Great Keppel Island
27 May 2015
Yesterday, as long expected, we left the four days' of social whirl that is Pancake Ck behind us. We left at 0630, and at first we thought that the weather bureau had let us down. But soon enough we were goose-winging in the forecast 15-20 kt SE breeze and this endured most of the day, sometimes dropping to 10-15. The photo ,which Jenny says is boring, shows us about to cross the Tropic of Capricorn (difficult to make out in the photo) by gybing and sailing north between Cape Capricorn and Rundle Island and into Keppel Bay. We arrived at the anchorage on the north side of GKI soon after dark at 1800, so the sail had gone as we had hoped except that the use of the Dinghy Sling is still a work in progress. We had to drop the dinghy in the water and tow it most of the way.
This anchorage spot was one of our favourites last year and you always wonder whether a return will be quite as good, but it is. In contrast to yesterday's overcast skies, we had a sunny day with wonderful views in every direction, clear water and a great beach.
Every cruising adventure seems to have a technical challenge and this year it is batteries. The conventional lead-acid batteries have lasted a long time, but now seem to be failing. We will have to sort his out at our next port call.