Mackay

Sunset Salute - Hexham Island

It's been several days since we've logged in. We've been a bit lazy about using our single side band radio for blog transmissions as we sometimes have data service here in these close-to-shore islands, and if we have it, we use it. At the moment, we have no data service, but on the outside chance somewhere along the way that we pick up a signal, this email is sitting in the outbox ready to send to the blog.  I'll fix it up and add some pictures when we get into port.

Here are the missing days: 

Saturday, May 19, 2012 - Fresh Water Bay 

S   22 38.764 
E 150 47.311 

We left Great Keppel Island around 0800 with three possible destinations depending on wind, sea, and personal stamina. Russ is still pulling up the anchor by hand as the windlass still refuses to work. We have decided to go the shortest destination to give us some time in what we hope will be a calm anchorage so that Russ can try to repair the windless. It's difficult to hang in the anchor locker if we are rolling around. Fresh Water Bay is off the mainland in a military zone, currently not under training fire. We listen to daily mariner reports for weather and active military training areas. We are clear to enter the bay even though the bay has a big danger bill board on the beach. It is low tide as we enter the bay around 1500, so we try to get in as close to the beach and around the corner from the sea swell as possible. Seems pretty good.

There is a hooked peninsula and large rock with a land bridge at low tide. We position ourselves so that we are more behind the rock than the bridge so that when the tide comes back over the bridge we will still be in the lee of the rock island....good idea...nope! When the tide came up, the rolling swell which was 2 meters high rounded the rock from both directions, and we found ourselves in the agitation cycle of a washing machine.

We looked around at other boats in the bay and all of them were rocking. The flopper stopper was buried under the bed and since we were getting swell from both directions, it wouldn't have worked well anyway, so we resolved ourselves to a miserable night. I wind up sleeping in the upper saloon bracing my self perpendicular to the beam so that I am being rocked from head to toe instead of side to side. Russ positions himself diagonally across the bed. WW creaks, moans, and rolls all night. By 5:00 am, we are both up and groggy.

The sunrise is beautiful. We still haven't got the windless fixed, so once again, it's a manual pull. We are on our way by 8:00. The wind is 20+ knots off our stern quarter, and the combined sea state of swell and wind waves is 2-3 meters from beam to stern. After a boisterous sail, we arrive at Pearl Bay and hope this will be a calm enough place to work on the windless.

Sunday, May 20, 2012 - To Pearl Bay 

S   22 26.700 
E 150 44.031 

1100
To get in to Pearl Bay we must go through a fairly narrow notch between the peninsula and a large rock island with a fringing reef. The wind and surf are pushing us through the notch at 8 knots, but the tide is going out so there is some backwash. I am at the helm and my heart is pounding, and then whoosh we're in and the world slows down. We are about 1 hour into a dropping tide as we set anchor in the crook of the peninsula in 14 feet of calm water. A sea turtle surfaces, looks us over and drops back into the sea.

The tide is expected to drop about three meters, and we think we will still have a foot or two of water under the keel. About mid-low tide I get panicky as our depth sounder is showing 8 feet of water. We draft 6.3 feet, so according to our fish finder we may be sitting on the bottom by the time the tide reaches its low in three more hours. We recalculate to make sure we don't have any errors, and Russ pulls out his Nantucket Sounder (weighted line with knots every six feet) and drops it in the water.

There is a two foot difference in the electronic depth sounder which records at the top of the keel on the bottom of the hull and the sounder from the water line to the bottom. We relax a little knowing we have more water under us than indicated by the depth sounder. By low tide and several intermediate check points, our depth sounder is reading six feet and the traditional sounder, 8 feet. We have a little over a foot of water under the keel. Phew!

As the sun goes down, we notice that our main depth sounder which has had a dark screen for the last week, now has a lit screen. Magic at work again. The water is calm enough for Russ to get the windlass working. Yeah! I do some laundry and hang it out to dry. The gusting wind dries almost everything in an hour. Three other boats join us in the anchorage. We spend a peaceful evening listening to an audio book and relaxing with a beef terriaki stir fry, glass of red wine, and the gentle rock of the hull on the water.

 Monday, May 21, 2012 - To Hexham Bay

After a peaceful night and a morning rain shower with a lovely rainbow, we are on our way to Hexham Island. We have a north current, that is pushing us a long a little faster than we anticipated. The windless fired up just fine, and we pulled up the anchor with no problems. Our main depth sounder is also mysteriously working again, after the factory reps claimed it as a goner and Russ ordered a new one, that we will pick up in Mackay. Guess we'll have a spare now, which will bring us to four....the one on the top deck, the main on in the pilot house, Russ's Nantucket Sounder (which appears to be the most accurate, at least while we are not moving, and the one we have ordered. Redundancy is a good thing.)

Update on Monday: Arrived at Hexham Bay at 1300 hours and anchored in 20 feet of water. Both depth sounders are in close agreement. We are the only boat here which is okay with us as this is a small. anchorage. It seems pretty calm right now with little swell and light winds. The rocky islands are a haven for birds.

S   22 00.770 
E 150 21.803 

We have a beautiful sunset to the west. Coming in from the south east there is a band of dark clouds laden with moisture.

Big Ugly Enters the Scene

Most of it goes behind us. By 9:00 pm, the winds start to pick up, gusting to 26 knots and rain starts to fall. We must be catching the tail end of this storm. Our anchor holds well and we retire for the night, but neither of us sleeps real well. I wake around one in the morning. It is still windy, but the stars are now twinkling above us, and we haven't strayed out of our anchor proximity. All is well.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - To Middle Percy Island

We are dressed, fed, and pulling anchor at 0730. The pilothouse depth sounder that magically started working yesterday, has magically stopped again this morning. That's the problem with magic, it can't be trusted. So it's a good thing we have a new depth sounder waiting for us in Mackay, about three more days away. We have some salad fixings left, one apple, and some zuchinni, so am looking forward to some fresh fresh produce. I pull out some pork chops, chicken kabobs, and bacon from the freezer. We have lots of protein. From Hexham Island we can see our next destination 20 miles away, Middle Percy Island. Maybe we'll have some access to Internet there. Middle Percy disappears under a dark band of rain. I take down the sunscreens so our windows will get a good wash down and we move to the pilothouse where we still dry. We get a little rain, but nothing but a sprinkle. Guess we won't be filling up our water tank.

The wind is light and once again we find ourselves happily motoring with a nice current pushing us to Middle Percy Island. We drop anchor at 1115 in 20 feet of water. It is high tide, so when the tide goes down the expected 11 feet we should still have 9 feet under us. So far we are the only boat in the bay, but a 28 foot boat with two adults and two children under 4 years of age pull in under sail shortly after we do. We later meet this family from Cairns, who just bought this boat in Gladstone three days ago and are sailing it back to Cairns. Good on ya! Katie and Cary. You're braver than we are!

Our anchor position is:

S   21 39.138 

E 150 14.167 

There is a large tin roof hut on the beach, and we are prepared for our visit to the hut where sailors around the world leave a momento. We have a well worn, tropically sweat-stained ball cap that has Worrall Wind embroidered on the front. We use a permanent marker to write the date and our names. We dinghied onto the beach, and as the tide was ebbing, we left the dinghy on the beach just above the water, placing the dinghy anchor just above the high water mark. This is only a an extra measure should we become lost on the island and not able to return until after the next high tide.

We enjoyed the momento hut (Percy Hilton) and left the hat hanging on a piece of drift wood that another yacht had left. 

After leaving our contribution and signing the guest book, Russ and I explored the island walking several miles, visiting the boat harbor in a mangrove lagoon, and climbing the hill overlooking the southern coast line.

We saw a couple of small wallaby like creatures, perhaps pademelon and a large wallaby/kangaroo with a yellow snout and light grey fur. There were black crows bouncing from limb to limb above our heads on the gum and pandana trees watching our every move and broadcasting our movements with loud caws. I had visions of them swooping down and attacking us, but they just followed and kept a respectful distance.

We would have continued toward the "homestead"' but it was sprinkling and there was a long line of dark clouds blowing our way. It seemed to be a good time to turn around and we did.

Returning to Boat Before the Storm

We returned to Worrall Wind after meeting our anchor neighbors on the beach.  Cary and Katie have 2 children Mackenzie 4 and Ari 2 aboard with them.  They bought a used 28 foot sailboat. (ViJa) in Gladstone three days ago and are sailing it home up to Cairns. As we stand talking on the beach, the midges (no see-ums) come out and start to eat us!  Back to the boat.

We bar-b-qued chicken kabobs for a salad dinner tomorrow night, and pork chops for tonight. The wind at the moment is quiet as are the swells. I hope we sleep well tonight. We are off to Digby Island tomorrow (Wednesday), and Mackay on Thursday. We are looking forward to a town, Internet, fresh provisions, refilling the water and fuel tanks, disposing of our garbage, picking up our new depth sounder, and a couple of peaceful nights sleep in a marina.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - To Digby Island

We woke up this morning and got on our sail path by 8:15. It's an overcast day, with showers and a southeast wind about 15 knots. We lop along with reefed main and poled jib at about five knots. The young family we met yesterday left before we did with a destination farther north, but about 10:00 am, we heard them make a distress call and request for assistance. Their propeller shaft isn't working, a sheared pin, or so they think.

We called them to see if we could be of assistance. They are not taking on water. Instead of making an overnight run to Mackay, they change course to Digby Island where Russ can give them a hand if the shaft is fixable. We arrived at Digby about 1:00 and by 3:00, the other boat sailed in, dropped sail and threw in the anchor. The bay is protected from a southeast wind, but not so from the east or north east. Passing squalls squirrel the wind around and we've found ourselves facing all directions but west. So the anchorage is a lttle rolly, but so far not nearly as bad as Great Keppel or Freshwater Bay.

Current position at anchor:


S   21 29.585 
E 149 54.707 

Once Cary more thoroughly examined the problem on ViJa, he decided he could not repair the shaft and would need to sail ViJa to Mackay and have it repaired after all. They contacted the Coast Guard and reported their plan and requested tow assistance when they were within a mile of Mackay. With that decision made, the family came to visit on Worrall Wind while the wind and weather continued to deteriorate despite the gribs that indicated the winds would die to less than 10 knots. It was gusting thirty knots and raining. At least not sailing tonight was probably a good decision.

We enjoyed a glass of wine and some appetizers. The children loved playing with Fluffy, my Purrfect boat kitty. All to soon, it was time for them to return to their boat in the blustery night.

Mackenzie, Ari, and Purrrfect Fluffy

Ari and Purrrrrfect Fluffy

We will all be getting up early in the morning for a long sail to Mackay about 46 miles. Could be a slow sail if the winds die down as expected or a fast one, if they continue as they are tonight.

Thursday, May 24, 2012 - To Mackay

It was a windy night and it looks like today is going to be nasty weather. It's 100 percent overcast with very dark clouds engulfing the horizon in which we are traveling. The wind is blowing 25 knots and gusting to 30. Swell is about 1 meter and wind waves are another meter or so on top. Not at all what our weather forecast was showing last night. We pulled anchor just about 0645.  We had our own little drama pulling the anchor that resulted in a twisted anchor shaft.  Nevertheless, we got it up and stood at ready in case ViJa had any problems pulling up their anchor and getting underway. No problems for them and everyone is currently underway.

We have 46 miles to sail today, and it's a rough start, but we are sailing at 6-7 knots with a small jib and triple reefed main. Seems that Cary and Katie are novice to their boat, but have enough sailing and mechanical wherewithal to to do what they need to do to get the boat safely to Mackay. 9:00 a.m. (12 miles toward destination, about 32 miles to go)

S   21 20.153 
E 149 47.984 

The wind has calmed down to about 20 knots and the sun is peeking through the shroud of grey. We just passed by a rock island on our port side too close for comfort with a side current pushing us faster toward the island than the wind speed and sails were pushing us past. We fired up the engine to counter the current and skinnied by. ViJa is about a mile or two to our starboard, so hopefully she will pass without problem as she has no motor assist. We're making good time. By the time we get outside of Mackay the wind is only a couple of knots.

We arrive in Mackay by 4:00 and are in our slip, W27 by 4:15, and have checked into the Marina Office and gotten our key by the time they close at 4:30.  We walk over to marine rescue.  They have just sent out a boat to tow in ViJa who was an hour or so behind us.  We have yet to hear from them, but am assuming they have or will be arriving here soon.  We catch up with some of our new cruising friends from Scarborough Marina.  One recommends a place for dinner, and the other we will share a rental car with us to do some shopping.

So now it's time for a cold beer, a shower, and a night out.

All is Well With the 2 Sail R's on SV Worrall Wind.