We had a very interesting trip down the river from Scarborough to Sanctuary Cove last Saturday, where we now reside in a very prominent spot in full view of numerous waterfront restaurants. The river was quite fascinating and presented some challenges, largely many shallow areas and lots of twists and turns. We sailed with just the genoa on Friday, moving along at a steady 6 knots plus as much as 3 knots of current from the incoming tide, and stopped for the night at beautiful Peel Island. It felt so good to drop the anchor again, to feel Fly Aweigh sigh along with us as we all did what we all love most -- moving. Hanging around in marinas is fun and has it's own rewards, but getting out, swishing the slime off the waterline, warming up the engine and stretching the sails is better. And sitting in a quiet anchorage while a luscious sunset blazes, the seas gently lap against the hull, fish jump and music wafts from nearby boats is the best.

Saturday morning we spent some time in the gray-green water cleaning the bottom, which was hard in the stiff river current, especially without fins, which we had packed. But we got the prop and bow-thruster clear of barnacles and cleaned some of the other marina-induced stains off the hull, and by 9:30 we were on our way south again, this time a 5 hour trip in sometimes heavy rain. The visibility dropped down to a few hundred yards at times, and Allan was thankful the Navionics chart plotter thingie was accurate, and even a bit conservative on the depths. The shallowest spot was at Jacob's Well, a rather ironic name since a well denotes something deep, and Jacobs Well is the spot in the river that snags unsuspecting boats. We saw 8 feet of depth briefly as we crossed over -- and that was at near-high tide in the center of the channel. Oddly, none of the paper or electronic charts show Jacobs Well as a hazard, it's all word of mouth.

The rain kept us company for most of the trip, testing the waterproofing of Allan's old L.L. Bean jacket, since we had just turned his foulie gear over to a marine consignment store the day before we got the offer to sail to Sydney. No matter, the rain was comfortable and hot showers awaited, thanks to running the engine all day up the crooked river.

And as far as Sanctuary Cove goes, after being here a few days, I must say, I like it. I miss the dense forest of masts that caught the nightime winds in Scarborough, as this is a haven for large, white, lumpy powerboats, but still, it's got a nice feel. Across the way is a little spit of land thick with green mangroves buzzing constantly with the sound of beetles. A trip up the river yesterday revealed lots of lush, dense islands mixed in amongst multi-million-dollar canal homes. We're in one of the richest residential and yacht areas in Australia, and the Gold Coast Marina upriver confirms that, with it's massive buildings, huge yachts, paint hangars (that's what they look like to me -- giant airplane hangars) well-stocked chandleries, marine manufacturers, tradespeople, and stores. Everything you might need to buy or get done for a boat is here.

In our area of the river we have a little community of high-end boutique clothing stores, a variety of restaurants, and lots of other little shops, bakeries, and cafe's, all set up like a small village with brick streets and golf cart parking. And it's surprisingly quiet, except on Sunday afternoons, when 4 of the waterside restaurants have live music all competing with one another, layering song over song, guitar over piano, vocalist over vocalist. Then, at 4pm it all abruptly stops leaving an almost eerie quiet broken only by the wind, and the loud and constant buzz of the insects across the water.

Michael, one of the crew we're sailing to Sydney with on Spirit 7 dropped by after we arrived, and shared some vital information on traveling down the Australian coast. There's a fabulous organization in this country, the VMR -- Volunteer Marine Rescue. They man stations up and down the coast, taking position reports from yachts enroute and passing ETA's for the next point to the next station. Throughout our journey, we will never be more than a few hours from rescue, should something happen. Yesterday we met Neil, the new owner of Spirit 7, who will be aboard along with Michael and Laughlin, both also Catalina owners. Neil and I drew up a grocery list and headed off to Coles market, trying to imagine how 5 adults would want to eat at sea for 3 days. It was hard for me -- I've provisioned for 4 people for over 4 weeks, and many times for just the two of us for 3-5 days, but this was an odd challenge, since I didn't know my sailing partners or their appetites. We bought too much, we decided, but it's all good. This morning we met Laughlin, another Catalina 42 owner, so now we're all acquainted and it looks like a great team.

We've delayed our departure a day for winds, and should be underway by tomorrow morning at 9am, arriving Sydney sometime mid-morning on Saturday. Fly Aweigh will sit quietly, holding court amongst the manly multi-million-dollar powerboats, her stainless parts all shiny and polished, the little Christmas tree in the cockpit dressing her up a bit, and try to attract buyers. We'll be back just before Christmas to see how she did.