We have had the special delight of family on board for the past 5 days! Eric's parents flew into Hamilton Island, on a bright sunny Saturday. The weather for the first day was incredible, the perfect way to experience world famous Whitehaven Beach. We were able to time our visit to Tongue Bay, between all the visiting tourist boats, to explore the incredible silica beach that was appearing beneath our feet as the tides retreated. We had the whole beach to ourselves, for almost 2 hours, and enjoyed the incredible blues of the waters, white silica sands, and green hillsides that frame Whitehaven Beach. We continued on to Sawmills Anchorage on the west side of Whitsunday Island. After exploring the nearby uncharted estuary, where we were sure crocodiles were hiding among the low mangroves as we flew up the waters in our dinghy, we hiked up the 435 meter Whitsunday Peak, the Everest of hiking in the Whitsunday Islands. Eric's parents are quite the athletes! Up and up and up, over boulders and up the muddy track, we ascended the peak in one hour and 15 minutes. The views from the top of the Whitsunday Peak include Hamilton Island to the south, Hook & Hayman Islands to the north, and the mainland near Shute Harbor & Airlie Beach to the west. The light rains that we hiked through did not dampen our spirits and as we enjoyed the views from the summit, we noted that our morning estuary ride would now be a mud bath, as the waters near Sawmills Anchorage were now at low tide. As we descended the trail, we couldn't help but smile at the beauty surrounding us, the canopy of hoop pines and eucalyptus trees protecting us from the rain, and the birds singing in the trees kept us thankful for the opportunity to visit these incredible islands.
We are now sailing to Townsville, 140 NM to the NW of Whitsunday Island. The weather could definitely be better, the winds are 25-30 knots out of the SE, swells to 3 meters from the east, squally and rainy skies. We are sailing fast under full main and screecher with our top speed this morning at 17.7 knots, but the side swells are keeping us rolling and rocking and pushing forward towards Townsville. Again, Eric's parents are amazing crew, smiling and laughing and bearing with Sea Child as she surfs down each wave. We expect to arrive at Magnetic Island this afternoon, and on to Cairns by the end of the weekend.
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We spent the night at a lovely anchorage called Pearl Bay, north of Port Clinton. This bay is surrounded by high hills, covered in trees, and a beautiful sand beach. The strong SE trades howled over the hills all night, and at dawn this morning, we pulled anchor to continue our journey north. The sailing has been consistent with winds SE 15-20, seas 2-3 meters, 8-10 knots boat speed with the main alone. The forecast calls for more of these steady SE trades, which is good for us as we make our way north to Hamilton Island. We have sailed 459 NM since our departure from Brisbane, 2 weeks ago, and have reunited with several friends at Mooloolaba and Great Keppel Island along the way. A highlight of this sail north was a visit to the Capricornia Islands, with stops at Lady Elliott, Lady Musgrave, and Fitzroy Reef. Lady Elliott is the southern most island of the Great Barrier Reef, and there we saw giant manta rays just below the surface, within giant schools of trevally and grouper. At Lady Musgrave, we took a dive at the outer reef, where colorful fan & hard corals cover every inch of rock, and again, giant schools of reef fish, damsels and parrot fish and turtles and sharks. We were thrilled at this first dive and hope to find more reefs like Lady Musgrave throughout this journey north. At Fitzroy Reef, the winds were calm and the waters a brilliant blue green. We took a SUP around the reef, and were amazed at the magnificent reef appearing under our feet. The sunset colors of orange, red and purple highlighted a brilliant surf session, and we were very thankful to visit this coral reef, not a speck of land in sight. The winds came up during the night, so we pulled anchor early and set sail for Great Keppel Island, 50 NM to our NW. Provisioning at Rosslyn Bay's Keppel Bay Marina was a treat, as the marina loaned us their courtesy car for 2 hours, just long enough to hit the markets in nearby Yeppoon. A quick 2-day visit to Keppel Bay Marina was just long enough to stretch our sea legs on land and visit some tourist sights such as the Capricorn Caves and the Heritage Village of Rockhampton. Central Queensland Coast has been interesting, and now as we sail north along military areas, our cell service long gone, we continue to enjoy the main-alone sail at 10 knots towards Curlew Island. At this rate we will make Hamilton Island by sunset tomorrow. Hello, tropics, nice to see you again!
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Passage through the Great Sandy Srait from the south mandates a crossing of the Wide Bay Bar, near Inskip Point. This bar is made up of sand deposits from tidal activity at the passage between Fraser Island and the peninsular point just above Rainbow Beach. Transiting the Wide Bay Bar takes skill in determining the line of passage, marked on shore with large white triangles and on the charts with position lines. And when the swells are well over 3 meters from the SE, the breaking waves make the passage more daunting. As Sea Child approached this passage, we were under mainsail alone, as the winds had gone light and variable. The swells were another thing, to truly catch our attention. As we neared the passage, we noticed another catamaran coming out of the passage, climbing over each wave with her bows well out of the water. As we were entering the bar, however, the swells were with us, and as we transited Wide Bay Bar, Sea Child surfed down the waves, at one point up to 18.5 knots, as the waves on either side of us broke over the bar itself. Once inside the passage, another set of triangle markers were positoned on Inskip Point, and we aligned Sea Child with them for the 4 mile journey towards the main channel between Fraser Island and the mainland. We paralleled the bar itself, and as the waters were deep here in the inside passage. The water itself was chaotic and sloppy and unorganized. Once we were clear of the rough water, the calm Great Sandy Strait laid out before us and we found ourselves at anchor at Pelican Bay, just around the bend of the Inskip point. We paddled to the shore in the retreating tide, and walked around the Wide Bay Bar beach to the triangle markers on land. Even at low tide, the bar itself broke with an impressive array of waves, and we even noticed other vessels approach the passage at low tide. We transited at high tide, but with local knowledge, it seems that its possible to enter the bar at any tide.
We are now motoring through the Great Sandy Strait toward the white cliffs of NW Fraser Island. Winds calm, seas flat, temps in high 80's. We hope to reach Lady Musgrave Island by mid-week.
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We arrived at Moreton Island amid the rains and winds that have plagued southern Queensland. Not sure what to expect, we had read about the Tangalooma Wrecks, an artificial reef that consists of sunken ships, and decided to check it out as our first stop on our journey north to Darwin. The weather since our arrival has been rainy, windy, squally and otherwise not so pleasant. The wrecks at Tangalooma, however, were worth the visit in the weather as we had not seen anything quite like this man-made reef, except at Million Dollar Reef at Vanuatu's Santo Island. Our visit was cut short, however, due to the forecast of high SE winds to +40 knots, and so we have decided to head 35 NM north to Mooloolaba for the next few days. Hopefully the weather system will quiet down and we can begin our sail north.
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hi guys, looks like some stormy weather down under. keep your eyes open for sea going crocodiles as you head north, and careful where you swim.
Please see this link for sailing stories about our journey south:
www.seachildsailing.blogspot.com
Sea Child is currently anchored at West Bay, Middle Percy Island, Queensland, Australia
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Today is October 30, 2012 in the United States. And yesterday it was October 30, 2012 here in Queensland, Australia. A wonderful bonus to sailing down under is the celebration of a birthday two days in a row!! Yesterday, Sea Child was anchored just offshore Whitsunday Sailing Club at Airlie Beach. This club is a delightful stopover for visiting yachties as well as local sailors. Complete with inner harbor/boat ramp, including a nice long dinghy dock, the club also features a wonderful bar & restaurant, mini casino, full services including showers & laundry as well as incredible views. We returned to Airlie Beach because the freezer compressor on Sea Child had failed, and a local cruiser had recommended to us that Able Point Marina had a great refrigeration repair man. Hard to resist the recommendations of local sailors, all Aussie watermen have been spot on with destinations, tides, marinas, etc. So we headed over to Abel Point last week once we discovered our very bi g problem with the compressor and ordered a new one. While we waited for the new unit to arrive from Brisbane, Sea Child returned to the incredible Whitsunday Islands, and we gave special attention to the anchorage at Cid Harbor called Sawmills. On the west side of Whitsunday Island, Sawmills anchorage is quite popular with the charter boats as well as the local Aussie cruisers. When we first arrived there last week, we were kindly invited to a "sundaowner" where we met several other yachties and a couple from Tasmania in the far south. Prepared with bug spray and delicious appetizers, everyone mingled along the sandy beach just below the pines and palms and scrub that covers this national park island and made new friends and contacts as well. It was at this gathering that we learned about the repair facilities at Airlie Beach, a short 16 NM to our west. We enjoyed a tremendous hike up 1300' in about a mile on a rocky, steep trail where the top views were astounding of all the Whitsunday Islands and mainland Queensland in the distance. Whitehaven Beach, Hamilton Island, and the Great Barrier Reef in the distance were marvelous to view, especially after such a strenuous hike uphill. And the next day, we sailed around to the eastern shore of Whitsunday Island to that famous white strand beach of Whitehaven to play on the SUP boards and enjoy the glorious views. Note, though, that the anchorage at Haselwood Island just to the east of Whitsunday was one big pain in the butt. As the day drew long, we headed about a half mile to this beautiful looking island, only to be woken twice during the night with the anchor dragging in the gusty winds of an approaching squall line. So after a few days waiting for the lovely freezer compressor, we finally got the call that it had arrived back at Airlie Beach and could be installed today. So we headed back, with time to drive to Mackay and retrieve our absentee ballots, vote, and celebrate day #1 of the wonderful birthday. Today, our new compressor was installed, (Happy Birthday, Eric!!!) and we now are sailing back to Cid Harbor and Sawmills for another "sundaowner" on the beach! The winds are currently gusty, to 28 knots apparent SE and the seas slight. The main is reefed (single) and the jib is full. After two hot days & two fantastic birthday celebrations, we are beginning the 500 NM journey south to Brisbane with beautiful weather. Happy Birthday Eric!!!
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