We left Lady Musgrave Island at about 7:30AM this morning. It was a bit of a mixed bag sailing wise, with some motor sailing and some sailig, but as a passage it was lovely and very relaxing.

There is very little swell behind the reef, which makes it almost like sailing in closed waters. We easily get 6 knots boat speed out of 10 knots true wind on the beam, and motoring is also quite comfortable.

We saw whales! Really close. For a while we had a little race on with two humpbacks cruising north and us heading north-west. We overtook them and at their closest point they were about 100 meters away. A bit scary when you’re in a little 33ft sailboat…

We’ve seen so many whales since coming around Sandy Cape. The previous day they were breaching, throwing those massive bodies halfway up in the air – truly spectacular.

The crew took extra special good care of me on my birthday and breakfast (bacon and egg sanwiches) was fabulous, again!

George and I put our trolling lines out and were delighted when we each landed a smallish mackerel. At least the ice is broken now and we know it IS possible to catch something. The fish was grilled on the barbie that evening, along with some pan fried potatoes and onions and grilled garlic zuchini – a great way to top off a perfect day!

We’ve been really fortunate with seeing amazing creatures. It is whale migrating season at the moment, and ever since we passed Sandy Cape (at the northern tip of Fraser Island) and entered the Curtiss Channel behind the Great Barrier Reef, we’ve seen dozens of whales.

The dolphins have also been amazing ever since we left Sydney. Every encounter is different though. Between Sydney and Southport we were flying downwind in a big swell, width foaming bow and stern waves. The dolphins came to play almost every morning, surfing in the bow wave and occasionally showing off with a big jump or even a summersault.

This afternoon two dolphins came floating up while we were drifting along at 4 knots. They just slowly cruised at the bow, right at the surface, while we hung over the lifelines to gaze at them. Just amazing!

We also saw a huge turtle inside the Lady Musgrave Island lagoon, and a monstrous shark just as we were about to enter the channel into Lady Musgrave. I still can’t believe we convinced ourselves it was safe to snorkel mere hours later!

Sunny Spells and my crew were waiting at Mooloolaba when I arrived. The crew are a nice bunch of people, keen sailors and everyone got along right from the start. The repaired mainsail was in the cockpit (thanks Ullman Sails!) and by 1630 we had left the Mooloolah River and had made sail in a 15 to 20 knot south-easter.

As the light began to fade, the Genoa suddenly started flogging and then slipped down onto the deck and partly into the water! Once we had the sail lashed to the lifelines we realised that the top shackle had come undone and the halyard and top-swivel was still at the masthead. Sarah Belcher, first-mate for this leg, offered to go aloft. We set the mainsail and ran off to keep the boat as upright as possible. George and I winched her up, she attached a thin line to the halyard and was soon back on deck. The yalyard was pulled down, sail was shackled (and the pin tightened properly) and soon we had all the canvas up again.

A long night of broad reaching saw us abeam Sandy Cape early the next morning, and by that afternoon we had done 145nm for the first 24 hours!

The second night was tough…

The wind died, so we motored. It rained, and the squalls were gusty, so we pulled out the genoa, only to find the wind dying to nothing again within minutes.

We were all pretty tired by the time the sun came up. Sarah and I were sitting at the helm and, realizing that Lady Musgrave Island was only two hours motoring away, made an executive decision to divert for a bit of a rest and a night at anchor. As soon as we turned towards our new destination, we were close-hauled, and now there was enough apparent wind to kill the motor – just bliss! Sunny Spells loves sailing to windward and there was just enough wind for a very comfortable sail. Being behind the Reef there was also very little swell.

The anchorage at Lady Musgrave Island was sublime. We anchored in 7 meters of briliant turquoise water and, after a brilliant tidy-up by the crew (even the decks got a scrub!!) we were soon chilling out. The snorkelling was great (a bit scary to go down and see your own anchor…) and George inflated the dinghy so they could paddle to the island and explore.

Latest weather…

Our departure from Mooloolaba for Hamilton Island is drawing closer, and the weather forecast for the first leg around Fraser Island is beginning to crystalize. It looks pretty benign, if not a tad boring!

Making headway against the Australian East Coast Current might be a bit of a challenge though…

Oh well…

At least it is meant to breeze up towards the end of the week, and we should have pretty good trade winds for the rest of the passage!