Tamara left the yacht and has flown to Sydney for the birth of her first grand child. Scary - I will be the partner of a grandma!!!! Well I guess I will be a pseudo grandad. Eric Knowles, my friend from sailing days at the Royal Papua Yacht Club, Port Moresby, PNG has joined me as First Mate.
The yacht is prepared and we depart at first light tomorrow for Lady Musgrave Island. Weather looks perfect and we expect we will have to motor most of the way. We expect to be there at 2pm to enter the lagoon on low tide. We will need slack water as the current can get up to 4 knots through a narrow channel with coral on either side.
14th June
We were up at 5am and departed at 5.30am The journey to Lady Musgrave is 54nm so we needed to average 7knots to get there by 2pm which we did by motor sailing all the way and we had current assisting us. The conditions were so good that we deployed 3 fishing lines trawling a variety of lures. We caught a magnificent Mahi Mahi and 2 skip jack tuna on the way.
Thats dinner!!
What was more impressive was that I had to give lessons to Leon from Nirvana's Kitchen on catching fish. We went to the tackle shop and bought him a lure and a line. He too caught a magnificent Mahi Mahi. His first and biggest fish. It was great that he caught the best eating fish you can catch on a lure in the open ocean for his first fish. He is now hooked and you could not get the smile off his face.We anchored up in the lagoon in 8 to 9 meters of water and filleted the fish and we taught Leon how to fillet his fish. We delivered fish to Cloud Nine and Windsong.
Drinks on board Nirvana's Kitchen that evening were memorable celebrating Leon's first fish. He was awarded the duck award for his first fish. Amongst the yachts travelling in the Coral Coast cruise there is the "duck award". Who ever is in possession of the duck awards it to who ever for what ever. It is referred to as the "duckhead" award. So you can imagine it is for doing something stupid generally, but on this occasion it was awarded for achievement. Great achievement Leon the Masters Apprentice. I have been named the master of the fishing and crabbing. I am not sure why we on Billabong catch so many fish and crabs and others don't. Anyway we get our share and that is what matters. If I get too many I share with others.
Eric and I had a great feed of shashimi and Mahi Mahi for dinner.
Lady Musgrave
15th June
We woke to a brilliant day. Light westerly winds. Fished off the back of the boat and Eric caught a beautiful parrot fish of about 2kg and I caught some bream/sweetlip look alikes. They were great eating. Lovely white moist flesh. 11am the group went ashore for a wander through the island trees to the other side. There is a great toilet block and camping facilities on the west side of the island. There is a daily fast ferry service from the mainland bringing tourists for the day and many people stay for awhile. Back to the yacht for lunch. Donna from the yacht Windsong wanted to go for a dive. I have 3 dive tanks on board so we agreed we would go into the marine park for a dive. The tide was coming to its low so we would get Donna' husband Rob to drop us off along the outer wall and we would drift along the wall and into the entrance to the lagoon. This way we would save a lot of air by going with the current thus maximising our dive. When we got to the entrance the water was still rushing out of the entrance. A quick change of plans and we decided to do the opposite. So we entered the water on the inside of the lagoon and used the current to take us out through the passage. We were swept along for a distance and got to the outer entrance and suddenly the tide turned. It was impossible to swim against the current so we turned and went with the current back into the lagoon. That was a bit disappointing but we still saw some good marine life. There was a reef shark in a cave under the rock having a nice sleep with its tail hanging out. I decided against giving it a tug as I did not want to stir up any trouble. There was also a Firefish more commonly known as a Lionfish which are highly venomous. They are a very beautiful fish. Saw a number of very large fish - sweetlip and coral trout. The dive lasted for 55 minutes and we returned to the yacht for a hot shower. We invited Rob and Donna from Windsong to join us for a Mahi Mahi green curry. It was good and one of Rob's favourite dishes, but it was not spicy hot enough for him.
Went to bed on the rising tide. If there is a big swell running Lady Musgrave can be a bit uncomfortable at anchor because the swell breaks over the reef and if the swell is not coming from the same direction as the wind it gets very rocky and rolling.
Billabong at sunset - Lady Musgrave
16th JuneDuring the night the wind strengthened to 20 knots and it was a rolly night. We were up at 6am and had a coffee and decided to abandon plans to take the dinghy to a reef situated at the east end of the lagoon that we found the previous day going around the lagoon in the dinghy. Again we fished off the back of the boat. We caught some more bream/sweetlip look alikes and I hooked a big fish. It took awhile to bring it in. I did not want to loose it so I was patient. Eric grabbed the net and netted it and the fish was landed. It was a 5kg sweetlip. I was ecstatic. After high fives and a bit of dancing on the boat the celebration turned to dismay. The fish was lying on the back completely exhausted and to my surprise when I went to pick him up he gave a last flip and he slipped from my grasp and hit the deck and slipped into the water. I quickly dropped my pants to dive into grab it again as it did not swim away. It just lay motionless on the surface. But quick thinking from Eric grabbed the net and scooped it up. Here was I left standing on the back of the boat with my pants down around my ankles. Cloud Nine, anchored near us saw it all and were laughing their heads off. So it was the fish that was caught twice and of course I was awarded "Duckhead of the day". But who cares the fish was great eating. I cooked it in alfoil on the BBQ with chili and coriander and butter. It was great. Out fishing book only rated them as a **star for eating but I can tell you it was better than that. Eric agreed.
Before going to bed we tidied up the yacht in preparation for the sail to Pancake Creek the next day.
The fish that was caught twice
While tidying the yacht we noticed the coral spawning. It was full moon and the coral spawn on the full moon. It is a milky look in the moonlight as it floats by on the surface.
My goal at Lady Musgrave was to catch a coral trout which I failed, but a 5kg sweet lip was good enough. We have a lot of coral reefs to visit on our journey so I am sure my goal to catch a coral trout will be fulfilled soon.
Another brilliant sunset
17th June
We woke at 6am and had 2 hours to get the yacht in order for an 8.30am departure. It was a bright sunny day and you could feel the heat from the sun early. We weighed anchor at 8.45am and followed the others out through the passage. Wind was 20 knots from the South west and our course was slightly south of west so we were hard on on a port tack. The seas were quite lumpy and it was a bit uncomfortable. I put one fishing line out and it was not long before we hooked a nice Mahi Mahi. It was difficult to bring it on board with the lumpy conditions but managed to get it into the cockpit. There was blood splattered everywhere. I tied a slip knot around its tail and trailed it behind while it bled and I cleaned up the mess. After 2 hours the wind eased a little and went more to the west. Slowly it died and we were under 5 knots of speed so the motor went on. We put a second line out and before long we caught 2 skip jack tuna.
Shashimi entree and dinner!
About an hour later the line went again and we reeled in a 10kg Mackerel Tuna. I radioed the other yachts to see if anyone wanted it but with no takers we let it go.
The biggest catch so far. Well done Eric
We filleted the fish on the way and dished out the tuna fillets to other yachts and Eric and I enjoyed 2 fillets of tuna shashimi for entree. We cooked about 500gm of Mahi Mahi each and had a really nice meal.
We have eaten fish everyday since leaving Bundaberg.
That night we anchored in the outer reaches of Pancake Creek as the tide did not allow us to enter further in until tomorrow.
18th June
We had a great sleep and woke at 7.30am
At 9.30am on the high tide all the yachts anchored out moved in further up the creek to more sheltered waters. We baited the crab pots and took them into the upper reaches of Pancake creek looking for the mud crabs. We laid the traps in the mangroves and left them there for tomorrow.
Bustard Head Light House
At 1pm we assembled on the beach for the walk to Bustard Head light house. It takes about an hour to walk up the hill from the anchorage.It was a good bit of exercise and was enjoyable to stretch the legs and see the scenery from the land for a change. At the top of the hill we were able to see the town of 1770 in the distance and managed to get mobile reception and pick up some messages.
The crew of Windsong, Cloud Nine, Nirvana's Kitchen and Billabong
At 5pm we had happy hour drinks on Nirvana's Kitchen followed by a nice dinner - you guessed it fish!!We had lots to celebrate that night. It was the birth of Tamara's grand son. Her daughter Marina gave birth to boy named Oliver. At last Tamara is a grandma.
Oliver - The Grandson
19th June
We had a lazy morning waiting for the tide to come in so we could go up the creek to recover the crab pots. At 10.30 we all went in search of the mud crabs. It was to be a disappointing morning. I caught a female crab and Leon caught a female crab. Under QLD fishing laws you are not allowed to take any female mud crabs. So they were released to breed again. Chili mud crab was not to be. At 11.30am we moved our yachts to the outer anchorage so we can get an early start for tomorrow. We will be leaving at 4.30am to travel the 70nm to Great Kepple Island.
Pancake Creek
We went ashore and with screw driver and hammer in hand and chipped off a few oysters off the rocks. It was a lot of work for little reward as they were quite small. Never the less it was a taste.
Eric and I took the dinghy for a fish on the reef inside the creek and we bagged 3 nice plate size sweetlip. we gave one to Cloud Nine and kept the others for ourselves.
Its early to bed as we have to be up early in the morning.
20th June
We left Pancake Creek at 4.45am as we wanted to get to Great Kepple Island mid afternoon so we could have a swim.
Unfortunately there was not enough wind to sail but we put up the sails anyway and motor sailed. We made great time with the assistance of the wind and a .5knott current with us. Anchored in 6 meters of crystal clear water. So clear you could see a starfish on the bottom. We anchored at Svennsons beach on Great Kepple and finally caught up with "Splash" sailed by Peter and Chris Wilson. We were supposed to sail with them but they left Sydney early May and we were not ready. It was good to have sundowners with them any way and swap experiences.
21st June
We raised the anchor at 9am after a beautiful early morning swim in the crystal clear waters of Great Kepple. An amazing island that once had a magnificent resort and tourist trade. However with the rising Australlian dollar and cheap overseas holidays, Australians have simply stopped going to Great Kepple and consequently the resort is now closed.
We arrived at Roslyn Bay Marina and quickly washed the yacht down and headed for the bus stop and into town where we bought enough supplies for the next 6 days. When we returned to the marina we had to do our washing. Eric and I had enough washing for 4 machines. It was $4 a wash and $4 to dry. We paid $48 for the Marina berth and $32 to wash our clothes and sheets. They must make a good profit from the laundry.
At 6pm we had sundowners on "Cloud Nine"
After eating all the fish from the fridge and freezer we decided we had better have some meat. So we cooked a couple of King Island scotch fillets and had them with some vegetables and a creamy mushroom sauce washed down with a good bottle of shiraz. It was a welcome change from the fish but we are looking forward to our 40nm trip to Port Clinton. A chance to wet the lines again. We have also heard there are good mud crabs in Port Clinton so we want get there early and get the pots down. We are leaving at 5am to get out of the marina on a good tide so we should be at Port Clinton by midday.
22nd June
Left Roslyn Bay Marina at 5am and had no trouble with depth getting out of the marina. had an easy motor/sail as winds were too light. Arrived at Port Clinton at noon and had some sandwiches for lunch and got the crab traps ready to set. It was high tide. "Splash" was anchored in Port Clinton and I offered to take his traps and set them as well. We agreed on the fee for setting them that any crabs we get we share. Eric and I set off in the dinghy to set the traps into the reaches of the mangroves up a creek but were not really convinced that it was deep enough for crabs as the area we were in completely dried out at low tide. Any way we put them in in the best possible spot we could find scattered over a fairly wide area. 6 crab traps down and we would wait for the morning to see what we got. When we set off across the in the dinghy we found a Dugong digging up the mud on the sand flats that were covered at high tide. We stopped the engine and just watched as the Dugong circled us and every now and then came up for air. It went about its business but was not frightened by our presence.
We went to "Splash" for sundowners and a meal. We cooked spaghetti bolognese and they had a lamb stew and we all shared and had a great night discussing what we would do with all the crabs we would catch.
23rd June
I woke at 5.30am and was contemplating going and getting the traps before the tide fell to far but its was so bitterly cold with a strong southerly wind I was not going to go out. I went back to bed and slept until 7.30am. That meant we had to wait until 1pm for the high tide to reach the traps.
We had the left over of the spaghetti for breakfast on toast and did some serious fishing. We caught 6 good whiting but there was a type of fish in that water that kept biting our hooks off. Between Eric and I we lost about 6 hooks in 2 hours. At 1pm it was time to retrieve the traps. As we were going up the creek we came across 2 turtles. At first we thought they were Dugongs again. One of the turtles was the biggest turtle I had ever seen in the wild. It was huge.
We pulled the traps and we scored 4 big muddies. High 5's all round and back to the yachts. We went past "Splash" and showed him the catch. Peter was ecstatic as he caught by far the biggest crab in his traps. These were the first mudcrabs he had caught. As agreed we would cook them up and we would share that night for dinner. Peter caught 8 whiting so we were going to have a feast for dinner.
We weighed anchor at 2-30 pm for a short sail to Pearl Bay and on arrival at Pearl Bay I realised why so many yachties say you must visit as it is a beautiful place.
Billabong at Pearl Bay
Pearl Bay
There is no mobile/internet/am-fm radio and no vhf reception as the anchorage is surrounded by hills. If you stay too long you can miss weather forecasts.
We anchored and cooked the crabs and then went to "Dame Margot" for sundowners at 5pm.
As we were leaving at first light next day we had our feast of whiting and mud crabs on "Splash".
A Feast of Muddies
What a feed that was and Peter and Christine brought out the Frangelica which we had with ice. Eric had not tasted this before but enjoyed it so much that I think Sandy will get a present when he gets home!!
24th June
We left Pearl bay at 7am. I was intending to do the 70nm trip to Middle Percy Island where the historic "A Frame" is on West Beach. However with forecast of strong winds and big swells, West Beach is a no go. The swell bends around the island and it is simply too rolly to stay. So a change of plans and we accompanied "Dame Margot" to the Duke Island group where we anchored at Hunter Island. This anchorage is good for SE up to 20knots. - We had 25knots. We arrived and anchored and you could smell the burnt grass where the owners/inhabitants of the islands had torched the islands just days before our arrival. With the strong winds it blew black ash all over the yachts anchored in the bay.
We got a call on the VHF radio from "Dame Margot". They had difficulty setting their anchor. The battery had died. We went over to see what we could do. After analysis we concluded that the battery was not getting charge from the engine alternator. We made a phone call to our master electrician - Rob Starkey on Windsong who was still in Roslyn Bay marina - and asked his advice. With the info that Rob gave us we were able to sort out a temporary fix and got it going for them. That was a relief for them.
The wind was strong and the boat was moving about a lot but we managed to roast the duck and had good bottle of red with it.
The cruising life is good but we are drinking everyday!!! Not sure when the last AFD was!!
25th June
We woke at 5-30am for a first light departure to Curlew Island. We received the forecast from VMR Mackay at 6.15 and heard a strong wind warning had been issued - 25-30knots from the SE had been forecast. We had to make Curlew Island as that was a much better anchorage and is rated up to 30 knots from the SE. We weighed anchor and were on our way out of the anchorage when we got a call from "Dame Margot" on the VHF. They could not get their anchor up as the chain counter had malfunctioned when the battery went flat. Martin could not reset it as the manual was not clear. We reset our anchor and Martin put the dinghy in the water and collected me. Eric stayed on Billabong for safety of the yacht while I went to assist.
After reading the manual and trying a few different settings we could not get the windlass to raise the last 15 meters of chain. So we had to do it by hand. I winched the remaining 15 meters into the yacht and Martin took me back to Billabong.
Had a great sail to Curlew Island and the wind never got more than 25knots.
Arrived at Curlew at 12.30pm and had some lunch. "Dame Margot" called on the radio and said that the anchor went down ok but they tested retrieving it but they could not get it back up. With Billabong safely at anchor and quite protected from the hills of Curlew Island Eric and I went to see what else we could do. Eric being the engineer read the manual and after discussion we decided to reset the anchor counter to default settings and start again. It worked.
We were invited to dinner on "Dame Margot" where we pooled bits and pieces of stews and left overs for an enjoyable meal. Martin supplied some quality red wine after ours was confiscated on arrival and made us take it back.
The yachting community is great. Everyone helps each other. I have been on the receiving end when things have gone wrong on Billabong. It is swings and roundabouts as they say.
Curlew Island
26th June
We would love to stay another day at Curlew but the forecast was not improving and the strong wind warning was still current. There would be no let up for at least 5 days which vindicated our decision to continue our journey up the coast, rather than stay at the best anchorages for longer. A number of the yachts that are in our rendevouz rally are miles back and have been caught out with the military exercises in the Shoalhaven area. At very short notice the defence force brought forward the closure of the Shoalhaven area to all marine craft for live firing exercises. That means all the good anchorages like Pearl Bay, Port Clinton and Island Head Creek are closed from 28th June to 31st July. So the yachts still to come up the coast will have to travel out wide of the coast to avoid the military exclusion zone and there for have no refuge in bad weather. There only option is from Roslyn Bay marina to the Islands off the coast which can be too far for a day sail. It means they must travel at night.
We waited for "Dame Margot" to raise her anchor before we raised ours in case we needed to assist again. There were shouts of joy from "Dame Margot" when the anchor came up. Our fix the day before had worked.
We left through the north west passage and headed over the shoals for Mackay. The wind had been very strong in the night with bullets of wind hitting "Billabong" and it was uncomfortable but we felt safe on our anchor with 40 meters of chain out in 5meters of water. It was a shame to leave such a beautiful island but without improvement in the weather we could not stay.
The journey for Eric and I would soon end as we are both booked on flights home on the 28th June.
It was best we got into Mackay a day earlier so I could prepare Billabong for the next passage from Mackay to Airlie. My friends Peter and Donna Kent will join the crew of Billabong on the 9th of July and travel with us to Airlie Beach.
Eric will return to his beloved wife Sandy and I will fly back to Port Stephens to carry out some chores and drive to Sydney to see the new grandson.
On departure from Curlew we saw 30 knots on the wind instruments. This could be our worst conditions of the trip as the seas were up and the swell was rising with the continuous SE winds. But it was not to be. A few rain squalls passed and the sun came out and it was a very pleasant sail to Mackay. The wind was consistent at 20 - 25 knots until we closed in on the coast and at times the wind was below 20 knots.
Entering Mackay harbour
We arrived safely into the marina. The crew of "Dame Margot" were there to meet us and help us tie up. We invited Martin and Margot on board for a few beers and put some sausages on the BBQ and enjoyed an afternoon of sunshine. The wind was still blowing and the wind chill factor made it cold in the early evening. I don't know why but that first hot shower when you make land fall is always the best and I think it was a 20 minute shower.
We felt great after and had a few rums and another dinner of anything that was left in the freezer. Eric cooked a good mixture of Russian stuffed capsicums, lamb stew, King Island Scotch fillet and tomatoes and onions.
We have eaten well on this trip. Loads of fish early in the trip but never caught another fish on the lure since Pancake Creek. It was just as well as it gave us a chance to eat what was in the freezer as I wanted to empty this before I fly out.
We covered 346nm since leaving Bundaberg and while the weather was not as good at the end of the trip it was a most enjoyable journey.
It was great to have Eric on board and renew acquaintances. We reminisced on many of the old times and sailing stories when we were both living in Port Moresby.
Thanks to Eric for helping Billabong on her journey North and the companionship. We will have new stories to tell in the future after this trip.
The journey for Billabong will resume when I return to Mackay and Peter and Donna will join me on 9th July.
