06 November 2021 | Northwest side of St Helena Island, Moreton Bay, QLD, Australia
Hoping that we will able to continue with our blue-water sailing in 2022, and increasingly guilt-ridden with each use of the engine, one of our goals while in Moreton Bay is to sail as much as possible. This is not only to reduce our fuel consumption, but to make sure that we, and our equipment, are ready for ocean sailing. So when the furler got stuck as we tried to haul in the jib, we were thankful to be in benign bay conditions and not far out to sea.
We had left the Brisbane River at 9 am on Thursday (4th November) and after topping up with dinghy fuel and drinking water at the Rivergate Marina fuel-dock, we let the ebbing tide carry us out into Moreton Bay. We did not have far to go to our destination of St Helena Island, but it was into the wind so we were going to get some tacking practice. To confuse matters further, there are shallow sand banks that we had to weave around and so, after about an hour, we were ready to furl the jib to motor-sail the final section into the anchorage on the west side of the Island.
Unfortunately, the furler jammed with only half of the jib doused. We think that the line that turns the furler to roll-up the jib had somehow developed a loop on the drum that was trapped under other layers of the line. It took us a while to decide how to deal with this and, eventually, we carefully pulled the line in on a winch which, luckily, pulled the loop out without appearing to damage anything. Usually using a winch to tighten a stuck line is a bad idea as it is likely to break the line or the equipment to which it is connected, so we were relieved that we did not make matters worse. Sadly, while we had been dealing with this, we had drifted/sailed downwind away from our destination, so we ended-up motor-sailing almost as far as if we had not sailed at all. So much for our good intentions about reducing fuel-use. The next morning we rolled the furler line all the way out and, after re-threading it, we were able to test it satisfactorily. We were glad to have eliminated this problem. We will have to keep a closer watch on how the line rolls on and off the furler-drum to prevent a reoccurrence.
Arriving at St Helena Island in the mid-afternoon, we had only one neighbor in the anchorage and just a couple of other boats arrived after us. By the time we rowed ashore the next morning, we were the only boat left and we thought that we might have the Island to ourselves. Leaving our dinghy tied to the wooden pier (pulled away from where tour- or rangers' boats might dock), we started our Ebird survey with the shorebirds that appeared to be awaiting our arrival on the rails and walking ahead of us as if leading us in a parade.
Following the pied oystercatchers down the pier at St Helena Island, with crested terns, a silver gull, and little pied cormorants, and pied cormorants on the rails
We enjoyed a very pleasant morning with me documenting the birds, while Randall accomplished his 1-hour of heart-healthy fast walking by going back and forth behind me. The parts of this National Park that are open without a tour, only allow about 2 km (just over a mile) of walking in a V with the pier in the middle. We recorded 20 species of birds, including the shorebirds, many rainbow bee-eaters, mangrove honeyeaters, and Australasian pipits. I struggled with the many swallows and martins that were swooping overhead so swiftly that it was hard to see if they had forked tails, white rumps, or red-heads. Fortunately, as the day warmed-up, some of these birds rested on the wire fences that delineate the open and restricted areas, providing us with a good opportunity to distinguish and identify them.
A sampler of cooperative birds: Top - left welcome swallow, right tree martin; Bottom - a pair of fairy martins
Although no tours of the old prison arrived while we were on the Island, we were not there alone. A group of contractors came to work on some of the prison ruins, inside the restricted area. Their arrival apparently disturbed a mob of jumparoos that were in the tall grass in the distance. Soon we counted more than 25 jumparoos bounding across the former pasture towards the main prison complex. We were wondering what species they were, when the park ranger pulled-up alongside us in his truck. He was very friendly and happy to see that we were interested in the birds. He would have liked to have stayed to chat but he had to go to supervise the contractors, so I forgot to ask if he knew what the species of quail was we had just seen. I did, at least, remember to ask about the jumparoos. He explained that they were red-necked wallabies. They are not native to the island but were introduced many years ago and a healthy population has remained.
Red-necked wallabies on St Helena Island
We heard several loud, harsh calls from the restricted prison area, which might have disturbed anyone fearful of the ghosts of prisoners who died on the Island (there are 57 graves). We, however, thought they sounded like domestic peacocks. Although we never saw them, their introduction to the Island was confirmed by the park ranger.
By the time we had finished our V-shaped hike, we were quite glad of the shade provided in the picnic and interpretive area.
It had been a lovely morning ashore and we were excited to see a dugong when we returned to Tregoning. We would not be able to stay at the Island for long, however, without having to move anchorages because northerly winds were forecast for the next day. That was fine with us. We had enjoyed revisiting this beautiful area, but now we were ready to explore somewhere that was new to us...