Voyaging for Life

The five days and nights we spent here were relaxing. This Anchorage is in the Canaipa Passage just around the corner from Jumpinpin. There is a lovely beach and fishing huts where we met Garry.

The area has goannas, pelicans and roos around the huts.

We had a blow in on Saturday night when Dave off Blue Magic managed to get a tow off a mate from Bums Bay to save on fuel and we proceeded to have a few drinks. Great night in the end.

After Dave left Conn and Kirsty on Jasmyn on Blue came into the Anchorage from around the corner down at Millionaires. They loved it. We dropped by for morning tea and.they came over for tea and pancakes with jam and fresh cream. Delightful.

Harley loved the beach walks and ran like a puppy. Great to see.

We eventually pulled ourselves away and headed for Tipplers to spend a night on the way 'home' to Paradise Point.

Today we made our way further south towards the GC. We didnt want to do the boring 'freeway' inside of Russell Island which is as boring as bat shit so we opted for the Canaipa Passage inside of North Staddie instead. It's really pretty. Its reasonably shallow. It's a great alternative.

As previous posts suggest Tanya loves helming and will helm all day if she can and I don't crack the shots. So she way all pumped for a crack at today's passage. Its Tan v The Garmin Chartplotter v Navionics v The Lateral Mark's. Tan won BTW. We basically followed the Small Vessel Track and made adjustments. 1.5m over L.A.T.

We ended up at slipping sands. Really pretty too. A nice Anchorage. Pelicans
Everywhere. We met local fishing guru Garry at the huts and took Harley for her first walk on a beach since Pancake Creek. She was like a Puppy. Peeing up a storm.

We finally left Newport Marina. After 10 weeks it was a long time coming. We were going to relocate after a month as the marina is fairly shabby but hung around to do some work and spend time with old friends.

The trip down today was a lovely motor with 10 knots from the south all bloody day. Tanya helmed us into Canaipa and we found it to be a lovely Anchorage and was bloody quiet. No beach for Harley D though.

We are ready to leave. We are cleaned and prepped. But the Westerly wind has now set in. Pretty good sailing weather but unfortunately it exposes nearly every anchorage in Moreton Bay. Well at the northern end where we are at any rate. So we need to run the length of the bay so get to shelter. FUN FUN FUN.

We have spent the last 10 weeks or so sitting in Newport Marina in Redcliffe just north of Brisbane.

In reality we only dropped into the marina for a week to have some warranty work completed on a mattress and to visit our friends on SV Zissou.

The mattress work has become a marathon in terrible customer service and broken promises. Now heading to court.

While we have been here we have managed to undertake some work on Christeena. Repaint the coach roof and cockpit, reoil teak decks, new solar panels, replace worn equipment and obtaining quotes for rerigging.

Probably most importantly the time here has allowed Harley D time to recover from an ACL tear she suffered while we were in Tin Can Bay. She is almost back to normal.

We are planning to leave the marina in 4 days and head south to the Gold Coast for a while before an October departure for the Clarence River.

Today would see us transit the Wide Bay Bar. A sometimes feared coastal bar which we had crossed only once before. We spent the night before inside Inskip Point and left to cross the bar in the early afternoon on an incoming tide with about 10 knots of ESE.

The crossing was lumpy with a 1.5m swell and about 20 boats incoming. We had one vessel outgoing ahead of us and he was crawling along only making 2 to 3 knots. Tanya rounded him up and zipped passed him with ease. Tanya as usual took the helmet as she loves to sail Christeena and be on the wheel. Danny relaxed with Harley and enjoyed the view.

After crossing the bar we ran into some crappy weather until we were about 10 miles south of Double Island Point at which point the clouds parted, the rain stopped and the wind died.

The plan was for an overnight passage down the Sunshine Coast and Bribie Island arriving at Newport Marina around 0700.

The night progressed as planned except off Bribie when Tanya mistook lights from vehicles driving on a nearby beach for boat lights and freaked out at their speed and lack of navigation lights.

We arrived safely and the marina, cool and exhausted. Harley didnt care with grass and a much needed walk at hand.