Teeth, tides & tinsel
28 December 2017
Image: Tin Can Bay view towards the southwest.
On our sail through the shallows of the Great Sandy Straits (GSS) just prior to Christmas Shane developed a very painful toothache which proved to be problematic in terms of getting treatment.
Although sailing through the GSS is fairly straight forward, deep keeled boats have to carefully work the tides to avoid running aground - if you do get the tides wrong you could be stuck on sand flats until the next higher tide! So the thought of grounding for 12 hours with a throbbing tooth ache with only whiskey, panadol and clove oil to ease the pain focused our navigation through this tricky part south. It didn't help that we had anchored at Ungowa on Fraser Island for a couple of days looking across at various grounded vessels that had misjudged the route or tide - at least six vessels grounded during past 48 hours!!
Beep beep beep... the sounder is showing we have less than 1.5 metres under the keel. Tangaloa is exactly in line with the navigation markers so we couldn't alter course to port or starboard or we would ground! all we could do is reduce speed, trust our navigation and creep forward. Beep beep beep... 1 metre below the keel. Then.... the beeps stopped, the sounder showed 2 metres and getting deeper. Phew........we were through the worst of the shallows and heading to the nearest dental clinic in the small fishing town of Tin Can Bay.
Ho, ho, ho root canal appeared to be the solution. The anchorage comfortable, the town small but offered a library, some walking and groceries. We committed to the months worth of treatment however three days before xmas the small dental clinic referred Shane to a specialist. Bugger.. a three day sail south to Brisbane and no appointments until the new year.
Determined not to let a small tooth spoil our New Years celebrations (also Vicks birthday) and armed with antibiotics, strong painkillers and more clove oil, we have decided to say put and get into the swing of festive events on the Tin Can Bay water front.
Happy New Year and all the best for 2018!