1st November Southport Yacht Club

 SYC is a great place to have lunch or and evening meal

We spent the day at the Yacht Club readying Billabong for the passage down the NSW coast. The dinghy and motor was washed down and stowed and all the safety gear checked and deployed.

We walked the marina and checked out a lot of different boats and it is amazing the sights you see. This boat caught my eye and amused me. Named “Fanny Fisher”. Anything goes on the Gold Coast!!

 Nice boat "Fanny Fisher". Suitable for the inland waterways of the Gold Coast.

The figure head on "Fanny Fisher"

After lunch we departed to “Bums Bay”. Aptly named as it is a free anchorage and very protected from all winds. This is often the departure point for yachts to head out through the Seaway bar as it adjacent and not far to the Seaway entrance.

We had an early dinner and were in bed by 7.30pm ready for our 2am departure. It was also our first alcohol free day since Robert joined the crew!!!

31st October Dux Anchorage to Southport Yacht Club 14nm

Dux anchorage is located in Tipplers passage and is much protected from the south easterlies and is a very comfortable anchorage on the west side of South Stradbroke Island.. After breakfast we took the dinghy to shore and visited the Southport Yacht Club annexe shore facilities. They welcome visiting yachties. They have a grassed camping ground and BBQ facilities which you are allowed to use. They dont have to mow the lawns or fertilise them as they can have up to 80 wallabies that eat the grass and fertilise the lawns as they go.

 Up to 80 wallabies mow the lawns at the Southport Yacht Club annexe.

There is also a 5 minute walk along a sandy track to the beach which Robert and I took. You can walk for miles along this beach. 

 Robert on the beach of South Stradbroke Island

We did not stay long as the tide was falling and we wanted to make sure we did not get marooned in the creek.  The weather forecast was looking good for us to leave Southport in 2 days so we decided to go to the Southport Yacht club for the night and have a meal there. We did not count on the “Halloween night” theme that they had with all the kids and a lot of adults dressed up for Halloween night. Some great costumes!! It was not the usual quiet Thursday night at the club that I expected. Maureen came down from Coomerera waters with Emma, Darien and Morel and joined us for dinner. We had a pleasant night despite the Halloween party.

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.

29th Oct Peel Island to Raby Bay Marina 6.5nm

We woke in the morning and I heard on the ABC radio that sever storm cells were expected to hit the Goldcoast/Brisbane area at around 1pm. I checked the weather forecast on the internet and winds to 40 knots were expected with damaging hail.

I rang Raby bay marina and they had a spare berth so it was time seek shelter. We raised the anchor at 9am and headed into a strong 25 knot northerly for the short trip across the bay to the marina. The tide was running out against the wind so the trip was interesting with a bit of green water over Billabong.

Once in the marina it was well sheltered and all the shops and restaurants of Raby Bay are only meters away. The train station is a 5 minute walk away so any required trips to Brisbane are made very easy. It is a very nice place and we will put this on the visit list for future if provisioning is required.

I rang my long time friends Colin and Jo Taggart to see if we can catch up and before I knew it we were invited to their place just around the corner for a BBQ. We had a great night catching up with them and swapping news. All their four children have grown up, all with University degrees and one has married so I am sure they will have lots of grandchildren to look after in years to come.

The storm did eventuate and we did get some heavy rain and strong wind but the main cell passed south of us.  

Again we drank more than needed but it did help to get a solid night’s sleep in a very calm marina.

28th Oct Tangalooma to Peel Island 25nm

 Billabong at anchor on a calm sea at the Tangalooma wrecks

We woke at 5.30am as you do here in QLD. The sun is up at 5am!! Why don’t they have daylight saving!!

Echo Beach was departing and as they raised their anchor they found it had snagged another anchor and chain. Robert and I raced over in the dinghy to lend a hand and found the chain was stainless steel. We were hoping the anchor was stainless as well but that was not to be. It had been on the bottom for a long time as marine growth covered the chain and the anchor was well and truly rusted. After a bit of salvage work we unshackled the anchor and recovered the chain. It was not very long but about 6 meters which may come in handy on another vessel one day. Robert and I took it to the beach and gave it a good clean up and got most of the growth off but it will require a lot more work to get it in usable condition. I put it in a bucket and stowed it in the locker.

We said our goodbyes to Echo Beach and gave our best wishes to Graham and hoped for the best.

Another yacht, Mustang Sally with Mark and Di on board was anchored nearby. We met them on our 2011 cruise at Dunk Island. They were going for a snorkel on the Tangalooma wrecks and invited us to come. Robert declined the offer but I went. I was not disappointed and was very surprised to see the marine life that had made the wrecks their home. Despite being allowed to fish there the fish life was abundant with large snapper, bream, sweet lip, emperors, whiting, trevaly and no doubt gropers but I did not see any of them.  The water was not quite clear enough to see any distance into the holds of the wrecks where the gropers would be hiding. A snorkeling boat brings guests from Tangalooma to the wrecks every couple of hours and no doubt they get fed well, hence the reason they don’t take bait on fishing lines. I am surprised that the wrecks are not off limits to fishermen.

We had no time for fishing and had to depart for Peel Island. The forecast wind was 20-25 knot northerlies and this would not be a good anchorage. We headed off at about 11am for Horseshoe Bay at Peel Island. This is a well protected anchorage for northerlies.

The tide was with us, the wind was behind us and we had a very good sail into Peel Island. By the time we arrived the wind was gusting to 25 knots and we were very happy to get into the lee of the island and drop anchor.

Robert came with me for a walk on the beach and we saw numerous stingrays with in a meter of the beach all sunbaking in the shallows. People who know me know that I am not keen on Stingrays any more.

We had a couple of gin and tonics as the sun went down and cooked the rest of the fresh mackerel for dinner. The wind abated for most of the night and it was a pleasant night’s sleep.