Solitary Islands: Diving Day 2

Diving again today, with more sharks hanging around again. Love the sharks here. Meet up time was half past seven, as the day before. Geared up at the dive centre, hopped on to the boat and zoomed out to the South Solitary Island again (one with a light house on it).

Arrived and geared up for another dive. This time there where only eight of us, as compared to the twelve of yesterday. Four older guys and four of us younger ones. One of us was doing his Advanced Open Water diving, a certificate I would dearly like to complete some day, too. I have now been on a few dives where initially the centres are reluctant to take me deeper than 18 metres, as they should be. But considering we were splitting up in to three groups and I was more on the level on the trainee for the advanced dives, I tagged along with them. Down we went, this time no problems on my side. Somebody from another group had to few weights on, so our guide gave him a couple more. Whilst all that was being done the rest of us were hanging around the bottom watching some sharks hanging around. Once our guide had rejoined us we were of. First of all through the manta archway again (no mantas, though) and then down to 30 metres where the guide asked the trainee a couple of questions. In that depth I was hanging around watching more sharks lazily swimming past. Close to where we were on the ground an organization had put up a shark tracking beacon. Whenever a shark that has been tagged passes the beacon records it and every couple of month it is retrieved and the data is logged. 

Further along the dive we had the ever present Grey Nurse Sharks hanging around, some looking rather fat with what I guess is shark pups. One came up behind the other two and surprised them but just carried on swimming. Along the way we saw a few woebegone, a lion fish, sea cucumbers, clown fish with a stone fish lying in wait next to the anemone and a plethora of fish around one rock. Diving this close to a wavy surface is rather interesting, as you are going the direction you want to, the next minute the waves going back in to the sea are pushing you the other way. The data of the dives is thus. Maximum depth: 29 metres. Time in: 0905. Bottom time: 58 minutes. Pressure Start/Finish: 240/50 bar.

Then an hour of rest with tea and cookies. The temperature was a lot warmer than yesterday, so I didn't freeze nearly as bad.

Then back in for more searching of animals and admiring underwater scenery. This time around I went with the group of the older people, but stuck more to myself. Nothing against older people diving, I have met many a forty to seventy year old person diving which have been great people, but so far all of the ones I have met that don't seem to give a sh**t about their surrounding are in that age group. One of them was with us again, and instead of balancing himself in the water properly and floating along with a few kick of the flippers he was pulling himself along the ground with his hands, scraping the flippers behind him and ripping up anemones from the ground and causing general mayhem. That will probably go on as long until he grabs a stone fish or hits a sea urchin. On this dive we saw the always present sharks, a lot more woebegone (which probably counts to the sharks), clown fish, a trigger fish (haven't seen that many of them here) and the whales making a general racket around the reef. Don't mind hearing them at the least, as they do make a wonderful sound and if you don't like it, it is easy to block out. Just wish they were a bit more visible. Along the way I was left with 120 bar when the others had nearly used up all theirs, so I got a bit more private diving with the guide. Had a look around and found another woebegone. Met up with both the other groups, said hi and then carried on looking around. Once the air was nearly used up, up we went to the boat. Diving data of this dive. Maximum depth: 15 metres. Time in: 1113. Bottom time: 55 minutes. Pressure Start/Finish: 220/60 bar. 

On the way back we saw a heap of whales heading south. They are probably the ones making all the noise underwater. I guess there are a lot of mums going down with their calf's and teaching them a lot along the way. Another fun day diving, would have probably booked in another day, but no dives taking place tomorrow. Instead I'll be looking forward to a journey to Sydney.  

Solitary Island - Grey Nurse Sharks

Woho, diving again.

On the way up the East Coast a couple of months ago I stopped by in Coffs Harbour, which is where I then subsequently took my first of many whale watching trips. Staying at the hostel at that time, I had heard that they have a nursery out in the sea for Grey Nurse Sharks. As you nearly have a guarantee of seeing the large predators out at the Solitary Island, I made sure that I would stop on the way back down the coast. So here I am and today was my first of a few dives. Originally I had also booked in for last Friday, but the weather had turned out to be bad, so it had to be cancelled. Sunday saw us heading out to the island in the boat provided by the dive centre I was going out with (Jetty Dive Coffs Harbour). Previously all of us guest, trainees, etc. (all in all 12 people I think) had gotten our gear at their base and loaded it all on to their boat.

On the way to the island we passed a shoal of fish being bothered by sea birds, but no whales, dolphins or other mammals were spotted. We arrived at the island and moored up to one of the lines provided there. Gear on and then we all dropped in to the water. We had a total of three or four dive guides with us, so the groups were held comfortably small. Before we could proceed down, I noticed a slight hissing coming from my tank, so back to the boat, O-ring changed and all good again. Bit luckier than Johanna in Egypt a couple of year ago I remember, she ended up sitting on the boat for one hour while the rest of us went down. 

Anyway, down we went. Nearly immediately the silhouettes of sharks could be spotted hanging around the reef. Woho, after over forty dives on which I had “only” seen two sharks I see half a dozen in the first couple of minuets. And whilst Grey Nurse Sharks are probably not as impressive as hammerhead sharks, they are still spectacular animals. All in all on that entire dive we saw probably around two dozen sharks. Also saw a woebegone, some lion fish, a nudibranch and heard whales calling close to the end of the dive. We dived through an archway, through gorges and across some corals. And whilst the corals aren't as impressive or colourful as the ones in the Red Sea or the Great Barrier Reef, there was always the presence of a top predator around. Toward the end of the dive, the guide and me made one of the sharks fell rather uncomfortable and he had a surprise for me. We were travelling along one of the gorges when the presence of a shark was seen lurking around half way. He was swimming towards us and I got a front row view of the bottom of it's mouth. He thought about going left of me, saw the guide behind me, (probably) panicked and turned around so fast his tail cracked in the water. The guide (Vicky) later mentioned that it is the equivalent of a sonic boom underwater. I for one didn't know what the heck was going on, just that a shark had sped up from cruising speed to racing in the opposite direction.

The first dive ended with me having been down for 50 minutes, a maximum depth of 25.4 metres time in 0923 and having 50 bar left of pressure after starting with 240 bar.

One hour later we were back in, to see more of the underwater world. On this dive we didn't see as many sharks, but I myself still counted seven whilst the dive guide spotted nine. The whale calls were a lot more prevalent throughout the dive and I was hoping to see a giant shadow hovering across us. At one point I did, so I turned upwards expectantly. Wow, it was the boat (gruml). Carried on the dive more relaxed than last time, I didn't take the GoPro with me this time (purposefully) as once I have the camera with me I don't relax as easily. The things we saw were the Grey Nurse Sharks, two turtles (a loggerhead and a sea turtle), a stone fish, a small moraine eel, some bat fish in the distance and a large amount of other types of fish.

The data of the dives is thus. Max. depth: 15.6m. Duration: 51 min. Time in: 1110. Start/Remaining pressure: 220/60

Then on the way back we saw some whales and a lone dolphin hoping the waves. Back on shore we cleaned all the gear we had used, some people wrote their logbooks (mine is in Germany, argg) and I went back to the hostel for a rest. Will be back tomorrow with more diving.  

Whitsunday Islands

A couple of days ago I said my goodbyes to Allan, as I have to slowly get moving again. Whilst sailing is fun and efficient, it is not the fastest way of transportation. So after a big clean up in the morning and washing everything I could get my hand on, I left Allan, Huey and Mackay to travel up to Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays I had heard so much about.

Arriving there after a short drive (two hours, nearly neighbours in Australia) I went to one of the hostels that had good reviews and booked in for two night. At the reception I got a load of brochures for boats that go throughout the islands and do at least a bit of diving. I haven't dived in months and really want to do it close to the Great Barrier Reef. The crew I went with frequent the fringe reef and the outer reef would have obviously been a better choice, but as I wanted to see a lot of the islands, too, it was a good choice.

 On Sunday we (three others and me, all the others from the UK) left the hostel to met up at the harbour and get on to our boat. The boat adventure of our choice was called Summer Time, run by skipper and owner Brad, first mate Daniel and deckhand Caity (who also had the most important job of cook). We met up with nine others, three couples (one from France, Italy and Germany) and three others from the UK, Scotland and the US. Daniel greeted us at the marina and trolley'd all our gear down to the boat, whilst we got on. “Summer Time” is a nice timber boat, built in 1945 as a fishing boat and fairly long. All in all we where 16 people on board, which is a nice number.

So for the first day we set of for Whitehaven Beach, pretty much the picture everybody thinks of when they hear the Whitsundays. Brad took us out from Airlie Beach whilst the rest of us got to know each other. We had Chris, Emely, Sophie, Sylus and Cery from the UK, Chrisy from the US, Martin and Kerstin from Germany, Machello and Antonia from Italy and the two French people. Time flew by and we ended up in a Tongue Bay, a bay just on the opposite side of Whitehaven Beach. A map of the Whitsundays on the right.

 After “Summer Time” had anchored Daniel took us around to Whitehaven Beach in “Little Summer”, a dingy, in two groups. Being at the front of the first Zodiac group Sophie and I can probably say we where the first to see the famous beach, and also the wettest. All the spray from the waves was on us and Daniel played a joke on us at the beach where the two of us ended up in the water prior to everyone else. Did a small swim to the white sandy beach and just took in the site of the tropical island. Whilst Daniel was off getting the rest, all of us took heaps of pictures, videos and had swims in the sea. All of us constantly wore stinger suits, as whilst it is still a bit to cold in the water for the infamous Australian jellyfish (box and irukandji) there still might be a straggler here or there that could show up. Nothing of the kind happened, so once the rest of the group had arrived we all took a walk along the beach and had a look at things like stingrays in the shallows of the beach, soldier crabs (being hunted by mentioned stingrays), cone snails and a heap of other stuff. Trekking along the beach Cery found a discarded sting of a sting ray and Daniel enjoyed his music. After a while we all set of up to a lookout from which you can get some of the beast terrestrial pictures of Whitehaven Beach. The only view to beat that one would be from the sky. We hung around the lookout for quite a while, before we headed back down to the other side (back at Tongue Bay) and took “Little Summer” back to “Summer Time”. In the evening a nice meal whilst journeying to Stonehaven and a couple of drinks before bed.

The next day was corral day. For most of the others that meant snorkelling, but for some of us who had their diving certificate it meant scuba diving. Some of the others tried their first dives with Daniel after he had taken all three Germans (Martin, Kerstin and me) down for the dive. Our first dive took place in Mantaray bay. I was forever on the lookout for sharks, but alas, no luck on the first dive. Instead we saw heaps of other fish whilst I tried getting accustomed to diving again, after over a year of not doing so (last time was with Iain and family in Sydney). One of the greatest highlight I had down there all throughout the day was the whales. We didn't see them as they are to large to come in to waters where we were diving, but the sound of their calls reverberated all throughout the times we where down under the water. Whilst Daniel took the beginners down for their first try, us three Germans tried warming up with tea and cookies. Shortly after we where back in, this time on a different portion of the bay. Once again same luck with the sharks, though I'm not giving up jet. Instead lots of coral and fishes again. After we where out Brad and Caity took a dive further out and to what luck both of them see an eagle ray, one of the rays I have only seen one wing of. Brad also caught video of a White Tipped Reef Shark, so damn. 

The next dive was in a different location, between Stonehaven and Resort. Lots of really colourful corals, whose vibrancy has only been surpassed in Egypt for me. Saw some pyjama snails (all guides seem to love those) and a sea cucumber. Once we surfaced that was it for the dives for us. In the meantime most of the rest of the boat had been out snorkelling. We heard (and saw part of) a rescue mission for an osprey. We where on a buoy when someone on the boat spotted a juvenile osprey in the water. A nest was close by, and the parents where making a lot of fuss, so Sylus (being a trained vet) went out with Brad, save the bird from the water and dropped it of at the beach bellow the nest (slicing his leg in the process). We then carried on enjoying water activities, occasionally checking the juvenile. By the time we had to leave the tide was coming in and the bird of prey was in danger of landing back in the water. Sylus went back out with Daniel, caught the osprey (and it didn't put up a fight it was so knackered) and dropped it back of in to the net. One of the parents came down a while after he left and checked up on it and brought some fish. All good we went back to Stonehaven to anchor for the night. No luck with sharks, but interesting bird activity. A good meal again, a bit later night and then some sleep. 

The next day saw us in kayaks, paddling along the beaches and mangroves along Stonehaven. I ended up in a boat with Caity, so I got a more local tour. Daniel took us all, though and showed us stingrays hiding from predators, baby sharks doing the same (though I didn't see any of them -sigh-) and explained a bit about mangroves in general. We spent a while on a rock locking out over the lagoon we where in and then went back to “Summer Time”. Our days on the timber boat were drawing to an end, so we had lunch on board whilst Daniel got the boat ready to leave and Brad set us on a course for Airlie Beach. The sea was nice and calm this time round and we had a beautiful run back to the marina where we docked on and got thing organised for the nightly meet up. All three couple won't be joining us, so we said our goodbyes to them (me totally screwing up and Italian good bye) and went back to the hostel for a shower that lasts longer than one minute and to write most of this blog.

In the evening a long night out with quite a bit of beer and some meagre fish and chips. I should have gone with some chicken parma instead, that dish looked absolutely wonderful. Back in bed at one o'clock getting ready for the trip down south and out of the tropics again.  

Whitsundays, just wow. Especialy Whitehaven Beach. Anybody passing by, deffinetly check out Whitehaven Beach.
Most pictures I made that day can be found here.

Sailing Gladstone to Mackay

Well, well, well. No update for a month and with so much still happening. I'd actually thought that I would manage to write more whilst I'm sailing, but my laptop currently only likes 240V of power and the boat only has 12V most of the time. Producing 240V just takes up to much excessive power (though heat). We did run in to a marina half way to where we are, but due to... circumstances (which will be told) I didn't write whilst there.

We left Gladstone after a while and the last blog. The aim was to go though a stretch of the sea called “The Narrows”. They are a very shallow estuarine between Gladstone and the above lying Yappoon/Great Keppel Island. We only wanted to navigate them with a local close at hand, as some spot along the way we would be scraping with out keel on a high tide. Luckily Allan had meet such a local in the form of Dough with his catamaran “Cruise Missile”. So we set of out of Gladstone relatively late in the day, as we had to get to the section of the ocean before the Narrows and then spend the night there to use the optimum tides at that day. Said and done, we had a very peaceful night in the protected area around Gladstone. Though Dough did mention something off sounding in the night which may have been a crocodile. The next day we waited for the right tide to take and then set of up through the Narrows. We passed over the first two shallow parts with at least half a metre of water under the keel, but Allan was visibly nervous and I was trying to keep us on the track that Dough was setting for us. Trusting in local knowledge I was pretty relaxed about the whole endeavour.

 Huey was passing within a couple of metres of some of the channel markers, but if we where to stray of, we might have run aground. Not something you want to happen when you are already there with the highest tide of the day. Coming up to the thirds and one of the longest shallow parts “Cruise Missile” did a U-Turn and came straight back at us. The reasoning soon became clear. Dough told us the water was to shallow for us to pass further up stream. Both boat skippers had compared depths prior to setting of and Dough had calculated that we wouldn't make it at the current rate. So we bade him good bye and whilst he carried on (catamaran, not a lot of keel, reason they fall over a lot) we turned round and anchored in the same spot as the night before. The next day we re-fuelled in Gladstone and spent the night just out of Gladstone before we sailed around the protection of Curtis Island and in to the open ocean. Whilst the Great Barrier Reef does over some protection from the Pacific Ocean it is still not the largest section of it and some swell does come through. We sailed for a long time that day, courtesied to the coast around Cape Capricorn not being the most friendly looking. Night fell before we reached our planned anchorage of Great Keppel Island. We settled in a safe looking spot (as far as we could see to spend the night). Due to our newly installed anchor watch app, the night was a peaceful one, with only a slight amount of swell coming through. The next day we where greeted with warm weather and clear waters. Dough from “Cruise Missile” was hanging around the other side of the island in a better protected beach of the island (where the swimming conditions also looked fantastic and I really wanted to go swimming) so we turned the engine on, put up a sail and set of around the island. After about an hour of going around nice islands and on course to the beach we wanted to go to Allan heard the bilge pump running and went down under the deck to have a look what was going on.

 Meanwhile I was on the helm, steering the boat to where it was supposed to go. Next thing that happens is that Allan comes up from bellow frantically talking about a metre of water in the boat. He grabs the helm and steers it for the nearest beach while I start pumping out the boat with the manual bilge pump (the automatic one couldn't keep up with the amount of water coming in). We beached the boat on one of the island with a surprised but not very concerned looking catamaran next to us, all the while Allan was calling out a mayday to the nearest Coast Guard. We received an answer from the ones in Yeppoon and they diploid their rescue boat to come and assist us. Whilst we where trying to get Huey up the beach as far as possible so none of our possessions get water lodged I reported to Allan that the bilge was empty. Somehow I had managed to catch up with the water flowing in and had pumped it empty. By the time the Coast Guard arrived we had deducted that we could probably make a run for the nearest marina with repair facilities. So after the coast guard pulled us off the beach we got pulled to Yappoon where we spent two weeks wasting around waiting and doing some repairs.

Obviously it was a lot more complicated than that, but I wont go to much in to detail, as it was a frustrating endeavour. Summed up, the marina was ok. The repair facilities where a joke. No access on weekend, no living on board, which is especially hard on Allan as his boat is his home and a lot of other things of that kind. We ended up spending nearly all the time in a camp site which we had to take the bus to. Due to that I got my car up from Bundaberg one day, as it made things a lot easier. After the repairs where done (the stern gland had to be replace) we went back in to the water and anchored outside of Rossling Bay Marina, waiting for some still due parts. The next day we received them and left for the northern part of Great Keppel Island, to anchor and then carry on toward Mackay and the tropics close to the Whitsunday Islands. Reaching the Northern Island we had lunch and looked at the weather forecast. After that anchor up and up the coast as fast as possible. A storm had been predicted and we didn't want to be close to Yeppoon and possibly have to take shelter in the marina there (again). We managed to get as far as a bay called Port Clinton, where we spent the night. The next day we carried on to a creek which is named Head Island Creek, close to a military exercise area. They where due for an exercise but we didn't notice any of it. We spent four nights there, weathering out the storm, but a bit more restful, thanks again to the anchor watch app. Having no phone service made it a bit more boring than Pancake Creek, especially after running out of books.

As soon as the weather had cleared up we carried on to the Percy Islands, further north and closer to Mackay. We set up some speed records for that day, highest I saw on the GPS was 10.5 knots. Low for a racing yacht, but Huey has a “theoretical” top speed of 6 knots, so yeah. We spent the night in a semi protected area at the Percy Islands, thanks to a yacht which we called and told us the place was good. It was well protected from the wind and waves, but we had a bad night with the swell coming in. The next morning we left early (after some minor incident with the electric anchor winch) and set sail for Mackay. We weren't sure if we would stop at one of the numerous islands on the way or head straight for the marina. Along the way we saw a large amount of whales. Ever since Great Keppel Island they have become more numerous, but that day was the highlight for whales. The first was off in the distance and was slapping it's tail on the water frequently. After a while it passed us about 50m away. 

The next one I just missed, due to the sail being in the way. Allan saw it leap out of the water about 50m away again and it made a huge splash upon landing on the water. I didn't see the whale myself, but I saw the massive splash it had done. So we carried on with whales around and a dolphin cutting in front of Huey. Close to nightfall we had some minor GPS problems but decide in the end to carry on to Mackay through the night. On the horizon the glows of the cargo ships heading for Hays Point (a port just bellow Mackay) where visible and we took a shortcut through one of their anchorages. In one of them while Allan was having dinner and I was making sure nothing goes wrong, something went wrong. One moment we are sailing along nicely, the next “bang”, “shudder” and a wail. We had hit a sleeping whale going at about four knots and the cry it let out was heart wrenching. From what I saw of it we had run over it about half way before it could swim out the side of the boat. Calling through to the coast guard we told them about what had happened and that nothing visible was wrong with out boat. The condition of the whale was unknown, but the anchorage was taken of the map for the time and all passing boats where warned about the incident. We have heard nothing from anyone so far so we hope that the whale made it out. Also Greenpeace hasn't been here yet, so we should still be good.

Late that night we made it to the marina through strong currents and low visibility. We anchored at the nearest convenient spot in the marina and slept through the night in the calm waters of the sheltered area (me at least). 

The next morning Allan booked us in, we met some people we had met in Pancake Creek and Yeppoon, I talked to a guy who had sailed from the Czech Republic to here and I went and got my car from Yeppoon the next day. I'll probably be leaving Allan in the next few days and head up to the Whitsundays by car as my time on the East Coast is running out slowly.

Tracks all the way from Gladstone can be found at GPSies.

(Gladstone - Great Keppel Island) here

(Yeppoon - Great Keppel Island) here

(Great Keppel Island - Port Clinton) here

(Port Clinton - Head Island Creek) here

(Head Island Creek - Percy Island) here

(Percy Island - Mackay) here

Stormy Pancake Creek & Gladstone

Been a while since the last update of the blog. That was mainly due to power problems. Due to a storm that had pulled over Pancake Creek whilst we where there (it was planned, so we had shelter) we got stuck in there for a couple of days. With the sun none present we had some mayor power issues. S.V. Hyue does have a wind generator, but after talking to a couple of people it seems that for all they do, a lot of power production is not something they are accredited with. It could also be due to Allans set up of the electric system, but I'm not knowledgable in that department. A few blogs on the internet explain pretty well how the electric system can be built up for maximum efficiency. Due to the aformative mentioned power drop, my laptop was of the grid for all the time, on that note all systems on the boat where set back to twelve volt only. Luckily my phone and iPad run on 12V, so I never ran out of books as Pancake Creek has phone service, too.

Apart from the power system the days where spent nearly all indoors in the warmth of the boat. Or so we wished. Both Allan and me have no idea why, but our boat seemed the most unstable of the dozen of boats there. Hyue would line up nice and straight when the current and the wind both had the seem bearing, but on tide changes things got interesting. For roughly six hours every day we where on the tips of our nerves, checking the GPS I had brought along to make sure we where still in the good. Allans GPS Chart-plotter does have an anchor warning which will start blaring an alarm when set up correctly, but it is outside in the cockpit. It is a lot nicer sitting inside whilst the wind howls outside than in the cockpit. Over the course of five days I estimate we had to reset our anchor about ten times. The maximum on a day was five or six times. To the start of the storm we had a relatively good spot, but one of our neighbours upstream started drifting down towards us. As two anchors twisted together is not what we wanted, we pulled ours in and went a bit to the side. It took us a good half an hour to grab their attention in darkening twilight. After that incident we could not find a good spot anymore. It didn't help that the anchor winch stopped working after a few times and from then on it always had to be pulled in by hand. As mentioned before the days where spent with nervous glances at the GPS the whole time and as soon as the weather permitted we left the Creek for Gladstone, the nearest city up north. On that passage I had my first real experience with sea sailing. Motoring out of Pancake Creek was acceptable, but as soon as we where clear, sails up and motor off. We where heading along at a good sped of nearly six knots. Don't know how much of that was due to the sails and how much was thanks to the swell pushing us from behind. Some big ones in them to. On the horizon we could see the large tankers and container ships waiting for entry in to Gladstone, before we got to the pylons marking the way in to the industry port. 

We followed a large tanker in and spotted some dolphins skipping out of the water a few hundred metres away. The journey along the trench was a bit of a battle. Until we got in to the shelter of an island in front of Gladstone we had a wind from behind. It was pushing the boat everywhere and the autopilot on the boat did not like that. As our power was low anyway we turned of the pilot for a while and manually steered it.

Closing in to Gladstone we had to throw the motor on again, as the time was against us for getting to the marina and lodged in. Arrived and one of the first things we did was have a shower. Allan has got a shower on board, but if you can't run a generator (which we couldn't in the weather we had in Pancake Creek) you get a cold shower. Plus it is a bit of a tight squeeze in there for a small person. Someone standing at nearly two metres, close to impossible. Then bed and the next day a ton of washing to do. I hadn't worn any shoes for a few days, too (they where soged thoroughly).

As of the current state we have spent a few days in the marina now. Allan is looking in to getting some more solar panels, so his power is not as problematic. His current ones are rather old. As of the time now we have found out that the problem might be with the alternator.

Oh, and I have tried a bit of Pokemon Go, too.  

Track at GPSies.

1770 - Pancake Creek

Woke up nice and early to get to Pancake Creek, the original spot we had wanted to stop in before the non-existent wind and early nights forced us in to Bustard Bay. To counter that we have enough time today to get to Pancake Bay, so much even that we can choose what time we want to run in.

Left to get there just after low tide and that meant we could leave when the sun was up. Only a short journey compared to yesterday. Saw rather a lot of jellyfish in the water on the way, but no idea if dangerous and not about to find out in Australia. In the distance we saw a few boats heading somewhere. If they where big container ships most likely Gladstone. Saw some dolphins and a few rocks in the water, which we did our best to avoid.

We reached Pancake Creek without any trouble and got in with a hairs width under the Kiel. Only a couple of centimetres, but as it was low tide it was alright. Allan got his dingy down and whilst he had a nap I went of exploring the coastline in the small boat. Rally nice beaches with the typical tropical look. Saw a goanna which fled up a tree when I got closer for some pictures and some rats in the rocks which shocked me. Means that snakes are most likely around , too. Had a bit of a nap on the beach and then headed back out to the boat. To get the sand of of me I went for a quick dip, but the water was cold for Australian standards and a strong current was pushing me in to the bay, so I only went for a short swim. To good, another boat coming up told us about possible crocs in the water, so I'm not going back in. And to think the largest thing I had been worried about was a hammerhead shark or a box jelly. Ah, Australia.  

Track at GPSies.

Bundaberg - 1770

Woke up nice and early to get to a protected bay near the town of 1770 (yes, that's it's name. Guess what year it was established). We left at first light and used the motor to get out of the Port. Once out we turned the boat in to the wind and put up the sails, after which we turned in to the way we wanted to. We saw fog come over the land, but out at sea we had nice weather, but no wind. So the S.V. Huey had to carry on under motor power. We managed to travel with about four knots most of the time, but that is not nearly as fast as we had hopped to go, under motor no less.

I got a few informations about doing certain things under way, but most of the time it was just the drone of the engine in the background, something I had hopped to avoid. As the land slowly slid past, still no wind appeared and in the end we anchored in Bustard Bay of of 1770. As the area didn't seem to secure we set up an anchor watch until Allan determined that it was save to leave the boat unattended.

So the day was twofold. Longest I have been out at sea, no seasickness, sunshine and clear water, lovely sunset whilst we where heading to our anchor point, but we had to use the motor most of the time.

Sleeping was also a bit weird, with your gravity point constantly shifting thanks to the swell.

Track at GPSies.