After a couple of long sails we headed around the corner to Island Head Creek. The creek is a great sheltered anchorage the only issue being the sand flies.

We were originally going to anchor in one of the off-shoots of the creek but then realised that at low tide the following morning we would not be able to get out to the main channel as the tide range was more than 3 metres.

Anchored in the main part of the creek and had a relaxing day on the boat.

We had been warned about the sand flies on Fraser Island but had been lucky enough to not encounter any. The same could not be said for Island Head Creek, despite lighting mosquito coils we woke up in the morning to find the boat covered in little black dots. Luckily the washdown pump I had installed did a great job to remove all the dead bodies.

Left Keppel Island to head north towards Mackay.

First we sailed across Keppel Bay to Keppel Bay Marina at Rosslyn Bay to get fuel for our trip north.
Actually you go to the Fishing Wharf and get your fuel there. As the fuel bowser is for re-fuelling fishing trawlers the high flow diesel filling does not take long.
 
We had a great sail across doing 7-8 knots with a 16 knot breeze.

 

We were advised to sail past Port Clinton and head straight for Pearl Bay. On the chart it looks like just another bay but when you pass through the gap between the mainland and the small islands at the entrance you encounter the most wonderful calm anchorage. Well worth the stop.

Left early (7:45) from Hummocky Island after a rolling night under the lee of the island across Keppel Bay, destination Great Keppel Island. Now we are really in the tropics

Sunrise at Hummocky (yes ABS)

We had a good S to SW wind at 15 knots so with the main sail and big reacher up we were sailing along at 7 knots on calm seas. You cannot get much better.

Now anchored on the northern side of Great Keppel in 5m of water but it is so clear you can see the bottom.

 

For those of you who do not know Great Keppel Island resort was a place we all grew up hearing about "I got wrecked on Keppel" was their catch phrase. The resort was severely damaged by cyclones and has been closed since 2008.

Not too early a start but still were able to get away by 7:45am. Did not realise how nice Pancake Creek was until we got up this morning and saw it in the early light. We chose to anchor at the second anchorage up the creek instead of at the mouth which made it a very pleasant night.

Had a great sail up past Galdstone and half way up Curtis Island with 10-15knots south westerly pushing us along on a flat sea.

You just have to be careful avoiding some rather large ships waiting to go into Gladstone. There are 15 of them anchored of Gladstone and at 230+ metres long you cannot mess with them.


Unfortunately the wind has now dropped and had to break out the iron sail again.

We were sorry to leave Lady Musgrave after two wonderful days but the weather was looking good to cross back to the mainland, destination Pancake Creek.

The weather was so benign that we motor sailed the whole way with flat seas and winds mostly around 5 knots from the NE.

Conditions were so good we were working from our new home office

Anchored in Pancake Creek ready to head north tomorrow

Swimming with the Turtles, Fish AND Sharks

We certainly are in paradise. Once the tide drops and the water stops coming over the reef, the cay at Lady Musgrave turns into an absolute millpond (at least while we were there).

We used the dinghy to go over to the reef where we found a pool with great coral, all the fish out of Finding Nemo, turtles and a reef shark. Sonia was the first to encounter the shark and she immediately found a piece of dead coral to stand on whilst she called for me. When I eventually surfaced from my snorkelling across the other side of the lagoon she ordered me back into the dinghy with the words "shark, there is a shark".

We spent a magic time watching the turtles swimming around and sunbaking. You hardly need to snorkel as the water is so clear you can see the bottom.

Sonia was even brave enough to go up the mast in the bosun's chair to take some panoramic photos of the lagoon and reef.

BUNDABERG TO LADY MUSGRAVE

An early start (up at 3:30am) for a 4:00am departure from the marina to ensure we made it out to Lady Musgrave in good conditions (most importantly in good light) so you can see the "bommies" which are submerged coral outposts.

The conditions were absolutely perfect for a motor out to Lady Musgrave with an absolutely flat sea

We set a course straight for the island and were there by 12:00 which was just before low tide which was a perfect time to go through the small entrance. As we were approaching the island we saw a lot of masts sticking up which we realised were inside the reef. We were starting to worry that there would be no room and we would have to turn around and motor back for another 8 hours. Should not have worried, the space inside the reef is 1.6 nautical miles long and 0.5 nm wide, enough for a lot of boats.

The entrance looks extremely narrow but we successfully navigated through the gap and dropped anchor in 5m of water. The water is so clear you can see your anchor and chain on the bottom. Hard to believe you are out in the ocean (so far out there is no mobile phone coverage).

In the afternoon as the tide had come in and covered the reef we went ashore and walked through the Pisonia forest on the island. The island is home to both turtles and migrating birds.
The forest is home to these little birds called Noddys. The only sad thing is that the seeds of the Pistonia tree are very sticky and a number of the birds get trapped in their own nest and then fall to the ground where they decompose to become food for the forest. Conclusion was that the island would not be such a nice place during breeding season.

Evening was spent with an idyllic tropical drink and BBQ