Mackay to Airlie Beach

Well the time has come to leave Mackay Marina and head further north to the Whitsundays. Our destination for the next leg will be Brampton Island. This was once a bubbling Resort which people from all over the world flocked to, to enjoy the ambiance and tropical atmosphere.
The pic at top was taken when Rob and I went out to check out the entrance of the marina  and Brampton Is centre back with St Bees and Keswick Islands on the right.

As Brampton is only 20nm north of
Mackay, it was an easy 4hr motor sail
and at left is where we anchored. We
will be here for a 2 days so we can have
a look at the Resort which we were told was abandoned some 6 years ago and as you will see in the pics  below, the damage that Cyclone Debbie did to the place.

Below is a collage of pics on how the Resort is today after Debbie and as you

will see, she is in a bit of a mess - it is a shame this beautiful place is left like

this!!!!

At the end of the day, whilst on board having a sundowner

Rob turned and said: "Welcome to the Whitsundays"

So I guess our real trip starts from now . . .

Thursday 15th June 2017

We have decided to head north to Goldsmith Island

as our next leg and its only 12nm away. This will bring

us closer to Airlie as well as another give us a look at

another piece of these fabulous Islands.

We upped anchor just after 0730 hrs as Rob had received a text from a mate to

expect winds of 20+ knots with 1-1.5m seas and choppy conditions later in the

morning. As you can see from the pic above, this is Minnie Hall bay,

our anchorage at Goldsmith.

Rob anchored 1st and as I came up on his boat, the other yachtie, Neal, seen here

at right called out that I was headed for a bommie, so quick action was taken

to come astern of Rob and drop the anchor. Whew that was close.

Inside the anchorage was interesting as there is

another smaller Islet named Farrier Is, as you can

see at left. This Islet has a private residential dwelling

on its S/W shoreline and it doesn't appear to have been
affected by Debbie at all. 

We stayed in Goldsmith for a couple of days due to weather and it proved to be a good haven against the strong winds. Whilst there we spotted a Bronze Whaler shark chasing a feed of school fish and had dolphins swimming around the boats, but alas didn't get any pics of either.

The next leg will be up to Shaw Island bypassing Thomas Island - another small 15nm run with winds expected to be around 10-15knts.

0700 - hoisted the pick and headed off  and arrived at around 1000hrs. Good run with smooth seas and a gentle breeze, although I got an extra 1.5knots when I raised the headsail.

We anchored in behind Burning Point, but a little too far out, but that didn't matter as we would only be here for a day or two any how.

Shaw Island proved to be an excellent anchorage  and

as you can see at left, is across the way from Lindeman Is

which like most other Resorts here are or have been closed

for some time due to the economy or cyclone Debbie -

again a real shame.

Above is our next destination, Cid Harbour. A beautiful anchorage which many Bare Boat

Charters are attracted  to as it is only about 9nm from Shute Harbour, their base for the

boats.

On the way up, we passed by Dent and Hamilton Islands as we were running with the current and doing 6-7knts without any sail, although Rob & Kerry told me later that they sailed all the way.

Some other visitors are these two boats - a tallship & large privately owned cruiser - told you the place was popular . . .

Also here is some more remains of Cyclone Debbie.

I was told that this happened during the storm and

as yet hasn't been salvaged as there were some 40

vessels that have simply "Just Gone Missing"???

Wednesday 22nd June:

Today we decided to head into Airlie Beach, some 14nm away and as we passed the top of the Molle Chanel, The Pacific Jewell was there waiting at the entrance to Pioneer Bay.

The trip across had been a little rough with 20kn+ winds

and at times 1.5m+ swell and I was glad to be in behind

Pioneer Point and heading for an anchorage just outside

of the Abbel Point Marina Complex.

Upon anchoring the owner of the nearest boat came over

and it turned out to be Rob Woodforth from Southport

yacht club - small world!!!

We stayed at the first anchorage one day and as it was too rolley, we moved over near the Airlie Beach Sailing Club as you can see here at left and the view into Airlie at right.

Here we will stay for a week or so before heading off to explore some more of the Whitsunday Group of Islands as we have decided to make Airlie our base and I  will bring you more of the updates as we go . . . so until then, as always, CHEERS.

Urangan to Rosslyn Bay, Yeppoon & onto Mackay

Great Sandy Straits Marina as seen from the Hervey Bay Boat Club's deck

Time has come to continue on my journey as I have

spent some 6 weeks here in Hervey Bay waiting out the

results of Cyclone Debbie to subside.

Coming along on this leg is some friends from Hope

Island Marina, Rob & Kerry Black aboard their own

vessel sv Errant.

Hervey Bay area is made up of 3 separate settlements, Urangan, Pialba & Torquay. A good stopover for anyone wanting to get to Kingfisher Bay Resort on Fraser Island or into the Sandy Straits to watch the whales.

At left is the marina complex with 3 separate marinas and a hardstand with a 300 ton travel lift.

Whilst there I caught up with a life long friend,

Grip (Ross Wright) and his friend Angie.

Grip lives aboard his yacht and is studying to become a nurse -

I believe that he is almost completed the degree and

will soon be wearing a nice blue skirt to work . . .

Good to catch up again mate - see you on the way back.

 Friday 12th may 2017:

With preparations having been completed, we intend

to leave around sun up tomorrow around 0600hrs.

This time I will be on Fete by myself with no crew,

so Rob & Kerry came over to give me a hand to leave  the

mooring and they will follow me out.

Saturday 13th May 2017:

As we leave Urangan , up past the Urangan Pier this rainbow

appeared just as the sun was rising to the east. Destination

for today is Bundaberg, some 35nm north. It should

be an easy day with seas predicted to be around .5-1m with gentle 5-10knt SE winds, we should be at anchor at around 1500hrs this afternoon.

Sure enough, we were anchored and having

a Buddie or two before sunset . . . and I guess the Rainbow decided to follow us all the way.

A great days motor sail and I was extremely happy with the day and having Fete to myself.

Sunday 14th May 2017 - Destination Pancake Creek - 63nm north:

Awoke early to get ready for the long haul up the coast. It
was anticipated that it would take at least 12 hours, at an average
of 5 knots to reach our destination before dark.
It was cold and pitch black, due to the cloud cover, when we set
off at 0300hrs even though it was almost a full moon.
I had been to Pancake Creek before with Zom aboard sv Upstart
when we ducked in there to get away from a front on the way back to
the Gold Coast.

(Pic at left, & 2 above, courtesy of Kerry Black)

Arrived Pancake Cr around 1500 hrs

after 12 hrs of motor sailing. Had the Headsail up for approx. 5hrs before the winds turned NE again.

We anchored in the mouth of the

creek as we were leaving early the

next morning for Cape Capricorn.

Monday 15th May 2017 - Pancake

Cr to cape Capricorn

As we left pancake Cr, we could see the bulk carrier ships up ahead awaiting entry into Gladstone. Bob & Kerry whistled for me to get a pic of them sailing under autopilot.

Arrived and tucked ourselves in behind the cape as you can

see above. We had to anchor a long way out due to the shallow

depth, but we didn't want to go all the way to Keppel Is

as we would have got there in the dark - something we are

trying to avoid as much as possible. It was a roll type of a night

and I didn't get much sleep and was glad when the sun hit the horizon.

Tuesday 16th may 2017 - Cape Capricorn to Great Keppel Is.

0700hrs - upped the anchor to head for GKI (Great Keppel Is), but

looked over to the cape and as you can see above, fog was just streaming off the point and covered the lighthouse. The fog moved out to sea, a long way out, and didn't diminish for a couple of hours.

GKI is only 25.5nm away, as you can see from the pic at right, so we were in for a leisurely 4-5 hr run.

Arrived at GKI around noon and anchored in Svenden's

Beach (pic at left). Bob & Kerry were keen to catch up with Paul

off sv Cobwing whom they had been travelling with prior to

catching up with me in Urangan. That afternoon we had

sundowners on Fete and Paul bought Jackie over. She had just  started out on a round the world cruise and we enjoyed the interaction and the drinks.

With this storm front approaching,

we decided to head into Yeppoon,

Rosslyn Bay Marina for a couple of days to let it pass before heading further up north.

Saturday 20thMay 2017 - Rosslyn Bay to Pearl Bay 

With the passing of the front, Paul and

Rob are keen to get going so we decide

to have our last meal & sundowners at

the Rosslyn Bay yacht Club. Tomorrow

we intend to leave 0500hrs so an early

night was planned by all. Sundown at Rosslyn Bay Yacht Club with Bob silhouetted at left.

Pearl Bay, some 43nm north of

Yeppoon, is a pretty bay and good

protection from the  S/E's. It is situated at the bottom end of the Military area in Shoalwater Bay & just above Port Clinton.

Just as when thought that we would get a

clear run with the weather, the radio and a couple of local divers warned us to expect strong winds for the next couple of days. Winds of 25-30+ knts S/E were expected, so we decided to stay in this beautiful bay for the time, but as Rob & Kerry are under a time restraint due to them looking after the grand kids up at Mackay, time is of the essence and we need to keep moving . . .

Wednesday 24rd May 2017 - Pearl

Bay to Middle Percy Island

Decided today was the day so awoke

early, Paul having left at around 0330hrs, to start the 55nm leg to West Bay, Middle Percy Island.

We are expecting choppy conditions with 10-15knts+ S/E winds.

Arrived at middle Percy only to find many other travelers anchored here, so we had to

anchor out a bit. During the trip, I had snapped off

the engine "Kill Switch' from the cockpit bulkhead, so I was perplexed

as to how I would shut the engine down once anchored. Once again,

Bob, came to the rescue and we dismantled the cable to enable me to

shut down by using a set of plyers.

Thursday 25th May 2017

Today we start our run to Mackay as I

think Kerry was starting to get a little bit

nervous as to whether they would make

it in time. So headed off around 0700hrs

for the 26nm trip over to a little island called

Digby Is, part of the Beverley Group.

5 Hours later we anchored in a beautiful

little bay, well protected from the S/E and

in plenty of water. I say this as we were

expecting 7m+ tides for the night.

Digby Is approach, as you can see  

here, is spectacular. Although both Bob & I were both stressing as to where the entrance to the little bay was. Eventually we found our way in and anchored as you will see below.

Pristine Digby Is. . . .

This was our 1st impression on entering the bay and my impression of that time will last me a long time.

Cobwing, Errant & Fete enjoying Digby Island

and as you will see below, Kerry caught and

amazing Queen fish. actually it has been Kerry doing all the fishing up to this stage. Only then did Bob get out his rod and have a go, but Kerry was the champion angler today.  

So as the sunsets on beautiful Digby

Island, and as Paul is leaving us tomorrow to continue his trip north, and we are heading to Mackay, sundowners are called for onboard Fete, to say our farewells.

Digby Is, a GEM - will be back!!!

Friday 26th May 2017 0- Digby Is to Mackay

Awoke early and left Digby around

0600 for the 44nm run to Mackay

marina where we will spend the next couple of weeks, whilst Bob & Kerry look after the grand kids.

I have to say that the Marina was in

a worst state than I had imagined

after Cyclone Debbie, which was

a couple of months ago. As you can see from these pics, some arms are

still missing, with much repair work still needing to be done and in some cases, totally replaced.

Well as you can see from these recent pics, there is still a lot of work to do here in Mackay . . . Soon we will be travelling off to the Whitsundays and the islands in between and I guess I will be able to see first hand what damage was caused and what still needs to be done - I will send thru a blog after I have been thru the  area.

So as always . . . Cheers until then

"A formatting problem has occurred during the production of this blog and I haven't been able to rectify it - so please enjoy in the state it appears as I will try to rectify in my next blog" - S