Eric continues to enjoy his time in the water and whenever we get a chance we all hit the water together. The conditions were quite nice so we spent a few nights at Langford Island and then sailed out to Bait Reef.
The trip out to Bait Reef was unusually eventful with a large fish (that got away) causing no end of trouble. As a tip - do not set a large code zero and then hoist your full main in 20 knots of wind if you want to slow down in a hurry.
The net result of our failed fishing adventure was: one code zero in the water; one halyard lost halfway up the mast; and two hands with rope burn!
We detoured back to Luncheon Bay at the top of Hook Island to affect repairs and then headed back out to Bait Reef in the afternoon. With a more conservative sail setup – blade jib and full main – we made the journey in just under two hours.
Snorkelling on the Stepping Stones at Bait Reef remains impressive.
However, the best part of our time back at Bait reef was the amazing song of a Humpback whale and her calf. The two whales swam up and down the edge of the reef for over 48 hours and on the way out they treated us to some spectacular breaching approximately 100m off our port bow.
We left Lady Musgrave an hour before high tide on the morning of 3 August. As soon as we had motored out of the lagoon a pod of three humpback whales swam leisurely past the boat within metres!
Just minutes later there were another two or three whales off our port side, leaping and frolicking in the water.
We watched them for about an hour or so before setting course for Percy Island approximately 180 nautical miles to the north. The kids enjoyed the whales and had fun in the sailbag for another few hours...
With Lucey Blue ready to go we waited for a suitable weather wind to sail north to warmer weather.
The first opportunity arrived in early July and we scrabbled to leave Middle Harbour on the 14:30 Spit Bridge opening.
We left the harbour on the evening of the 5th of July and sailed/motorsailed north, hugging the coast to avoid the east Australian current that can flow at a speed of over three knots - not fun if you are traveling in the opposite direction!
Our new sails and feathering propellers proved themselves on the first night with Lucey Blue surging along at 8 to 9 knots in a 14 to 17 knot north westerly wind. By dawn we were located just north of Port Stephens on flat sea with a number of local fishing boats.
The wind died off during the day and swung around to the southwest so we motorsailed most of the next twenty four hours to keep up our boat speed. We enjoyed a visit from a pod of dolphins on the evening of the 6th and arrived off Coffs Harbour at dawn on the 7th of July.
We passed South Solitary Island in perfect conditions with blue skies and 15 to 20 knot southerly winds. Lucey Blue was really enjoying the conditions and her crew was entertained most of the day by humpback whales sunning themselves along the coast and thrashing their tails against the growing southerly swell.
By nightfall on the 7th Lucey Blue was located off Yamba and the weather forecast indicated that a change was due to hit the region overnight. We reduced sail that evening to a triple reefed main and our blade jib as there is nothing worse than having to reduce sail in rough conditions at night. We also decided to take Lucey Blue further offshore to gain extra searoom if required.
The southerly wind picked up steadily and Lucey Blue sailed along at 8 to 9 knots in the growing seas. By midnight we were located off Ballina in two to three metre seas. Unfortunately we also found the east Australian current was running strongly at two knots against the sea which was making the waves rather pointy.
The southerly front hit at around 02:00 on the 8th of July with 35 to 40 knot winds, three metre breaking waves and heavy rain. Lucey Blue was sailing safely, but our boat speed was too high for conservative cruising folk - consistently 10 plus knots - and we were slewing around as we surfed down waves at 15 plus knots.
To reduce the load generated by the sails/sea we reduced sail to just the triple reefed main and unfeathered our MaxProp propellers. The postive impact on the boat's motion and our overall comfort was dramatic. Most of the improvement came from using our now rotating unfeathered propellers as mini sea drouges to provide extra drag at the stern. We had not considered using the propellers in this fashion when we purchased them, but the ability to change from no drag (feathered propellers) to drag (unfeathered propellers) is a fantastic feature.
After a long wet and rather bouncy night we decided to pull into the Gold Coast Seaway and by about 10:00 on the 8th of July we were anchored just behind Seaworld and watching filming of the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie!
We left the next moring and motored through the narrows behind the Stradbroke Islands before reaching Dockside Marina on the Brisbane river at 17:00. The trip through the backwaters was fun, but obviously not everyone makes it through the shallows and overhanging powerlines safely...
I've been playing with more of Nick's underwater photos from Cateran Bay (I can hear you all cheering with excitement...no?). I also have a bunch taken above the water there...but I'll pop those in a separate post.
The myriad shapes, textures and colours are very beautiful. We have been watching the Stargate SG1 series on DVD while we have been out here, and often, while I'm flying through these underwater landscapes I can easily imagine myself on an alien planet (especially with the whalesong in the background).
While I am on the subject of whalesong....Nick put together a small video, where you can hear it in the background...
On our last visit to Cateran Bay (we left there this morning to come out to Bait Reef again) we didn't hear much in the way of whalesong at all. It felt a bit lonely in fact (even though the Bay itself was packed with yachts...14 in total [you can tell it is school holiday time]). I guess many whales have started their migration back south already.
PS. If anyone happens to find part of a Powerdive regulator unit in the vicinity of Cateran Bay...that'll be ours! We lost it on our last dive, somewhere between surfacing and swimming back to the boat. As a result, there may be a small hiatus in underwater shots published here, until we get a replacement part in Airlie Beach (aren't you lucky??!).
Yesterday morning we were treated to the most amazing spectacle. We were anchored in Cateran Bay, Border Island (for the third time) and I had been watching the dorsal fin of a large whale quietly bobbing about just outside the bay, with a calf nearby. I'd not long gone inside to do some school work with Emily when people on a nearby yacht started cheering and yelling. We rushed outside and were greeted by the truly awesome sight of an adult Humpback whale breaching...less than 100 m from our boat!
The whale breached at least three times (that I heard/saw), which had all the yachts in the bay cheering and yelling for more, before it rolled over and began slapping the water with its flipper, almost like it was waving good bye.
I was too gobsmacked to catch her breaching on camera, but managed a slightly blurry shot of her farewell (I think that yacht behind us would have been less than 50 m from the action...hope they didn't choke on their Wheaties!!).
Slowly I am going to try and catch up to where we are at present...which for the record is still Sawmill Bay, Whitsunday Island. We left Mackay Marina early on Saturday 20th August, and on our way out I took a quick picture of the shoreline, where you can see the old, re-located, kerosene lighthouse that used to reside on Pine Island (opposite Middle Percy Island).
Another interesting sight (for me at any rate) was captured on our way in to Mackay several days before. Nick is always complaining that due to Lucey Blue's beam and height, he can't see what is happening at the sides of the hulls...especially when he is trying to come alongside a fuel wharf or marina berth. I have decided that maybe an upgrade of our cockpit/bridge is in order, the bridge wings in the following picture would surely help to rectify the lack of hull view...pretty cool Father's Day present huh?
Maybe some side mirrors would be more achievable, and in keeping with our almost 20 year old design. I was actually pretty worried at the time we motored past these behemoths. I was wondering if one of them might spring to life and promptly reverse over us (I'm not at all prone to flights of fancy ;-) ...but figured that without a tug in attendance they weren't going anywhere too fast.
Anyhoo...we spent a very peaceful morning sailing under our spinnaker out to Brampton island...
Please excuse all the junk over the trampolines, we don't usually sail in such a shambles, I think Nick was looking for something in a bow locker at the time. The book I was reading was a Clive Cussler (he doesn't add fodder to my flights of fancy at all!!!!!).
As we rounded the western side of Brampton Island we crossed paths with another couple of whales steaming north...
We anchored next to Roar Ege in the small bay between Pelican Island and Swordfish Point. After Nick had untangled the trolling line from our starboard prop (it really sucks when you forget its there and end up reversing over it......we hadn't caught anything to lessen the pain either...boo hoo), we went ashore for a wee wander in the woods.
There were lots of beautiful butterflies in the trees along the walk...
I don't know what sort of butterfly they are...but I managed to capture a shot of this poor old fellow, probably by virtue of the fact that he could barely fly any more. He looks a bit moth eaten...no?
After our bush walk we wandered along the beach to investigate the resort...but when we got there, Brampton was bare! I was beginning to have more 'Lost' flashbacks, and was looking around for Matthew and Evangeline again (cue the spooky music). Are you starting to see a trend here?
The Brampton Island Resort website says the resort closed in Jan 2011 for renovations, and will be opened some time after Dec 2011. Let's just say, based on our observations, we don't think it'll be opening soon after Dec 2011. The only living things we saw (other than a bunch of fellow cruisers) was a large group of very well fed roos...at least someone is looking after the lawns...because no one appeared to be working hard at renovations, that's for sure!
And just like Great Keppel....the resort beach fits my definition of idyllic, so its sad to see the place pretty much abandoned.
The next day we left in tandem with Roar Ege, agreeing to catch some shots of each other en route...
We also took a little video on our way north through the channel between Hammer and Ladysmith/Blacksmith Islands...
I have made tuna casserole for dinner tonight, and it smells DELISH...so I'm gonna go grab some now before it gets cold!
Just thought I'd pop a little message here and let you know that tonight we are nestled in Sawmill Bay, Cid Harbour, on the western side of Whitsunday Island (along with approximately 41 other boats). When I looked outside this evening it was hard to tell where the stars stopped and the anchor lights started, and Nick commented that it felt like Sydney Harbour on New Year's Eve!
Our internet coverage has been sporadic over the last few days...while we were visiting Whitehaven Beach and then Border Island (which are overshadowed by towering granite peaks to their west). I have been trying to update our Google location map, which you can find at the top of the page here, whenever I get a chance.
I have plenty of pictures to edit and pop up, but they'll have to wait for another time. For now, I'll leave you with this pic we caught of a calf playing in the sea off Border Island (mum was nearby, maybe giving technique pointers)...
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