FNQ we love you.........

Marina neighbour - Image by Navman

A day hanging about in Townsville has reminded me why I am doing this trip. The temperature is a very pleasant 28 degrees, with a light zephyr of breeze wafting over the water every now and then. I am writing this sitting on one of the fingers in the marina, it the shade of a big game boat.

There are plate-sized bat fish lying under and around the pontoons, and a couple of trevally playing jumping games from time to time.

The shags are having a break from fishing and are sitting in the sun drying their wings. I am showered and shaved and it will soon be beer o'clock. If only SasSea were here, everything would be perfect.

Marina lifestyle

Speaking of SasSea, she is still at home. The temperature there is only in the low teens and cold gale force winds are predicted. The good news is that she has now booked her ticket north, and will be joining me in Port Douglas in the middle of next week.

My brother lives in Townsville with his wife and kids, and we are all meeting up tonight on the boat for drinks and dinner. It will be a great opportunity to catch up with everyone.

It's time now to go for a beer and get a few things ready.

Till tomorrow,

Navman

A Perfect Day

Foggy morning at Mackay - Image by Navman

Today was the perfect Queensland day……absolutely everything you could wish for in boating. 

It was foggy early and we were up early so that we could be at the fuel jetty when it opened.  

We set off from Mackay in brilliant sunshine and no wind. Endless Summer was loping along at a steady 20knots cruising speed.

By lunchtime we were at Hamilton Island to refuel both boat and bodies. It was but a short stop and we were soon off again at quite a pace.

The forecast for the next couple of days is for increasing wind, so we wanted to make the most of today's good condtions by reaching Townsville this evening. 

And perfect it was. It was so flat that Captain Bligh could have skied behind Endless Summer. 


There were fish, birds, sea snakes and dolphins to observe, and plenty of lively conversations and funny stories that were told.

Hamilton Island Yacht Club - Image by Navman

Sea-Dog at the helm on a perfect Whitsunday Sunday.

The Whitsunday Islands came and went, then our course took us away from the coast and we cruised all alone out on the open ocean until dusk. 

 At this stage we still had nearly 40nm to go to reach Townsville and we thought it would be necessary to reduce speed so that we could maintain good visibility.

The wind was on our side today though, and as the sun fell into the water ahead, conditions improved even further.

The full moon rose astern of  us to light our way. The surface of the water was so glassy that we could see every tiny thing breaking the surface. 

This enabled us to maintain our 20knot speed right up to Cape Cleveland on the outskirts of Townsville, even though the last light of day was long gone.


Once inside Cleveland Bay, Sea-Dog and I came down off the flybridge to have a beer and prepare dinner.

Captain Bligh stayed on the flybridge to guide us to our anchorage, albeit at only 10 knots as the visibility was now reduced. 

It was not all bad news for him though because when we dropped anchor he was able to have a beer, then sit down to dinner straight away.

It was a night for two bottles of red. For the day we covered just under 200 nautical miles (360km) in 11 hours including fuel stops. 

Endless Summer chases the sunset - Image by Navman

The moon rose to light our way- Image by Navman

We are now anchored in Townsville’s answer to Bum’s Bay. It is a well sheltered anchorage just outside the Townsville Marina. The marina will be our destination for our lay day tomorrow. 


We have a couple of issues to address with Endless Summer. One is a persistent high oil pressure gearbox alarm on the starboard engine at idle speed, and the other is a leak n the stern compartment of the boat when we are moving at high speed.

We will need to address these issues (and do some washing) before we leave Townsville early on Tuesdy morning.

You will recall we left our NSW South Coast base two weeks ago. We have travelled over 1250nm and now have only 200nm to go.  

The water temperature is ideal for swimming so we might take a few hours to enjoy the delights of Far North Queensland before we arrive in Port Douglas later this week. The dark times that we experienced late last week are now firmly behind us.

Late afternoon in the Whitsundays - Image by Navman

It has been a perfect day, but it is now well past midnight and I need to sleep.


Sweet dreams,


Navman

From the ridiculous to the sublime....

Port Clinton morning - Image by Navman

Today was a much better day. We had rain overnight, but there were glimpses of sunshine when we rose. 

Nobody was in a hurry to get going this morning, so I put a line out over the back during breakfast. As you can see from the accompanying photo, the results were not spectacular.

The fishing hasn't been a highlight of this trip! - Image by Sea-Dog

Not long after, we weighed anchor and proceeded to sea. This was a tentative exploration, because no-one was in the mood for more of the seas that we went through yesterday. 

Because we had dallied for an hour or so, the tide had started to ebb and the conditions on the Port Clinton bar were far from ideal. This again was not an auspicious start. Nonetheless we carried on, hoping at least to get to Island Head Creek, some 13nm north. 

Once we freed ourselves from the outgoing Port Clinton flow, the sea conditions improved somewhat, and we were confident that it would not be necessary to go back. 

There was a yacht entering Island Head Creek just as we arrived outside, and as it seemed to be making heavy going of it, we thought we would see what the sea conditions were like north of the Island Creek entrance. 

There were plenty of these off Mackay - Image by Navman

This turned out to be a good decision as sea conditions began to markedly improve. Whereas we had been struggling to maintain 9 knots, a short time later we were averaging 15knots. We maintained this speed until we slowed to have lunch in the lee of Hexham Island, about 30nm north.


During the afternoon sea conditions improved further and we decided to run for Mackay, about 75nm north. This we did in fine style, with Endless Summer cruising effortlessly at a very creditable 18knots average on the open sea.

Just before Mackay we went through a flotilla of ships waiting to load coal at Hay Point. Once again the AIS proved its worth and we navigated through the fleet with ease.

By 1730hrs we were tied up in the marina at Mackay with a beer in hand celebrating a great day’s adventure. 

We also celebrated the fact that we have now travelled more than 1000nm (1850km) since we left home.

Sea-Dog bought us some delicious Thai takeaway for dinner so I had a night off cooking.

Endless Summer at Mackay Marina - Image by Navman

All in all, it was a great day.

And so to bed, sweet dreams all….

Navman  

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

The Narrows.....

Big ships..... 

After a leisurely morning checking the boat and doing some last minute provisioning, we left Gladstone Marina at around 1430hrs.



Gladstone Harbour was just as busy today as it was last night, with vessels going everywhere.


And what a range of vessels, with everything from small outboard-powered workboats to giant barges, dredges and tugs.

And barges....

Again, the AIS system was an excellent safety aid, and we were able to negotiate the vessel traffic safely.

It was also reassuring to know that Endless Summer was showing up on the navigation displays of the vessels that we were encountering, meaning that they could see us electronically as well.

The  Narrows is a waterway which runs north from Gladstone harbour. It separates the mainland from Curtis Island and goes for about 30nm (50km).  Below the Narrows, the southern end of Curtis Island is dominated by an enormous construction site for a new Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant.

In places the channel is only a few metres from the bank - Image by Navman

I have wanted to navigate this stretch of water for a long time and I was not disappointed. Originally the owners of the LNG plant were going to build a bridge over the Narrows, and this would have prevented all but the smallest vessels navigating beneath it. Fortunately, the views of local people and  boaties were heard, and the bridge is not going ahead (for now).

After passing this LNG construction site, the scenery is wild. This is mud crab country, and apart from a few houses built by the crab fisherfolk, there are few signs of civilisation.

Endless Summer (black triangle) apparently out of water!

The channel is not only narrow, it is very shallow, and in parts dries completely on very low tides. Even during periods of normal tides, it is important to time the journey through the middle of the Narrows to coincide with the high tide. This was the main reason for our late departure today.

"Mutineer" exiting The Narrows

We made it through without incident, thanks to Captain Bligh's skill and local knowledge.

By 1730hrs we were anchored safely in Mosquito Creek which is towards the northern end of the Narrows. By 1735hrs we were enjoying a beer in our tranquil surroundings, with not another soul in sight.

Dinner tonight was Chilli Chicken with stir-fry Asian style vegetables on a bed of brown rice.

Tomorrow we will head back out into the ocean for the run up to Yeppoon.

By the way, we heard today that wind gusts of up to 47knots were recorded just off Gladstone yesterday. No wonder it was such a wild ride!

Good night all,

Navman

Wild in every sense of the word........

Yes, today was a wild day. We were up at 0545hrs, and had weighed anchor by 0600hrs. For the first few hours we were running up the west coast of Fraser Island, which is certainly a wild and beautiful place.

Peaceful anchorage in a wild place - Image by Navman

After we cleared Moon Point we experienced a different kind of wild.......wild wind and seas. Initially we had wind of around 25-30 knots and fairly slight seas, but as the day wore on, the wind rose to 30-35 knots and the sea to around 3m.

Fortunately it was a following wind, so the problem was surfing the waves rather than banging into them.

Endless Summer handled it well on most occasions, though there were a couple of times when she took off down a rogue wave at more speed than we would have liked.

Wild seas ahead.....

These occasions were fairly rare however and Captain Bligh slowed our pace from our initial 20 knots to a more sedate 11 knots as the wind rose.

 After lunch we switched off the autopilot and hand steered so that we would not have to reduce speed further.

The swell continued to rise until we were looking across the tops of the swells from the flybridge.


As we came on our final approach to the Gladstone shipping channel the wind and waves were at their worst, and to compound the problem, we were now beam-on (sideways) to the swell.

And behind

Just before sunset we called Gladstone Harbour Control to let them know that we were in the harbour precinct. They replied that they were already watching us on AIS. The AIS was certainly very handy for us once we were inside the harbour, as we could "see" the speed and direction of the big ships which were coming head-on to us in Gladstone Harbour.

So we are now at a berth at the Gladstone Marina. Gladstone is itself a bit of a wild town,  and every second person you see is wearing hi-vis clothing. The marina harbour is crowded with ferries taking people backward and forward to the massive heavy industry within the city precincts and across at Curtis Island.

The plan is to do some phone research on our battery charger problem first thing in the morning, then head out through "The Narrows" and get to Yeppoon (Roslyn Bay) by tomorrow evening.

Approaching Gladstone harbour - Image by Navman

One more thing.....At about lunchtime today we passed the half way mark on our odyssey north. If the rest of the trip goes as well as the first half we shall be very happy.

Two other milestones are worthy of note....The first is that today we had our 700th hit on the blog. Many thanks to you readers for taking the time to share our adventure.

The second milestone is the celebration of 31 years of marriage to my First Mate, SasSea. Thank you for the time we have spent together my love.  You are my inspiration and I am looking forward to being together again when this adventure is over.

That's all for now,

Navman

Escape from Paradise

It blew like crazy overnight, but we all slept well in our beds at Captain Bligh and Pacifica's house. We woke to intermittent rain squalls, but the weather forecast indicated that conditions would not be too bad in the direction in which we were headed.

Heavy squall coming out of Tin Can Bay

By 0900hrs we were loading the last of the provisions onto the boat, and at 1130 hrs we slipped our lines and left Tin Can Bay Marina. We sailed almost immediately into a heavy rain squall and had to reduce speed significantly so that we could safely see where we were going.

When the rain cleared we put the trolling lines out for a while, but this was not successful.

On we went during the day, cruising slowly at 12 knots along this picturesque inland waterway. Sea-Dog even had a nap while we were steaming quietly along.

Fraser Island wilderness - Image by Navman

We arrived at North White Cliffs at around 1530hrs. The rain continued off and on, but by 2000hrs it had settled to a calm and clear night. This is a very pretty and calm anchorage, and we have it all to ourselves.

Wreck at North White Cliffs -  Image by Navman

After a delicious dinner of lasagna and spinach, washed down with a fine glass or two of red, we washed up and retired early to bed.

Tomorrow we are planning to make a run for Gladstone. There is some heavy rain predicted for the weekend and we would like to be tucked up in Gladstone marina when it arrives.

Speaking of being tucked in, it's time for me to be tucked up in my cosy bunk.

Goodnight all,

Navman