Out the Seaway & turn left . . . . Almost!!! - Part Two(?)

Day 7 - 31st July Tin Can Bay Inlet.

Here we go . . . when we left this blog last time we were in the Tin Can Bay Inlet for the last nite before setting off in the morning to head further up north to a place called Garry's Anchorage.

We had an early dinner and watched this lovely sunset looking over to the Tin Can bay Yacht Club.

Looking forward to shoving off in the morning.

This pic was taken on the trip with Zom, (SV Upstart), back in October 2013 on our way back to the Gold Coast from Yepoon. 

Garry's Anchorage (above) is the half way point from Tin Can Bay on the way north, our destination for today. This stop is used by many boaties on their way thru the Sandy Straits, both north and south, as you need to get the right tide to get over the Sheridan Flats without incident, and with Fete drawing 1.85m (6' 2") that was imperative. The tide for us to cross the Flats was around midday tomorrow so we could leave Garry's around 0930 hrs and be thru the Flats on a high tide and then on our way to the Kingfisher Bay Resort a couple of hours further on, our next destination. 

Kingfisher Bay Resort is situated on the western side of Fraser Island  looking over to the mainland and Hervey Bay.

The resort is a fantastic island resort where guests have the choice to just relax and enjoy the facilities or simply experience the natural wonders that this World Heritage Listed Island has to offer.

By the way, The earliest known name for Fraser Island was 'K'gari' in the Butchulla people's (Aboriginal) language and was pronounced 'Gurri'. which means Paradise.

According to Aboriginal legend, when humans were created and needed a place to live, the mighty god Beiral sent his messenger Yendingie with the goddess K’gari down from heaven to create the land and mountains, rivers and sea. K’gari fell in love with the earth’s beauty and did not want to leave it. So Yendingie changed her into a heavenly island today called Fraser Island.

Pics downloaded from "Images of Kingfisher Bay

Resort" on the web & The aboriginal bibliography

came from Wikipedia.

Today's name comes from Eliza Fraser, who along with her husband and others were shipwrecked on the Island, just north of here, and tried to get back to Moreton Bay in life rafts, but ended up here on this exceptionally pristine piece of wilderness.

And that's where Russell and I will be heading tomorrow.

We awoke around 0530hrs to prepare for the day ahead and had the regular 2 "Cups Of Breakfast". The morning was crystal clear. A good Omen!!! and as you can see from above, the water was silky smooth and we couldn't wait to get going.
Engine on, everything ship shape - we're off, but for the first part of the trip we will be heading into a incoming tide until we reach the bottom of the straits and then it should be plain sailing up to Garry's as mentioned before.

 

A couple of miles up the inlet we noticed that the bilge pump was continuously going off so we decided to check . . . and yes sure enough the stern gland was spouting water into the bilge every revolution of the shaft. So we decided to head back to Tin Can Bay and go into the marina to get the problem sorted out - (Problem #4).

After securing Fete in her mooring, and as it was a Sunday, and because the shipwright, Mark Parry, wouldn't be able take a look at our problem until tomorrow morning, a restful day was planned with early lunch and a couple of beverages down at the Tin Can Bay Yacht Club.

As you can see, the day was bright and warm  and we enjoyed just sitting out in the sun, chilling out & thinking of those horribly cold winters days we left back on the Gold Coast just over a week ago.
After lunch Russell decided to get the bike out and go for a ride as you can see below.

Days 8 & 9 - August 1st & 2nd

Awoke early as usual as Mark was due to inspect the damage to the "Dripless Stern Gland" at around 0730 hrs. Richard, the weekend manager of the marina had organized it yesterday with him, so all was looking good.
Dead on 0730, Mark arrived and took a look. He saw the problem straight away but its what he said that stunned me. Just by looking at the seal on the gland he said the problem was caused by "LACK OF USE" and Yes I was guilty of that.

He went and got the tools and had the job fixed(?) in just over 1/2 hour, but said that the seal needed to be replaced when we got back to the Gold Coast or when I lifted her out next. (Problem #4 Fixed)
I can't say enough about this guy for his knowledge and his friendly nature, so if you are passing thru Tin Can Bay, pop into the marina and say hi to him and Richard - in fact, everyone, including Janelle and Richard's wife that were lovely, genuine people and I surely will visit them again, but hopefully not to get work done.
Now that the seal fixed we planned to leave on the next tide around 1230 hrs tomorrow - so I decided to cook a roast for dinner and also have a nice bottle of Red, as you can see here at left.

Day 10 - August 3rd

0600hrs - Awoke to a chilly and overcast/foggy morning, as you can see from above, and the shot at right is actually the berth that we were in prior to departing - Berth C30 - the reason for this shot will become obvious soon.

Take special note of the empty berth across the way alongside to the motor-sailor and small trawler as it had a part to play in our next 10 days or so . . .

Upon leaving this berth, we were caught by wind and tide and were thrown broadside over to the other side of the marina and came into contact with the wharf and the motor-sailor. Luckily enough, Russell had tied our tender to the port side so as we wouldn't back over it.

And as you can see at left, the damaged  tender which took most of the brunt of the impact and at right, the berth where we ended up after being man handled into it with the help of some wonderful people whom I owe my sincere thanks. The repair to the tender ended up costing over $650 to fix professionally, but it was worth it. (Problem #5)

Tin Can Bay Pub

Day 11 - August 4th

Mark came by early in the day and advised us that there was a strong wind warning with storms expected for the next three days, so we decided to stay in the marina till it blows over.

Around 1630hrs I had a couple of Buddies and Russell had a couple of whiskeys and then we headed off to the local pub for dinner.

Prawn & Steer Char Grill -

Tin Can Bar Pub

Days 12 & 13 - 4th & 5th August

The next 2 days were very laid back as we couldn't do anything due to the  raging Southerly (up to 40+ knots) outside of Double Island Point, and as we had decided to head back to the Gold Coast when it abated, we would be heading straight into it. That and the fact I was a bit over all the breakages and problems encountered this trip so far seemed the best option at this stage.

Went to the pub again on both nights as the food in the restaurant is extremely good - this is the restaurant at left and a must to try.

Day 14 - Saturday 6th August

0700hrs - Finally we are told that the weather has abated and we get ready to leave. But before getting excited, I decided to check the stern gland seal again to make sure all is good. Upon Inspection I noticed that the propeller shaft was sitting out of the engine coupling and therefore we would have no propulsion, forward or reverse. (Problem #6)

Found Mark working on another boat just  down from us and asked him to have a look. Mark immediately came up to Fete and his exact words were, "You ain't going nowhere".
There were several issues here - Firstly, the travel lift here at the marina could not lift us out due to its configuration - Secondly, we needed to have a new coupling -Thirdly, the old coupling had to be sent to Brisbane to get made/replaced or whatever and that week in Brisbane there was a public holiday due to the Brisbane Show, so it looked like another week here in Tin can Bay & Finally, the replacement would have to be done while Fete was in the water. Mark assured me that this could be done, but there would be a lot of water coming into the hull.

Day 15 - Sunday 7th August

While Mark set about getting the old coupling off to Brisbane, 2 yachts that were in the Gold Coast to Kepple Island Race during that wild weather, came into port. The first yacht, Khaleesi, was dismasted up on the northern outside point of Fraser Island with an estimated $200k worth of damage. . .

 The second vessel, Bravo, we were told had a problem with a Kite or the headsail and decided it was too rough to continue - and there they are backing into their berth. And one of their crew was an old cohort from 30 odd years ago, Bruce Maizey, here at right. Nice to catch up again mate.

Mike & Ellen Preischl with Russell seated

and me up back.

Day 16 - Monday 8th August

To my surprise, I ran into Mike & Ellen over at the fuel wharf at the marina whilst getting the jerry cans filled and it was good to see them again. We last saw them in Mooloolaba so we decided to have a meal at guess where, yes the pub.

Mark came by to let us know that Rogers & Lough Engineering were trying to get the parts back to us by tomorrow but more likely Thursday due to the Holiday as mentioned before.

Day 18 - Wednesday 10th August

Yesterday was a lay day, all that happened was Russell took the bike for a ride again and then we strolled into town for some shopping.
The crew of Khaleesi were busy cleaning up the mess and getting pics for their insurance company. In the end they decided to motor the vessel back to Brisbane as their insurance company had an office there and there were more avenues to get the boat fixed while the crew returned to Sydney.

New stern gland & seal at left & coupling at right.

But today, Mark came over and told me the parts had indeed arrived last evening and he was gearing up to install them today. Before Mark sent the old coupling off to Brisbane, I told him we should also get a new stern gland and seal as well as the new coupling and as you can see here, both stern gland and coupling were replaced.

As I stated earlier, this type of job was normally done on the hard but due to the circumstances he would do it at the berth. Again his knowledge came to the forefront, when he devised an ingenious way to stop most of the water from coming in while he replaced both parts. Bloody amazing - I learnt a lot from watching and assisting him on this job. Once again Many Thanks Mark, when I am next in town we will surely enjoy a Bundy Rum or 20. (Problem #6 - Fixed)

Storms were predicted for the next 2 days so we spent them checking the engine & transmissions oils and having dinners at the pub.

Friday 12th August - We had a closer look at the weather and the tides and as the high tide would be 0400hrs tomorrow morning, we decided to get up early and head out so as we could cross the Wide Bay Bar at around 0600hrs and have a full days sailing down to Mooloolaba.
To get us ready for the trip and to avoid any problems like before, we had the marina guys raft us to an outside berth so as to give us direct access to the channel and hopefully not hit anything . . .

That's where we will leave this chapter for now, but the next blog "The trip back to the Gold Coast", will not be far away

So until next time, as always . . . Cheers

Out the Seaway and turn left . . . . . . Almost!!! Part One

The time has come for us to go and to see if all the money we have spent in the last 12-18 months has paid off. This will be Fete's shake-down trip to see what else we need to do before we finally go out that Seaway and really turn "LEFT"

Day 1 - Monday 25th July 2016

The crew for this little adventure is once again, Russell (Ian Waymouth), the world famous chef renown for his steak mashed potato and greens, as well as a world famous adventurer, whom you will remember from several other posts, and myself.

Here we are taking selfies prior to setting off at Hope Island Marina, Gold Coast.

We decided to leave the marina around 1400 hrs and casually make our way  down to the southern part of the Southport Broadwater and anchor up until 0230 hrs tomorrow morning to catch the high tide around 0300 hrs to go out the seaway and start the trip.

1630 hrs - Having arrived at our preferred location we did what all good sailors do around about this time . . . we had a couple of Sundowners to discuss the crossing of the bar early in the morning.

Day 2 - Tuesday 26th July

0230 hrs - Awoke and enjoyed a Cup of Breakfast and motored up to Bum's Bay in order to raise the Mainsail prior to going thru the Seaway. Once thru Russell put the headsail and Mizzen up and we were off.
0400hrs - All's good and new sails look great although it is a bit chilly.

0930 hrs - Wind has died and we are under motor and coming up on Pt Lookout. We have maintained the Headsail & Main in the hope that we catch some more wind, but once again, the mizzen block has blown out so we have had to tie it down until we can sort out what to do or how to fix it (Problem #1).
We have travelled 31.8nm since coming thru the Seaway and have another 24.7nm to go to Cape Moreton and then another 28.8nm further to get to Mooloolaba.

As we rounded the point and headed across to Cape Moreton, I received an email from Zom, (Mike Daly, sv Upstart), you should remember him from previous blogs, advising that he and Sis (Karen Macdonald - that's her at the railing), were at 1770 and enjoying a beverage. A few years ago, Zom & I were in the same spot with Russell taking the pics . . . they wanted to know our progress and when we would be catching up. As we had just set out and as they were on their way up to Pancake Creek the next day we weren't sure but were looking forward to doing so.

15.00hrs - After Rounding Cape Moreton and taking a direct rhumb line course (316 deg) for Mooloolaba, we came close to Flinders Reef. I have never seen this reef so close before, as we had mostly passed it on the seaward side and mainly at night. It is amazing to see and I am glad it was daylight as we were also spotting whales to the port side between us and the top of Moreton Island.
There was still no wind as you can tell from the sound of the engine in the video above, but we managed to jerry-rig the mizzen block, by using the block off the fwd staysail, (#1 Problem  - Solved). Russell decided to raised it and surprisingly, she maintained her shape (full) with no flapping around as the headsail was doing earlier.
1700hrs - Sea is a calm as. Still on course 316 deg and passed a huge container vessel heading out of the Spitfire Channel, (the main shipping channel from Brisbane for these larger vessels), to the Pacific and beyond.
1800hrs - AIS was now turned on as it was getting dark and we were heading straight into the main shipping channel.
1830hrs - All of a sudden the AIS showed 8 vessels heading our way thru this major channel. This caused us some concern as nite had fallen and it was a black as s&^t and no moon and not a star in the sky. Now the AIS alarm was going off too frequently and had both of us were doing 360 degree head turns looking for and at all the oncoming vessels.
1900hrs - Decided to turn south-west to get below and behind the stream of container vessels and hopefully get a clearer course to Mooloolaba, but they never altered their course and so we were forced us even further south.
2000hrs - Having travelled on this course for just over an hour, we decided to turn back for a straight line to Mooloolaba. Having done this, the AIS alarm went off again - this time it was from a vessel converging onto our course from the north-west. She came so close, even though I tried to contact the crew over the radio, but never got any response. All that was left to do now was to wait to see which way he would go so we could decide what action to take. Eventually he shone his spot light on us and then turned behind our stern and took a more southerly course.

2100hrs - Pt Cartwright, as you can see from the pics atop and at left, is the point of entry into the Mooloola River. Coming in at night, as we were, and after what we just went thru, was a great relief.  We were just looking forward to dropping the anchor .
2200 - Having moored, with pizza cooking, Russell & I had a couple of Buddies to steady our nerves and settled in for an early nite.
These two pics were downloaded from the net off "Images of Pt Cartwright"

Day #3 - Wednesday 27th July 2016 - Mooloola River, Mooloolaba

Awoke to find Fete as you can see above - moored in what's called Freebee bay here in the Mooloola River, opposite the marina and Hogs Breath Cafe. I am told that you can only stay here for 24-48 hours and then you have to move on, but that didn't worry us as we were planning on leaving on the tide early the next morning anyhow.
I had originally booked a berth at the Marina, but when we found it we couldn't maneuver Fete into the narrow berth as the entrance was just too tight - obviously the girl that too my booking misheard that we were 45ft long and 13ft wide or she couldn't adjust between Imperial and metric measurements . . . all's good that ends good and being on the pick, as the pic above shows, was very comfortable.

After a couple of cups of breakfast, we decided to get the tender out and blow her up so as to go to our favourite eating establishment here, The Fisherman's Co-Op.
After much swearing and huffing and puffing, Russell finally got the tenders motor to go . . . it had been close on 6 months since I had the engine serviced and had it running, so I guess that didn't help.
Off we went for some lovely Mahi Mahi & Chips - Delicious!!!

After  breakfast we decided that due to our experiences yesterday, we would stay another night here in the river.
We returned to Fete for a relaxing afternoon . . . that was until we decided to have a couple of early sundowners. These went on until approx. 2200hrs with Russell consuming a whole bottle of J&B Whiskey and me 10 Buddies. OUCH!!!

Day #4 - Thursday 28/7/2016

Magnificent sunset looking across to the shoreline in Maroochydore. 

Mooloola River - going on dusk where we moored for those couple of days -

also where Michael & Ellen Preischel were in their 50ft catamaran.

Awoke with a super hangover - Russell was still curled up in the fwd cabin. Once he came to (approx. 0900hrs) we headed back to the Fisherman's Co-op for another breakfast and tried to make sense of what we were going to do from here. Eventually we decided to bring the tender on board as we intended to head off the next morning.
On return to the boat we noticed that we had dragged our anchor and so we set about to get back to the original mooring not far away. Upon raising the anchor for the move, it came up back to front, with the pick point facing fwd and not backward as it should (Problem #2). We straightened it out and set it and all was good - during the night Russell and I were up at varying times to check that we hadn't dragged again - all was good.

Day #5 - Friday 29/07/2016

0230hrs - awoke to get ready for the next leg - Mooloolaba to Tin Can Bay via the Wide Bay Bar.

We passed Noosa at approx. 0930hrs, as you can see here at left, and headed for Double Island point a further 28nm or approx. 3.5 hrs away.

1300hrs - passed Double Island Point and turned to a heading of 324 degrees on a direct line for the bar some 10.5nm ahead. Hoping to get there before the sun gets too low which would make the crossing difficult as the sun would be directly into our eyes.

Also, Tin Can Bay Marine Rescue has advised that on entering the bar we should stay 100m further north of the designated waypoints as the sand has moved across the bottom part of the line to the leads approx. 2/3's the way thru.

1500hrs - Crossed the bar in smooth seas but could see the sandy outcrop 12 feet below our hull.

1630hrs - Arrived in Tin Can Bay Inlet and dropped anchor for the night. On the way up, I smothered the anchor in Inox to free up all the working parts and will need to keep a check on it tonight to make sure we don't drag again.

Day #6 - Saturday 30/07/2016

Also on the way up from Mooloolaba there was no wind and the seas were choppy with a 1-2m S/E swell, but we kept the Headsail up to try to gain that extra 1/2 to 1 knot to get us to the bar just that little bit sooner. Obviously that didn't happen - all that happened was that our Headsail wrapped around itself in the shape of a wine glass (Problem #3) and so this morning, Russell (MacGyver, the all-rounder handyman) set about undoing the unholy knot - after 4 odd hours we had her straightened out and ready for our next leg. (Problem #3 sorted!!!)

Speaking of problems, Problem #2, anchor, was also sorted with the Inox spray. Surely nothing else could go wrong???

At left is Russell with his improvised tools to get the headsail freed up.

After having some breakfast we took the tender into town to get some supplies and as you can see from the pic above, we passed the familiar entry to the marine precinct into Snapper Creek, passing the Tin Can Bay yacht Club and the Coast Guard base. But on the way back, we ran out of  petrol in the tender, so we had to row back to the boat and as you can see below, it wasn't far.

Fete where she were moored in the Tin Can Bay Inlet

Later that day Russell took the refueled tender & the yabbie pump and headed off

to get some bait to do some fishing. No fish as the current and wind were too strong

so had an early dinner and got Fete ready to leave the next morning for

Kingfisher Bay Resort up on Fraser Island.

That's where I will leave this tale of adventure otherwise it can get too long in the

tooth and could be hard to download due to size, but!

 . . . as for the next 20 odd days . .  . that is another experience altogether and

  needs to be told separately - remember what I said earlier? -

"Surely nothing else can go wrong!!!

So until Part 2 of this blog - Cheers . . .

Another In-Between Time - March 2016 to end July 2016

Have you ever been walking/driving down the street and noticed someone who is so deep in thought that they seem to be a million miles away . . . and have you ever wondered what they are thinking so intently about ?

I have been back on the Gold Coast now for around 4 months and have found myself in this position many times - wondering what I'm doing here. Hope Island Marina, as you can see from the pic above, is a great place to be moored and I have many friends here but I am restless and just want to get going again.

But first, as always, there a many things to be done before we can go out the seaway/bar and turn "Left". That is what this blog is about, and as I am one week away from going thru that seaway, I thought I would get this "in-between Blog" out of the way so as we can start a new chapter on our trip north. - SO HERE WE GO!

Firstly, prior to leaving Port Macquarie, I had Ben the Diver down to check my anodes and antifouling and was told that I urgently needed to get new anodes on to Fete, so I booked into Boat Works and had her lifted out to do another antifoul and the anodes checked. Well the anodes were all good with the exception of one which we replaced.
For those of you who are unaware of Boat Works, it is billed as the Best Boat Yard in Australia, and I for one agree with their statement as it has improved 10 fold since my last liftout a couple of years ago - Check it out.

The facilities are 2nd to none other that I have been to here in Australia and better than a lot in other parts of the world . With the antifouling done, over the 3 days, it was time to return to the Marina & complete other jobs on Fete.

Time was sure going fast and all of a sudden April and May have come and gone, and here we are in June and I am still at Hope Island.
Although I feel in a rut of sorts trying to finish Fete off for the upcoming trip, it was good to know that the T(h)urd finger crew were still having their Friday BBQ's.
As you know from one of my previous blogs, Sparra and I share the same birthday and I think this was his party with the crew.
This is only thing I miss about Port Macquarie, this crew and their friendship -
Happy Birthday Sparra!!!

As always, food plays an important part of life on Fete and I found some new recipes for the much milder winters here on the Gold Coast.

Left: Chicken Stroganoff

Right: Sticky Chinese Pork Stirfry

           

            Speaking of food, these dolphins came into the marina chasing the schools of fish that are in abundance here, and as you can see at left, this lucky one had a nice bream for dinner.

As always, plenty of friends come over on their way thru the coast to say hi and at left is Marie and Rick of the catamaran sv Swaggy - ( I think in a recent post, I called their boat "Shaggy"), from Port Macquarie - Members of the T(h)urd Finger.

Rick & Marie are currently in the sandy Straits on their northern trip and I hope to catch with them in the next couple of weeks and have more Sundowners . . .

Another old friend and her husband, Trish & Robert Budd, owners of this beautiful Shannon called sv Bristol Rose, also dropped by to catch up. Robert & Trish bought the boat in the States and spent 2 years sailing her back to Australia you can see their story on their blog site - just google sv Bristol Rose and you should find the link to their site.

Bristol Rose is also here Hope Island Marina.

So as the sun sets here over the marina, Fete is finally ready for her northern trip. YES, all the prep work has been done, provisioning finished - we are ready to go as you can tell from the pic at left!!! 

Once again the crew  will consist of that intrepid explorer and world famous chef, Russell (Ian Waymouth) and me and I am looking forward to leaving in 6 days time . . .

So until next time . . . from somewhere up in North Queensland . . .

Cheers as always!