Not the best of days..........

Ken & Sue - friends of Captain Bligh we met in The Narrows

The day started off well, as we had a pleasant night’s sleep at the Mosquito Creek anchorage.  We weighed anchor a little after 0700hrs and proceeded north out of the narrows.

Once outside, the sea conditions were better than we thought they would be, and we made 18knots for most of the 30nm run to Yeppoon.

 Here we had morning tea, and topped up the fuel tanks in anticipation of the long run up to Mackay.

Rosslyn Bay (Yeppoon) Marina - Image by Navman 2008

Captain Bligh and I were in high hopes of a similarly speedy and comfortable run up to  Port Clinton, but it was not to be.

About half an hour out of Rosslyn Bay we were overtaken by a series of rain squalls and high wind. 

The seas rose alarmingly, and we were forced to repeatedly deviate from our course and nose up into the waves. 

We also were forced to steer by hand as the autopilot could not manage the confused sea and swell. 

Sets of 4m waves would appear out of the gloom and rain and we zigzagged our way north around them.

Stormy sea - Image by Navman

The situation was far from comfortable, but we came through it safely. Endless Summer handled it well on most occasions, except for a few rogue waves that had us a little concerned.

Just after 1500hrs we entered the shelter of Port Clinton and dropped anchor. We were all very glad it was over. 

Port Clinton is not really a port at all, just a big natural harbour in a very remote place. We have the place completely to ourselves.

Everyone is very subdued this evening. Even the dinner of lamb and vegetable stew failed to brighten the spirits onboard.

Captain Bligh and Sea-Dog have now gone to bed and I am sitting alone with my reflections. I hope tomorrow brings renewed spirit to us all, or I fear that our journey together will be over once we get back to civilisation.

Isolated pinnacles - the calm before the storm - Image by Navman

Tomorrow the weather is predicted to be better, and if not, we will probably stay here. We have food for a week and the water will last a similar time if we are careful.

Time for me to sleep now,

Navman