘n dips.

Thursday 6th

Left Russell Island at 6:50am, lure in straight away. Hooked a few seaweeds.

Kristie took over while I worked.

No wind, no swell, so we went to check out Eddy Reef. Anchored but even at mid-tide there was too much NE swell for us to stay there.

Brief attempt to sail but not enough wind.

Motored the rest of the way to Goold Island instead.

No fish.

Friday 7th

Woke up at 5:30am with alarm, anchor up by 6am.

Saw some dolphins.

Sailed once we cleared Goold and had a nice run down and around the side of Hinchenbrook Island.

Anchored in the northern section of Zoe Bay to try and get out of the NE swell.

Had a long tender ride into beach; decided to stop about half-way down as the waves crashing on the shore were getting bigger.

Ended up with a 1km walk down the beach: hot and soft sand. Stingrays and shovelnose rays where swimming up and down in the shallows.

Kristie and Emma tried to take a rainforest track (trying to be croc safe) from the beach to the waterfall; they walked for 15min before accepting it may be the wrong track and had to turn around and go down the beach like we did.

Kristina and I hadn’t waited and had got to the falls and had a swim, fed the fish, and 30min later with no Kristie or Emma we started to walk back.
Met them 2min later just after crossing the creek.

Back to the falls for a family swim.

Fed the Perch some more shapes (they don’t appear to be fussy on what sort of shapes!).

We had a swing, and the girls did some “drawing” on the rocks/algae. All four of us had a turn sitting under the waterfall.
There wasn’t as much water coming down as when we’d visited on the way north.

Tender was high and dry when we got back, long and slow struggle to get it down to the water.

On the way up we’d timed our visit so we didn’t have to do this!

Sailed to Orpheus and grabbed a mooring there. Lovely and protected in a NE.

Saturday 8th

7:15am and we were off sailing towards Maggie.

8:10am had a visit from the Water Police. They came alongside while we kept sailing (we were only doing 5kts or so downwind).
They wanted to check the life jackets, flares, v-sheet, rego, EPIRB, and then gave Kristie a breath test.
It’s been a time since I had some “camping coffee” on a weekend morning, but if I did it wouldn’t be before a 47nm sail!

Anchored at Picnic Bay as Horseshoe was too rolly. We quite liked it here. Good protection from NE and very scenic.

Tender into beach to drop Kristie in for shopping.

Kristie took the bus to the marina to drop off the stubby cooler we’d taken from Vellamo, and then to pick up some supplies at the IGA.

Kristie ended up having a chat with Rhythm, there were planning to head off to see the coral spawning.

I brought the girls in to meet Kristie. I sent them both up the road to dump our rubbish!

Dinner at the pub across from the jetty; the girls enjoyed the massive fish tank we were sitting in front of.

Walked out along the pier for the sunset.

Tender back to Lazuli in the twilight.

Sunday 9th

No wind, so motored, with Kristie at the helm while I worked.

Had our trusty red & white lure out and caught a Spotted Mackerel on the way!

Anchored at Cape Bowling Green, which was ok in the NE winds (it’s normally referred to as Cape Rolling Green and is not a pleasant place to be in a SE wind).

Monday 10th

Anchor up at 7am to get out to the SS Yongala (only about 2hr motor away).

Kristie motored while I worked.

We had permits to dive the wreck, but our understanding was you need to book/pay/arrange to use the moorings.

At 8am I called the place that we were under the impression dealt with these, but they didn’t open until 8:30.
Called again but turns out 9am is opening time.

Called at 9am, but their building alarm was going off so they’ll call back.

Nobody called us back, so I called again at 9:30 but the usual person was away so got someone else to call me back.

Arrived at SS Yongala at 9:45am and picked up a mooring. Glassy conditions. Not a breath of wind.

Got a call back at 10am and the guy said it wasn’t them, and he couldn’t find who to call anyway.
Suggested we enjoy the dive and seek forgiveness if we have to ;)

Yongala Dive arrived at 10:10am.

Set up gear, discovered that my primary reg hose was leaking. Replaced that with one of our spares.

Kristie saw a turtle and sea snake on the surface.

Kristie swam our line over to the Diver Access Point (which by this time was much, much closer to their boat than ours!).

I took Kristie and her dive gear over in the Tender. Matt (owner of Yongala Dive) offered to surface watch if we wanted to dive together, so quick gear up by me.

Tied tender to their boat.

Strong currents - 8m viz.

Lots of life. Bull Ray, shovel nose, eels, turtle, cod, Maori Wrasse, nudi, flatworm.

This was my first dive on the wreck, Kristie has been here several times.

Many, many thanks to Matt for doing surface watch so we could dive together. A refreshing change compared to some dive operators that like to think they “own” the site they dive.

Dropped mooring at 12:20. Had another call at 1pm by mooring people but let them know we’d already talked to someone.

Enough wind to sail at 2pm. Anchored at Cape Upstart at 5:30pm.

Tuesday 11th

Alarm at 5am, breakfast on the way.

7am hooked something big.

We’d hooked one of its pectoral fins, so it was swimming in circles.

Took lots of circle work, but eventually after 25min I got my lure back!

Motored until Cape Gloucester, by which time we could sail straight to Airlie.

Arrived at Coral Sea Marina at 5pm. They placed us at the end of the arm.

We had a nice rainbow to welcome us “home”.

We have booked to stay at the marina here for a month.

There are a few boat jobs to do, but our main goal is to get Lazuli tidy and listed for sale before we head south.

We will enjoy making use of all the facilities here.

Thursday 23rd October - Lizard Island

Today we say goodbye to Lizard Island, our home for the last two and a bit weeks.

We’d organised with Hoot that we’d aim to leave at about 8am, and head out to the Cod Hole at the top of Ribbon #10.

We were up early 6am to start getting ready.

During the usual pre-departure checks I found quite a bit of water in the bilge under the engine :(

Once that was gone we were ready! A quick radio call to Hoot confirmed they were ready to head off earlier, so we had the anchor up at heading out 7:30am.

There was a bit of wind, so got around the corner and put the sails up.
The wind was pretty much SE, so we were taking out, heading north of east (not in the right direction!).
Sailed that way for quite a while, before tacking and heading south.
Our tacking angle was probably 110degrees - there was a bit of current heading north.
After 2hrs of sailing, and still 5nm away (upwind!) we dropped sails and motored out. Hoot did the same.

Vellamo had left earlier than us and were smart enough to not try and sail. With their iron headsail up, they were already out there and on the western of the two moorings.

We went to check out the 2nd, however it looked like a yellow mooring (it was in fact a red mooring), however it looked really close to the reef, and there was too much swell coming in for us to be comfortable out here.

Turned around and went to find somewhere to anchor. We ended up about 1nm around the corner in some sand.
Dropped anchor in about 16m, and ended up sitting in about 21m.

Hoot by this time had gone in and taken the mooring (they had offered it to us after discovering it was a red mooring).

Quick Lunch, then getting ready for us all to dive!

Kristie and girls went over in our tender, and Andrew came over in his tender and took the rest of the dive gear and I.

Kristina wanted to say hi to Tora, the cat on Vellamo, so Kristie stopped there to say hi.

It was then time for Kristina and Emma to have a quick dive. They saw a few Cod and enjoyed their dive.
They dived the Cod Hole before I did!

Hoot had offered themselves up as the dive platform.

Kristina and Emma enjoyed swimming and jumping off their cat while we got ready to go for a dive.

Whilst swimming one of the fish liked the look of Kristina’s white and green sock and took a bite of it, and put a hole in it.
(thankfully no toes were bitten!)

All 6 of us adults (Bride and Andrew off Hoot, Traci and Matt off Vellamo, and Kristie and I) then went down for a dive.
Traci had issues with her new mask so they went up to the surface and we kept diving.

Bride and Andrew swam off, so it was just Kristie and I by ourselves for the dive.
We went down to about 24m and found a big cod that was happy (well, it didn’t seem to care!) for a few photos.
Headed back west and up into the shallower sections as the viz dropped off as it got out into the deeper sections.

Visibility would have been about 30m. Excellent coral cover. We saw some of the large Cod this place is named for, as well as an eel, reef sharks, Maori Wrasse, humphead parrotfish.

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 18.1
• Duration: 63min
• Average Depth: 8.7m

Kristie and I then took the dive gear back to Lazuli, leaving the girls on Hoot with Bride and Andrew.

We had a pod of dolphins come up close just as we got back to Lazuli.

I ended up removing more water from the bilge.

Sips ‘n dips on Hoot with Matt and Traci.

We had a huge pod of dolphins swam past, and do some fishing in the channel to the east of us.

It was a long, slow, wet ride back to Lazuli!

Friday 24th

Breakfast while Kristie filled tanks.

Cleaned up bilge and discovered one of the hose clamps on the hose coming out of the raw-water stainer had come off.
I replaced that, hopefully that’s the cause of the water ingress.

Kristie and I geared up and headed over to Hoot, leaving the girls on board Lazuli.

The 4 of us went down (and stayed together this time).
We would have had 40+m vis this dive, and no current.
We went out east and came back along the wall.

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 23.7
• Duration: 72min
• Average Depth: 8.9m

Back to Lazuli for lunch, and Kristie filled more tanks.

I had my friday afternoon client meeting.

Back to Hoot for more diving. Vellamo were hosting drinks this afternoon, so we took all our supplies with us.

Kristie went for a dive with Andrew and Matt, while the girls, Bride, and I snorkeled.

The visibility was still amazing, so we could snorkel above them and watch for a bit.

A very friendly cod came up at the start of the dive and hung around for a bit, posing for photos.

We enjoyed our snorkel, checking out the wall in front of Hoot.
We were still in the water when the divers came back, so Emma and I followed them. Emma enjoyed playing with the air bubbles as they came up!

Once dry, we all converged on Vellamo for the afternoon. The girls were down stairs watching their iPads, with Tora the cat keeping a close eye on them.

Enjoyed our drinks and nibbles, then we all got to enjoy Traci’s famous sunset cocktail - grapefruit and vodka.

Had another pod of dolphins swim past.

Back to Lazuli for dinner.

Saturday 25th

Breakfast, and then Kristie filled tanks.

I had a look through the back lazarette to see if I could spot anything else that might be the cause of water ingress (there wasn’t any new water in).

Vellamo and Hoot left before us, both wanting more time at Lizard Island.
We were off motoring at 8am.

Autopilot on the entire way, which gave me time to work on the previous blog.

We arrived at bottom of #10, and dropped anchor in about 6m of water at 11:30am. 1 minute later the first of the seabirds landed on Lazuli.

It was just over 14nm from our spot at the top of #10 to where we stopped at the bottom.

No water intake!

Lunch.

Kristie dived on one of the random bommies out the back.

Visibility was only about 5m, and it wasn’t long before she was back on the tender after getting buzzed by a cranky reef shark.

Family snorkel on one of the shallower reefs in close.

We had a shark swim past us while Kristina was out between the reefs all by herself. I got out there with her and brought her back in.

The coral cover was ok, not as good as we had at the Clam Gardens. We still enjoyed the snorkel and saw a large eel, pufferfish and some clownfish.

Loukia turned up about 3:45pm. I went over and invited them for drinks, but they declined as they’d had a big day (they’d come all the way from Lizard).

We were on time for dinner, but Emma took herself to bed at 7pm! Those late nights and big days had caught up with her.

Sunday 26th

The infection on Kristina’s food had grown significantly, so Kristie did a Tele-health video call with a doctor.
He gave us a script for some antibiotics, but we’re just a little far away from the nearest pharmacy.
He recommended (as we couldn’t get there soon), that we drain and put some antibiotic cream on it.

With that done, we motored over to the patch between #10 and #9. We ended up picking up the mooring on Pixie Pinnacle.
With the NE forecast, I wasn’t happy with the idea of anchoring in close as we could get blown towards the reef edge.

Lunch.

Checked AIS and saw that the Spirit of Freedom dive boat might be heading our way, so we held off diving until we knew what they were doing.
They ended up heading away from us and went to No-name reef just north of Cod Hole: time for us to go diving!

Quick tender ride (about 20m) over to the tender mooring at the top of Pixie Pinnacle.

Viz was about 25m. We had a Manta swam past at one point. Great dive! There were plenty of clownfish, and so much fish life everywhere.

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 25
• Duration: 62min
• Average Depth: 11.5m

Back to Lazuli for a quick tank change, then Kristie did a solo dive on Pixie Wall, heading west from the mooring.

I had a quick snorkel, and found her a pipefish.

Visibility was about 20m. A great dive other than her float/line getting stuck on the plate coral, which limited her exploration of some of the canyons and overhangs.

With me on top in the tender, she could do a one way dive. Started at one mooring, and made it to the next.

More tank filling, then sips ‘n dips.

Monday 27th

Kristina’s foot bubble/infection had filled up again, so we drained it again.

Kristie and I then went over to dive Pixie Wall. Jumped in and went east this time.

Lots of fan coral, canyons to explore, more pipefish, some nudi’s, and had 2 barracuda follow along for quite a while.

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 15.2
• Duration: 63min
• Average Depth: 8.4m

After the dive we motored down to Ribbon #5, about 32nm south.

Kristie was skippering (dodging reefs) while I worked.

We lost Starlink about 5nm out from our anchorage at the bottom of #5.

There are two moorings there, but both were taken. Went in closer and took a while to find somewhere to drop the anchor.

Ended up in about 10m of water on a clear sandy spot between bommies.

Ribbon #5 is one of the few that is not a Green Zone. I had green squid light out at night and could see a few larger fish swimming around underneath.
I dropped a lure in, but it was half-hearted and they showed no interest in it!

Tuesday 28th

Kristie filled tanks. One of the moorings was now free, but we decided we didn’t need to move next to Loukia and fire up the compressor!

Once the tanks were done we did move across to the free mooring.

Kristie and I geared up to go dive one of the patches between #5 and #4.

We tied on to one of the moorings over there.

Jumping in quickly as it was so hot.

There is a nice wall there; we swam west.

Great dive! Saw a nudi, a few eels, crayfish, white tip reef shark. We had another more curious shark came to check us out a few times before it swam off.

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 21.5
• Duration: 62min
• Average Depth: 9.3m

Back to Lazuli and I grabbed the spear gun and jumped in on the bommie behind the mooring.
The fact that this is NOT a Green Zone shows… didn’t see anything of a size that could be taken.

Lunch.

Emma and Kristie made damper (GF flour and lemonade).

Kristie filled tanks while that was cooking.

With tanks filled, Kristie and I went back over to the same mooring on #4.5 but this time swam east around the corner.

Another great dive, we saw 5 Maori Wrasse at the start.

Saw a decent sized eel, crayfish, nudis, and a cool flat worm.

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 16.8
• Duration: 61min
• Average Depth: 9.2m

As we got back in the tender, we could hear Kristina talking on the VHF to Hoot: “Mum and Dad are diving… again”.
Turns out Hoot were about an hour away.

Back on Lazuli Kristie filled tanks.

I cooked dinner and put in the Billy Boil, hoping to save time for dinner later on.

Sundowners on Hoot. Loukia was the yacht on the other mooring. We motored past them on the way to Hoot to invite them over.
They declined (for a 2nd time!) as they were going to be off early in the morning and their tender was already out of the water and packed away.

On Hoot, the girls used their 4G connection to do their streaks (Duolingo and Roblox!); I used it to set up Ocean Mode ($3.20/GB).
I hadn’t activated Ocean mode, and while you can access your Starlink account from the app while you’re in a restricted region, the multifactor auth requires internet access :|

The lightning storm on the mainland gave a good show. Others who were further south than us got a bit of rain, but no storm out where we were.

Wednesday 29th

With Hoot here, we had breakfast then met up over at the #4.5 site again to dive with them.

We went east, and had a great dive with about 25m visibility. Andrew spotted a lovely anemone bulb still closed up!

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 16.8
• Duration: 61min
• Average Depth: 9.2m

Diving done, and time to head down to Ribbon #3. Only 9.3nm to the south.

Hoot stayed where they were to have a break from diving (WTF!) and to go fishing.Kristie enjoyed a nap on the way down.

Two moorings here, and both were vacant!

Spoil Sport was on Steve’s Bommie when we turned up, but looked like they were packing up.

We still had tanks to fill, so compressor out and Kristie filled tanks over lunch.

Spoil Sport then moved over to Ribbon #2.5 (the patches between #3 and #2).
AIS makes it easy to see exactly where they are diving :)

Turned on Starlink so the girls could get streaks and we could check weather forecasts.

Enjoyed watching the dolphins that swam past.

Kristie and I geared up and did the 0.7nm tender ride from the mooring to Steve’s Bommie.

Excellent dive!! 25m viz, quite a few nudies, a few large cod, schools of fish, pelagics, lionfish, clownfish, pipefish, and the plaque.

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 23.9
• Duration: 62min
• Average Depth: 13.5m

We got back and Emma was keen for a snorkel. Kristina still using her foot as a reason to stay dry.

Jumped in on the reefs just to the east of the mooring. Not much coral but she enjoyed the warm layer of water on top.
Emma enjoyed swimming down close to all the clams she could find.
There was a large school of black fish came past with a few humpheads.

Kristie filled the tanks again.

Emma and I played Minecraft. As we had no internet she was bored and wanted to play something.
We spent an hour on a few worlds together… her crafting and me wandering aimlessly attacking chickens and other animals!

They both are struggling with no internet. Addiction is real.

Kristie realised the intake hose had fallen out at some point during the filling.

Sip’s ‘n dips with just us.

We’re getting low on meat, so dinner was Carbonara with just bacon (we usually add chicken).

Had the night on the reef by ourselves; at the other reefs there had been game fishing boats that came in to the reefs to shelter for the night.

Thursday 30th

Woke to a light sunshower, and bird poop on the decks. We’d had a few perch on the spreaders over night :(

Analysed tanks and found one had 7ppm, and the other was 4ppm. So we dumped all the air from them and refilled.

We both went over and dived wall on 2.5 again, this time we headed to the east.

Only 15m viz, awesome coral, reef shark, nudies, barracuda. Visibility dropped off a bit more as we got to the corner.

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 15.6
• Duration: 61min
• Average Depth: 8.2m

Back on the boat and filled tanks, then lunch.

Checked and realised that we didn’t need Ocean mode at #3, so opened Starlink back up to the girls! They were delighted!

Post lunch dive back at Steve’s Bommie. Cod, Grouper, three eels, lion fish, big schools of pelagics, a flat worm, banded shrimp, purple anemone bulb.

Dive Stats:

• Max depth: 24.4
• Duration: 65min
• Average Depth: 12.8m

Radioed to let girls know to get ready to go for a dive.

Emma wanted to dive Steve’s Bommie, so headed back out there; Kristina stayed on board with her infected foot.

Emma did a 15min dive around the top of the bommie, with her max depth around 6m.

She really loved the dive here.

Back to fill tanks.

Friday 31st - Halloween

With nobody around us, and out on the reef by ourselves, Kristie gave thd girls all the Halloween lollies that she’d purchased in preparation for trick-or-treating.

Left the mooring at Ribbon #3 and we were motoring at 7:30am heading to Pickersgill Reef.

No wind, very, very hot onboard!

I worked.

Hooked a Mac Tuna while in a meeting, but threw it back.

Got to Pickersgill but too much swell. We had a weird NE swell, and most of these reefs don’t do so well in that direction swell.

Kept going south to Mackay Reef/Cay, only about 12nm south.

Kristie got a sun burnt back while sitting out in the sun briefly.

I called up Coral Sea Marina; we’d originally booked to stay with them for the month of November. We weren’t going to make it there by tomorrow!
They were happy to move our booking.

Got to the cay, and we all got into togs and went in for a swim with the mat… but not before a jump…

Jim and Jude (Nohea) were there and came to say hi and had a good chat with them while hanging about in the water.

Back to Lazuli for quick change and back to the cay at 5pm for sips ‘n dips with Nohea.

Girls dressed up in their costumes that they had for Trick or treating.

We enjoyed sunset drinks and cheese on the sand with us and Jim and Jude. I’d mentioned earlier during our swim we were out of a few essentials… like Weetbix.
Jude kindly brought in a care package of Weetbix for me :) Thanks! Jim’s comment was along the lines of “It’s good to get that cardboard off the boat!”.

Back on Lazuli we had done dinner when Coco and Van from a massive motor cat came trick or treating (with their Dad) in their tender at about 7:30pm.
Girls got dressed (we were all more or less just surviving in undies it was so hot!) and put together two small clipseal bags of lollies to give to the other two kids.

The girls missed being able to go trick or treating back home.

Saturday 1st Nov

Kristie and I went for a snorkel, and on the lookout for a tasty Coral Trout.
Didn’t see any trout, but saw a turtle, reef shark, large eel, and lots of fish. Just nothing to spear.

Swim at the beach and the girls enjoyed playing on the mat with the other two kids.

Dropped mooring at midday and sails up to follow Nohea south. They weren’t sure where they were going, but we were aiming for Low Isles to meet up with Hoot again.

Just under 22nm all up, and we only motored the last 2 miles as the wind was SE and we couldn’t quite make the island without tacking.

There are 5 moorings there, and they were all full when we approached. We were about to drop anchor when Kristie noticed one of the yachts on a mooring was leaving, so we quickly grabbed that.

Bride and Andrew came by in their tender and we organised drinks on the beach at 5pm.

Kristie and I went to Loukia (who were on one of the other moorings) to let them know our plans as well.
They invited on board and had a beer and a chat with Kelly, a solo sailor from Port Douglas on the mooring next to them.
(she has an even smaller boat than Loukia!).

Garry (Loukia) admitted they’d been about to raise their tender when they saw us come into the bay and realised they really ought to make an appearance for drinks :)

We went back to Lazuli to get the girls and supplies.

At the beach at 5pm for drinks and food. There are tables there so we set up on one of them.

Fiona and Gaz from Loukia, and Kelly joined us and Hoot (along with two of their friends they’d picked up from PD for the night).

Andrew opened some coconuts, and Bride shared around the coconut flesh and milk.

Fresh coconut milk and gin is a regular drink for Bride, and Kristie enjoyed it also.
At least one of the coconuts had some lovely soft flesh. So good.

Emma flew her kite by herself for a bit, then she and Kristina took my phone for a walk around the island to take some photos.

We took some of the coconut back to Lazuli.

Had a late (8pm!) dinner of Pancakes and Bacon and maple syrup!. Yum. Our last dinner before we resupply in Cairns.

Sunday 2nd

Dropped mooring and leaving by 6:30am. Loukia was about 2nm behind us when they followed us out of the island. They travel a lot slower than us.

We spent a bit of time getting ready for jobs once we get to the marina.

Both our fridge and freezer had accumulated a bit of ice, so with the freezer low it was the perfect time to defrost these.
I had the camp fridge on and cold as a freezer, so transferred all the stuff in our freezer to that, and the fridge contents into the insulated woolies bags.
With the high ambient temperature it didn’t take long for the ice to disappear!

I got a bit more of this blog written.

We arrived at Cairns Marlin Marina at about 12:45. We’d called to ask for assistance… we shouldn’t have :(
The guy they sent down was completely useless a catching lines. We gave him our spring line and all he had to do was tie that off.. he just did one loop and left it at that..
The wind was blowing directly behind, so it quickly pushed us forwards and we touched at the front, and then ended up sideways in the empty pen.
No out best effort :(

With the boat sorted, Kristie started 4 loads of washing… no washing for 5+ weeks so everything we had needed a wash!

We had a full load of rubbish to offload.

Kristie then set off to head to the shops to get Emma’s iPad screen replaced.
Also stopped in at the pharmacy, newsagent, and Woolies.

I had a bunch boat jobs to do as well:

• Filled up all 3 water tanks
• Flushed the outboard engine
• Washed the decks (got rid of all the bird poop)
• A few trips to the laundry to bring back the dry cloths and put some more in the dryers
• Decanted the one jerrycan of diesel we had.
• Filled up a container to soak our dive regs in.

With Kristie back, I started walking to Anaconda to get the gas filled.
I decided I best call them first to make sure they could; turns out they were out of gas so I only wasted 200m instead of 2km!

We all had much needed showers, and then went to night markets for dinner and a massage.

The girls found some stuff to spend their pocket money on.

Cold Rock on the way back to Lazuli.

Monday 3rd

I took the tender to go and get fuel at 8am, Tuesdays is their busiest day so we couldn’t get a fuel booking for Lazuli until much later in the day tomorrow.
Filled up 4 jerrycans of diesel, and 30L of unleaded. Emptied 3 of them straight away and kept the one 20L of diesel in the locker.

Kristie did school with the girls.

I then set off for some shopping.

• Uber to Whitworths to buy a new bilge hose and other goodies
• Walked to spear/fishing place to get a new filleting knife
• Walked to Tackle world to get new red and white lure
• Walked to BCF to fill the gas bottle and buy a hand spear.
• Uber back to marina.

While I was out, Kristina and Kristie walked to the Marina office to pick up some packages, and then onto the Post Office, Target, and Coles.

They brought home a hot chook for a late lunch.

I had a work meeting, and Kristie had a nap up top.

Replaced the bilge hose; I ended up having to get both girls to help to feed it through.

Checked and cleaned the log/depth sounders; they both had substantial growth (the speed log wasn’t working at all)

Pizza takeaway for dinner. The girls and I had a quick swim in the lagoon while waiting for Kristie to bring the pizza.
Back in the water as soon as pizza’s were smashed.

Emma’s wobbly tooth finally came out (with assistance) at the lagoon. Kristie had to hold it for the rest of the swim and keep it safe.
Emma has previously lost one of her teeth at the pool in Yeppoon a few years ago and was most distraught thinking the Tooth Fairy wouldn’t come if she didn’t have the tooth!
We didn’t get out of the lagoon until 7pm.
It was so nice just to be in the water.

Kristie did another load of washing. 2 days spent walking around in the heat in Cairns was easy enough to fill a load.

Made the most of the marina amenities and enjoyed a nice cold shower.

Tomorrow we’re leaving Cairns and starting to head further south.

Cairns is HOT, especially when there is no breeze.

Yes, the Tooth Fairy visited Emma!