Still on the Gold Coast! Saturday, December 8, 2018
08 December 2018 | Marine Stadium Anchorage, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Helen/Mark
Watched a couple more episodes of Justified last night. It was 10 pm before we headed to bed. It had been blowing with some rain at night. Woke up around 6 am. Mark checked the weather. Thought about leaving as the wind has changed more to the East, but we decided to wait one more day. After breakfast, we dinghied over to the other side of the anchorage to check out the main channel. We watched one fairly large monohulled sailboat motoring out the channel. It was tremendously rough at times but they kept heading out to sea. We took a walk almost to the end but we could see the breakers splashing up high and we didn't want to get soaked with salt water. Plus, I was already cold and didn't want to get wet. Today's temperature was supposed to be 77 degrees. I don't believe it made it that high. It was another very overcast day. On the walk back, we watched a large catamaran motor out the channel. They were having a rough time as well. The waves were big and lifting them up and then down into the waves. We had sprinkles a few times. On the walk across a huge field, we were inundated with several small black, brown & white birds. When we walked we must have been stirring up some of the insect population, which they were wanting for breakfast. It was quite the sight as we walked. The dinghy was tied up at the end of the anchorage and waiting for us. We headed back to the boat and stopped along the way to meet Peter on the Fountaine Pajot catamaran named Norman. He showed us his beautiful 40 foot cat. We enjoyed a lovely conversation. He recommended us some great places to stop from here to Sydney. We invited him for happy hour. Headed back to the boat and got ready to take a dinghy ride across the harbour, back to the Australia Fair shopping mall. If nothing else, it's a great walk and exercise that we need. We tied the dinghy at the same dock as yesterday. Walked to the shopping mall. Had lunch at a burger café. We got our free wifi, which was nice. I walked around some of the shops. Then we got a few things at the grocery store and walked back to the dinghy. Headed back to the boat. We got to watch someone on a water jet, hovering over the water, very close to the anchorage. The Duck amphibian vehicle was out and about too. Also saw several rented jet skis out on the water. There seemed to more traffic in the main channel, which was waking our sailboat. It's the weekend here, so many more boats around. Peter came back around 5 pm. He brought some snacks too which we were appreciative of. Talked a lot about sailing around here, up in the Whit Sundays as well as many places along our route south. If we get tired of being on the open ocean, there are islands along the way, with protected anchorages. So, lots of choices for us. The sunset was more colorful than yesterday. Thanks for the emails and messages we received today. Enjoy the weekend!