Sonia's Photos

I am lucky enough to have a wonderful wife who is a really good photographer. The intention of this blog was a record of our travels. This page contains some of Sonia's photos which are far better quality than those in the normal posts. Please enjoy these photographic moments

Mooloolaba

Crossing Wide Bay Bar and Fraser Island

Urangan and Maryborough

Sailing the Curtis Coast

CURLEW ISLAND TO MACKAY

Final leg to Mackay. The winds were now building to 20-25 knots with a 1m following sea so some hand steering was required to prevent Galadriel swinging around when a larger wave came (the auto pilot is not as good as a human in predicting a larger wave)

 

From the track it looks like we sailed a straight line from Curlew Island to Mackay, however the reality is that there were more than 20 bulk carriers anchored off the Hay Point terminal and Mackay. As each of these are a quarter of a kilometre long how have to negotiate around them. Luckily none of them were moving.

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Marine traffic you can see how well we were doing sailing along with fuel consumption of zero.

You can also see from the wind map why we chose to forgo some extra days out on the islands and head for Mackay The yellow is where the wind is blowing more than 20 knots, what it does not show is the 1.5m to 2m seas going along with it. Luckily by this time we were in the marina

By 15:00 we had arrived at Mackay in time to get the boat safely tucked into the marina before the State of Origin Match. The pub at the marina as decorated in maroon (as well as all of the inhabitants) so the sensible decision to watch the match on board was made (along with take away pizza).

MARBLE ISLAND TGO CURLEW ISLAND

Second leg of our journey to Mackay was from Marble Island to Curlew Island. As the winds had been consistently blowing from the south the swell was starting to get a bit bigger which made the sailing not as pleasant. However the consistent 15-18 knot breeze made for some good reaching at 8 knots.

We had a small drama as we were approaching Curlew Island, the jib was pushing against the halyard for the reacher, and with no warning the big head sail unfurled, not something you want to happen in 18-20 knot winds. To make matters worse the sail got wrapped around the jib so it was impossible to re-furl the sail. A few anxious moments with David on the fordeck pulling down the reacher and tying it on to the lifelines to allow us to head in Curlew Island. Luckily no damage.

 

The sail north from Shoalwater had been in company with two other boats from RPAYC. The good winds and early start meant we arrived at Curlew Island mid afternoon. The women decided to rise to the challenge of "wipping up afternoon tea". As usual they excelled in the challenge.



Even better the afternoon tea continued on to sundowners

Our second toilet challenge of the trip, the toilet in the main bathroom refused to flush. So the evening was spent pulling apart the motor to try and identify the problem. The joker valve was encrusted with build up so this was suspected to be the issue. Plan was to use the other toilets and get a replacement part in Mackay. Note no pictures of the issue are posted to keep the G rating for this blog.

We had a secure anchorage but as the wind picked up it was a restless night so we made an early start to sail up to Mackay

We had to be out of the Shoalwater area by 23:00 hours on the 22nd of June as the military were closing the area for live firing exercises and the weather later on in the week was not looking good.

Rather that complete the 109 nautical mile journey to Mackay in one very long day we decided to break it into three legs.

We departed Island Head Creek at 7:30 am and had a great sail up to Hunter Island.

 

 

Our plan was to anchor on the north western side of the island as it was recommended as a good anchorage. But after dropping anchor we realised that it was going to be a very unpleasant night with the wind and the swell so we raised our anchor and went around to the north side of Marble Island which was a much more comfortable anchorage.

Marble Islands is part of the Duke Islands group which is a cattle and deer farm so you can only walk along the beach. The sign made it very clear "Trespassing and Shooting not allowed". Note the deer bones to re-inforce the message.

The tides in this area are significant (more than 2 metres) so by the time we had gone for a walk along the beach the dinghy's were high and dry. Luckily we had some friends on hand to carry the dinghy back to the water.