30th Oct Raby Bay Marina to Dux Anchorage via Inland waterway. 34nm

Surprisingly I woke without a hangover. Not sure why – must have been the quality of the reds. I did a little bit of shopping to top up the fruit and groceries and we headed out to the relatively calm bay. The wind had swung to the SE and was only 15 knots but as we ventured further south down the inland waterway the wind strengthened to 25 knots. It was cooler and made for a less pleasant journey than I would have liked. The tide was falling in the morning and rising in the afternoon so we had to be very careful over the mostly shallow channels that we were navigating through.

 Hope the owner is not still on board this sunken yacht!!!

It was handy to have Robert on board who is a very experienced navigator having sailed his yacht Shirena from Australia to the Mediterranean Sea. He was able to check my navigation and make sure we were on the right track. The Inland Waterway is an amazing piece of water. You can enter the Goldcoast from the ocean and travel in sheltered waters all the way to Brisbane and into Moreton Bay and onto Mooloolaba.

The shallowest part of the Inland Water Way is at Jacobs Well and must be crossed at high tide if you are deep keeled yacht. High tide in Moreton Bay was 18.14 and high tide at Runaway Bay was at 17.38. Jacobs Well is closer to Runaway Bay so we use that time as a guide.  However you have to be mindful that there is another bar which allows water to flow in and out of the inland water at Jumpin Pin. The high tide here on the ocean side was at 16.44

My decision was made that we would cross the shoals at Jacobs Well at 16.45. We arrived at Jacobs well at 15.30 and anchored in the channel until it was time to cross. We saw a 37 foot Beneteau cross at 15.30 but we were unsure if he had a shallow draft keel. I did not want to take a chance so we waited.  At 16.45 we crossed and had minimum depth of .8meter under the keel so we could have crossed at 15.30 when we arrived. We were very pleased to get through this magnificent but shallow water way with out toching the bottom.

We arrived at Dux Anchorage at 1800 and dropped anchor. A quick shower in a brisk 20 knot wind was very cooling and Robert was reluctant to shower off the back. After persuasion of rum to warm him up if he did, he quickly had a shower and presented himself for the rum. 

 The Southport yacht club annexe at Dux Anchorage.

The sun went down on another day and we toasted Grahams father with a drink of rum as sadly we received the news that he had passed away.  Graham and Leanne will stay in Perth for the funeral so Billabong and Echo Beach will make separate passage back to Sydney. It is a sad conclusion to our cruise together which has been punctuated by Tamara’s operation, the passing away of my friend Steve and now the passing of Graham’s father.

I asked Robert what he would like for dinner. Luckily he said fish because that is all the choice he had!!! I promised him something different for tomorrow night.