MAGNETIC ISLAND

Went ashore to Magnetic Island. You would have thought you had gone back 30 years in time, quaint little cafes, mini mokes driving around, sarongs for sale on the side of the road, and a lifeguard when the water is as flat as a pancake.

 

 

With the need for provisioning before heading north on the last leg and the possibility of some strong winds we headed around to Magnetic Island marina which is part of the Peppers Resort at Nellie Bay

 



That evening we caught the bus to the Acadia Bay Hotel to take part in a uniquely Queensland cultural event, the weekly cane toad races. We also decided to make this our official cruise rendezvous event so we all wore our official rendezvous uniform

CAPE UPSTART TO MAGNETIC ISLAND

A unanimous decision by all of us to head straight for Magnetic Island instead of staying one night en-route at Cape Bowling Green.

This is actually Cape Bowling Green - you can hardly see the cape as it is so flat. Certainly would not have provided any protection from the wind.

Continued past and headed straight for Magnetic Island. With the wind dropping we had to motor sail the whole way to the island where we anchored in Horseshoe Bay which was certainly far more pleasant than the previous night.

The exciting news was that one of the other boats had caught a yellow fin tuna so we were all invited over for some really fresh fish

 



And of course ABS, however this time we actually have Galadriel in the photo

CAPE GLOUCESTER TO CAPE UPSTART

The predicted winds had finally dropped to planned to finally resume our northwards journey.

Woke up to a beautiful sunrise and started to get ready to leave.

The view from astern was spectacular but not as nice as where we were going

 

 

Luckily by the time the clouds had got to us the rain had almost stopped. But with winds from due south someone was feeling the cold

After a long sail (more than 40 nautical miles) we finally arrived a Cape Upstart. Cape Upstart is more than 60m high so it should provide some shelter. Unfortunately the wind was roaring down the hill making the night uncomfortable due to the wind noise.

CAPE GLOUCESTER RESORT

With the strong winds continuing we sent another night on the mooring a Cape Gloucester before going ashore for afternoon drinks. The walk way up to the resort is actually made out of old conveyor belt from the coal loader.

This photo is priceless - it would normally be applicable with a group of 20 year olds not a group of 50+

 Finally got to take a good picture of the famous (at least for cruisers) Shag Islet, home of the Shag Islet Cruising Yacht Club of which both Sonia and I are Vice Commodores.

CAPE GLOUCESTER

With the winds continuing we were looking for something different to do. Our original plan was to have a game of beach cricket but with the forecast of showers this plan was looking rather flaky.
On the off chance we went over to the fishing boat to see if they had any seafood for sale. They were not only happy to sell us some magnificent prawns at only $13 per kilo but they had run out of fuel for their outboard so we swapped some fuel for some prawns as well.

We got to have a look around the trawler, and now have a much better insight into what they do.
They catch the prawns in the nets and dump them onto a sorting table on the deck. As soon as they are sorted they are put into a tank of hot water to cook them (30 kgs at a time), are then put into cold water to cool down before being put into boxes of 5 kg of cooked prawns which are then put into the freezer for immediate chilling. They need to catch $3,000 of prawns a night to make it worthwhile.

We all got together for a seafood lunch on our friends catamaran. Another great long lunch, must be the relaxed location.

In hindsight 11 kilos of prawns between 13 people is probably a bit too much but we did our best. Looks like prawns for lunch tomorrow.

You can see why we are staying put - the yellow is winds of between 20 and 30 knots.

CAPE GLOUCESTER

With the strong wind continuing we spent the morning on board before going ashore for lunch with our friends who had also chosen the resort as a place to wait out the strong winds. Our lunch turned into a classic long lunch, with our departure at 5pm brought on by the resort staff wanting to set the tables for dinner.

You can see we all wearing our "cruising uniform".

You can tell the weather is not good when the fishing boats even come into the bay to seek shelter. These are some prawn fishing boats sharing the bay with us.

CAPE GLOUCESTER

The arrival of our cruising friends from Alfreds Cruising gave us an excuse to go ashore for lunch and some drinks. We went for a walk along the beach in order to not feel so guilty. You can also see in the photo how far the tide goes out (there is a 2 metre difference between low and high tide)

 

 A different ABS with a cold but happy Sonia.