One Night in the Keppel Sands Marina

Thursday 10^th May 2012

One Night in the Marina
23’09.646 E – 150’47.249 S
Warm, sunny, wind SE 10/15

Up at the usual time, round 0530/0600hrs, I do my Yoga exercise in the cockpit while MrJ answers his email and writes his blog. Brett and Deb off Swanning Around call past in their dinghy to say hello (we have met them down the track somewhere). They tell us to keep a eye out for Brett’s dad on SASHA B, he is in the marina and will be back out and about in a couple of days.

An easy breakfast of oats, fruit and yoghurt before rolling up the covers, starting the engines, pulling up the anchor and then setting sail with genoa on a ¾ rising tide for the Keppel Bay Marina at Roslyn Bay. The shallow seaway between the islands and the mainland is a bit lively this morning. The tide is coming in, running in a WSW direction and the 12knt wind and 0.5mt swell are pushing from the SE against the tide. We see another catamaran coming towards us from the marina and its bows are dipping into the sea and I know that we are doing the same.

The marina entrance with Double Head as a backdrop

By 1100hrs MrJ and I have tied up in Berth Blue 83 and have checked in at the marina office and are looking for something to eat. Maybe a late second breakfast/morning tea/early lunch would be good so I finds a table at the marina cafe after ordering a couple of ham and cheese croissants while MrJ find the bathroom. Sitting at the next table is a couple of fellers off a big motor catamaran only a few berths up from us and we get talking. You what it is like; talk about where you have been, where you are going and more stuff about boats and boating. This is how the boating network operates and this is how we all find out bits of useful information.

Walking down the marina finger

I give Dot and Jono a ring to say that we are in and will see them in the morning. They will pick me up round earlyish to get some supplies for the weekend from Woolworth Yeppoon. MrJ and I walk across to the service station to bring back fuel in the jerrys and I order some bread for pickup in the morning and then I trot of to the marina laundry to wash our sheets and towels while also tidying up the STB forward cabin for our guests.

By 1600hrs I am stuffed and a coffee and a sit down. Just after this Mark off Perfect Solution pulls alongside in his dinghy with a friendly hello, a big grin and a tray of fresh Spanish mackerel fillets that he has caught that morning. I welcome him on board and I am not going to knock back the fresh fish; he does this to us every time we see him and that may only be once a year and he never forgets us as friends and we will always be his friends – and that is not because of the fish – it is because he is a decent feller and can tell us the most interesting thing, stories, yarns and is a walking book of information. We met Mark a few years back while AR was our on the hard stand in Mackay Harbour; Mark had his boat out too and we have been good friends ever since.

Now MrJ and I end up at the marina cafe again for a steak, salad and chips dinner. Banana Beef the locals call it; the beef is raised in the area and very nice; melt in your mouth. After dinner we stroll back along our finger and see the light on in the boat Charon so MrJ knocks on the hull.

Richard is home alone as Wendy has already flown back home but will be back in a week. We are invited on board for a glass of wine which leads in to two or three and lots of cheerful conversation. Charon is a beautifully crafted wooden boat from Hobart Tasmania; you can smell the richness in her timbers and there is a fantastic ambience in the glow of the night lighting. We hope to catch up with Richard when we get back to the marina on Sunday.

Now it is a late night again as MrJ and I finish our stroll down the finger to our berth, to our boat ALANA ROSE and into bed.