Curlew Island, 8/09/2008

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We spent the day at anchor today, hoping that the south-easterlies will abate and maybe back to the east (or north-east even – please!).

Yvonne and Anna took the Fish Hunter (inflatable dinghy) out to the beach early in the morning to scout around, while I stayed on board to sort out a number of little jobs and do a general clean-up.

Anna rowing herself and Yvonne to shore at Curlew Island

Later in the afternoon Yvonne and I decided to climb the higher of the two peaks.

Ascending the western peak at Curlew Island

This turned into a serious climb… As usual it was steeper than it looked and the bush was dense to the point that it was a challenge to find a way up. Getting to the top was well worth it though. We had fabulous views in all wind directions and a stunning vista over the anchorage to the east.

Panorama over anchorage at Curlew Island

The descent was even more challenging than going up! We took a nominally flatter route (still quite steep, leaving us a with a bit of a hike at the water’s edge. As it was now high tide this caused its own little challenges…

Descending the hill at Curlew Island was harder than going up!

Scawfell to Curlew Island, 7/09/2008

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The south-easterlies are persisting, making life rather tedious. We tacked into it all day today, making up our destination as we went along! In the end the breeze swung around to the east as the day wore (literally) on and I made for the shelter of Curlew Island. I was pleased with this. We nearly ended up at Middle Percy, not a bad spot, but I’ve been there and I was keen to see something different.

Snacking as we approach Curlew Island

As it happened, Curlew Island has turned out to be a great choice. The anchorage is better protected in a south-easter than Middle Percy would be and it has a stunning long white beach, flanked by imposing peaks on both ends.

Mackay to Scawfell Island, 06/09/2008

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Yvonne and Anna arrived late on 5 September and we went off to town to do a bit more provisioning.

We couldn’t get everything though, so this morning I did another trip into Mackay. My greatest need was for another ice box to carry extra ice as we could be out off port for up to 7 days. I also needed some swimwear – left at home!

I was up early and fitted the liferaft to the foredeck (an ill-advised decision, I later realized).

I returned around 11AM with my purchases. Yvonne and Anna had filled the diesel tanks and jerry cans and we set off before noon, fully stocked with food, drink, water, diesel and ice.

Anna on the helm soon after leaving Mackay

I was initially going to head south-east, but a lot of factors mitigated against this:

  • we only had half a day left and both girls were looking a bit green as soon as we got out the marina;
  • the wind was blowing from the south-east, so it would be hard work; and
  • we only had half a day of sunlight left and an overnight sail on the first day with two sea-sick crew seemed a bit cruel…

So, we made for Scawfell Island, an anchorage I knew from our previous stay there would be protected in a south-easterly breeze. Everyone was relieved once the pick was set and we were just in time to enjoy happy hour with some whales blowing in the distance.

Happy hour at Scawfell Island

Airlie Beach to Mackay 05/09/2008

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I arrived in Airlie Beach yesterday, flying into Proserpine and renting a car – it was cheaper than a taxi and I had to provision the boat.

Despite my regular nightmares about Sunny Spells sitting on the mooring unattended, she was just fine! Les Reumer ran me out to her in his dinghy and the engine started on the first try. I motored into the berth at Abel Point Marina where Les took my lines.

My berth was just a couple down from Les’s. After my shopping expedition that evening I took a bottle of his favourite rum over and we shared drinks and laughs for a couple of hours before I went back to stow all the food and stuff.

I left early this morning to make best use of the tide (it floods south in this area so I left the marina about an hour before low tide. By the time I hit the Whitsunday Passage I had almost 2 knots from behind. Just as well, because there was absolutely no wind! It was a full day of motoring, but I was able to sort lots of little things out AND have a hot shower on deck as the solar shower had been baked to a very toasty temperature.