Sunday 11th November 2007
Scawfell Island 20.51S 149.35E
We left early yesterday at 6.22am from Middle Percy knowing we had a long day ahead of us to get to Scawfell Is. Middle Percy is very pretty and the typical image of a tropical island. Linda made coffee below whilst the skipper motored out. Bill put the jib and staysail up at the front like butterfly wings (no pole) and we stayed like that all day. It was the most beautiful day we had so far sailing - very easy, relaxing with blue skies. We passed several islands and could finally see Scawfell in the distance. We averaged about 5 knots and Bill was so relaxed he didn't feel the need to go faster by putting more sail up. Bill put the lure out at some stage during the day and around 4pm Linda was lulled away from her trashy novel by "It's a little fish!!" Bill pulled on board a "small" spotted mackerel less than .5m. It flapped around in the cockpit making it fishy and slimey and then dribbled blood when Bill stabbed it with his swiss army knife. Yuk! Our first 'fruit de mer'. After cleaning and filleting our fish we had enough for at least 2 meals.
We finally got to Scawfell about 8pm watching a gorgeous sunset on the way. We could see several boats including a fishing boat lit up like a Christmas tree. Even with the chart plotter, depth sounder and Lucas' book it was difficult to see where the best place to anchor. It looked like the other boats had the best spots. We eventually dropped anchor in 10 m of water a bit further out than the other boats. There's nothing worse than drifting towards other boats in the middle of the night. Linda made coleslaw with the last of the fresh cabbage and Bill cooked the fish in butter. Delicious with a freshly squeezed lime! (and cold white Semillon) This morning we woke to wind howling around us and discovered we were anchored in the worst spot where the wind funnels through a gap between 2 hills. (Too lazy to move we pored over what little charts are available on PNG whilst enjoying freshly made espresso coffee with our you beaut capaucino maker which works on the gas stove) We are not sure where we are going today apart from towards Townsville and where the wind will work best for us - somewhere in the Whitsundays. Life on board Valiam is very comfortable and we enjoy all the little luxuries we have become used to on land. We even had a warm shower in the cockpit last night using our solar shower and big plastic bathtub. (not that this is a luxury but a necessity as far as Linda is concerned)
Friday 9th November 2007
Middle Percy Island 21.39S 150.14E
We have finally arrived in paradise! After a grueling night particularly for Bill navigating at night trying to stay on course using the new electronic chart plotter through islands and protruding rocks we greeted the morning with blue skies and sunshine arriving at this delightful island at 11.30am. Alan Lucas describes this anchorage as 'abominable' in his Cruising the Coral coast book for rolly conditions. We are finding it anything but 'abominable'. It is paradise! We have the place to ourselves with gorgeous clear turquoise water (matching Valiam's hull) white sand beach and swaying palms. West Bay is famous for it's 'yachtie museum' of memorabilia of yachts and crew who have passed through in the last 50 years. Just back from the beach is an A frame structure filled with items placed by yachts over the years with names, dates, comments etc. We placed a purple 'Valiam' shirt with our names and today's date written on it hanging amongst the myriad of other interesting items including paintings, carvings, bras, plastic eagle, life jackets, champagne bottles, flags etc etc. It was eerie seeing evidence of so many people on yachts who had been there yet we were there entirely on our own.
After a nap and catching the sunset over the little islands opposite, we enjoyed a steak for dinner with fresh salad and cold white wine. We felt very lucky sitting under the stars while Valiam gently bobbed on her anchor. Tomorrow we will leave early for Skawfell island, the southern end of the Whitsundays.

Thursday 8th November 2007 at sea north of Gladstone

We were trying to leave last Saturday but due to numerous jobs yet to be done to the boat and the winds blowing from the north we didn't leave our home port until Monday 5th November 3pm.

With a fresh SE wind behind us all the way we sailed until Wednesday 7th November arriving Pancake creek at 9.30 am. (position 2400.559S 15144.29 E)
We experienced a few mishaps along the way as Valiam and her crew got used to one another again. Afterall we hadn't been out at sea since January. At one stage the jib got tangled around the furler so Bill had to cut off the ropes and stow her down below. The Fleming self steering wind vane is marvelous but sometimes doesn't work as well with the wind from straight behind. We had some problems with the electrics blowing fuses several times. As the marine electrician wasn't available before we left Bill did the wiring himself. The new chart plotter is marvelous as we only had a hand held GPS and paper charts before. We still have small scale paper charts and pilot books so if the plotter fails we can still work out where we are.

We sailed around Fraser Island until we got to Pancake creek. This was 2 nights at sea with Bill and Linda doing approximately 3 hour shifts. We have a little kitchen timer that we set with an alarm every 20 minutes to stick our heads out and check for ships. Bill prefers to doze and check things while Linda does movie marathons on the lap top. It has been rainy and overcast the whole trip so the solar panels haven't been able to charge the electrics much. We anchored just inside the beginning of the channel with a beautiful view of a little sandy beach with a palm grove. We celebrated our first anchorage with a chilled bottle of wine and chicken curry. It was too rainy and windy to go ashore. The new anchor (Manson supreme) worked well but we heard a nasty jolt in the middle of the night when the wind was against the tide. The clip that holds down the anchor chain is broken so we will have to fix that in Townsville among other things.

This morning Bill put the jib pole out and we put the repaired jib back on the furler. We currently have the jib poled out on the port side and the staysail on the starboard side. We are cruising along quite nicely trying to stay on course. The staysail keeps flapping and so far the wind vane corrects the boat and the staysail goes back out where it should be. Occasionally a big wave makes us slew sideways and one got us both wet! When we are surfing down a wave we go 9+ knots averaging 7.5 knots.

The new satellite phone with Iridium (Motorola 9505A) has been fantastic for sms messages to family and friends to keep in touch. We asked Vashti our daughter to text us an up to date weather report which we received immediately. So far we have been able to reply to sms messages sent to us but not so successful at sending new ones. Family and friends can send us a free message up to 160 characters long by logging on to the www. iridium.com website. All they have to do is type in our satellite phone number and we receive the message on our phone immediately. This is free for them and costs (I think) 65c for us to reply. I have received one message from a mobile phone but this is not guaranteed. (sat phone people said 1 in 5 success) Vashti has also received a message I sent to her mobile. As time goes on we will learn how to use all the facilities it is capable of. We have yet to connect the data cable and modem to access the internet. As this costs $2.16 a minute (for us to make voice calls too) and the internet will be very slow we will only use it for important stuff (like the weather). We are looking into a service that filters out all the rubbish that comes with websites and emails so that we only receive text. So far we have only discovered one GMN which is based in the USA.

We are quite comfortable and have all we need on board - cappuccino maker, cold wine/beer, adequate communications, flushing loo etc. Linda has to keep taking seasick pills every 4 hours.
The motion of the boat with the wind behind is a bit wallowy and the seas are a reasonable size at present.

We are aiming for Scawfell Island at the southern part of the Whitsunday Islands. We may also stop at Pearl Bay before then depending on how we are going and how tired we get. We should get to Townsville the middle of next week.
All well and happy on board Valiam

Monday 5th November 3pm
Goodbye Mooloolaba!