SV SEAKA: CRUISING AUSTRALIA IN 2019.

On that Saturday morning I was at the roadside to signal down the 0730 bus into Bundaberg. Unfortunately no bus came so I walked around to the very expensive IGA to get the necessary provisions. On the way back I got a lift to the marina and saw the 9 o'clock bus going into Bundaberg. Oh well, can't win them all.

Later that day Peter came down and we went out and inspected his yacht, which is a work in progress inside. Back on shore I went for a shower and then motored around to the Bundaberg Port Marina to get 45 litres of diesel fuel. Leaving the dock I noticed a Kiwi yacht and spoke briefly to them. Being Saturday and the north wall reconstruction barges not working I decided to anchor, where you normally cannot, behind the two foreign yachts, the other was a Yank. Both of them came over later to get some idea of what to do and see in Queensland as they headed north to Asia.

The next morning at 0330 Seaka and I pulled the pick and headed off on the 43 nautical mile journey to 1770. Once clear of the channel I hoisted the sails and for the first time it went off without a hitch. The wind was about 12 knots out of the west and Seaka just loved it, romping along at between 5.5 and 6.5 knots north to 1770. Of course good things don't last for long and by 1215 we were struggling to maintain our speed and as we had a date with the high tide at 1770, the iron sail was resorted to. Mind you we were still doing around 5 knots on a very flat sea with no swell.

We arrived off 1770 at 1300 and by 1400 we had negotiated the shallow entrance into the river. I had trouble finding an area deep enough in which to anchor considering the present spring tides. Just on dusk it was plainly pointed out to me by the Lady Musgrove Island day tour boat passing me by with a few feet to spare, that I was in fact anchored in the channel. So with that in mind, and having been in here by car in 2012, the decision to proceed onto Pancake Creek was made. Now I had to get out of here and make the 12 nautical mile journey north to Pancake Creek while there was still water enough to get out and then in. After a bit of calculating, it worked out that I needed 2.5 meters plus were I was to get out and that would still give me enough time to get up to Pancake Creek.

So on Monday the 11th May at 1230 I crossed out over the 1770 shallows back into the Coral Sea. The sea was dead flat and what wind there was was dead on the nose from the NE. So we continued motoring towards Pancake Creek arriving off shore at 1500 hours. By 1610 I had Seaka secure on the anchor close to the southern shore in the anchorage. Here I found Mark and Leigh of Outnumbered and spoke quickly to them before settling in for the night.

On Tuesday morning I inflated the dinghy and went across to the first creek on the southern side to do a bit of fishing. In this I was successful getting two Flathead for tea, our first fish. Back at Seaka I assembled the crab trap to take up the above mentioned creek. I had just got organised when an 'unmarked' 18 foot outboard boat entered the anchorage, it was the Police! Now we are pretty isolated here and the Police must make a special effort to come and visit us. All they did this time was check if the yachts were registered and take a list of who was there. They spoke to me as they had no idea where the Camden Haven is. No doubt about it, we will be seeing them again sometime.

After I placed the crab trap up the creek the tide was slack at its highest point so I jumped into the water to inspect Seaka's hull and propeller. I found that there is a film of junk on the hull and the leading edges of the propeller have been ablated off. After the swim in the 25 degree water I had a deck shower.

On Wednesday morning I decided that a bit of cleaning was in order so spent the morning doing the main cabin, galley and toilet. The major target was the black mould which has once again appeared in the last week or so. I also bagged the Genoa, still hanked on, and secured it to the pulpit. A further 10 meters of chain was let out in anticipation of the start of the 7 days of high winds this evening.

Tony, from Outahai, a catamaran, came by and gave me a large Flathead, so that was tea sorted, and he offered me a whole heap of digital books and movies. So later in the day I took up his very generous offer and took a hard drive over to him for the data.

After tea I watched a couple of short movies and had only just put everything away when the wind got up from the south west, which is straight down this 2 mile anchorage. To say the least, it blew and it was rough with a two foot chop! Now with the wind Seaka is influenced by her topsides and cabin, but she is also influenced by the tidal flow and her long keel. As a result we swing from side to side in 30 meter arcs. The anchor chain must have been snagged by a sand heap because as the tide rose she slipped free and we had all 30 meters of chain in a straight line. To add to all this, there were two other boats near me with different swing characteristics that I had to keep an eye on. Luckily they both had a class B AIS which meant that I could see them in the dark on my chartplotter.

Finally around 0300 I added the anchor angel, a heavy weight that is attached by a loop to the anchor chain and lowered on its own rope, and Seaka quietened down as much as could be expected. During all of this I did not get any sleep at all. Today the wind, with chill factor is 16⁰, is from the south west at 15 knots with burst to 20 plus.

Midmorning Tony came by with my hard drive, thanks Tony for that data. Tony also reported that the 40' monohull down his end of the anchorage had almost gone ashore last night and another large catamaran had swept through them without collecting anybody! He initially re-anchored near me but Tony realized he had anchored over loose coral so informed him and he moved further away.

This afternoon I pulled the dinghy out as Friday/Saturday will be days of high winds and if I need it, it only takes 20 minutes to put back together.

By golly, I'll sleep tonight!