Nice Weather We’re Having – MacKay Marina

Nice Weather We’re Having – MacKay Marina

21’06.888 E – 149’13.509 S
Strong winds howling – constantly blowing 20/25knts with sunshine and some showers, gusting 30/35knts with rainsqualls at times

And now it is the end of the month! MrJ and I have been in the Mackay Marina for three nights and will be in for another night before hauling out o tomorrow, Friday, morning. The weather has been the worst that I have experience in this area. Usually if the weather turns bad it will last for only a few days before changing and clearing up. Not so this time!

Monday 28^th May 2012

Into Makay past the big ships

MrJ and I had fun getting onto the dock with the strong winds blow, taking a couple of goes to get settled into our pen. On the walk up and back to the office we ran into a couple of yachties that we knew; Gary and Mercedes off Forever Dreaming and Graham, the WA crew off Endless Dreaming and Simon and Julie of Good On Ya.

What a surprise to see Simon and Julie! The last I heard was that they were back at Keppel Island. Apparently they had decided to make a run for it, doing overnight sails, to the Percy Island but because the weather was so nasty and the wind/seas were pushing them along, their choice was to seek refuge in Mackay Harbour like us. Big fast trip from Great Keppel Island to Mackay; as their boat name is – Good On Ya, Simon and Julie!

We ran into Shelly off Neriki while checking in at the marina office; Shelly was still feeling a little unsettled in herself, still coming to terms with all that has happened, coming to terms with all the new experience, the experience of rough weather and bad seas and the relief of finally being in a safe harbour but also having the worrying thought in the back of her mind about this haul-out business. Shelly was in need of a big hug!

That night MrJ and I arranged with Ric and Shelly for drinks and dinner at the either the Yacht Club or the Pub.  MrJ and I walked up to the southern end of the marina to find that the Yacht Club did not open till 6pm, so the sign said; we walked back to the northern end and down the fingers to Neriki where we stayed for drinks and then ventured up to the Steak House at the Pub for dinner. The steaks were very good at a reasonable price for a nice restaurant/cafe but it still had that awful pub feeling and noise with the big TV scenes putting out different sporting events.

Home to bed where I slept like a log all night; not stirring once till daybreak.

Tuesday 29^th May 2012

Up and out early after a restless night with the strong winds pushing AR around in the pen making all the lines grown and creating new noises on the boat. One noise in particular annoyed MrJ and me for the better part of the night; it had us climbing out of bed several time to see what it was. Not an extremely loud noise just a constant tap, tap, tapping. MrJ went up top many times to try to find the cause; I stayed in the warmth of the cabin only to stick my head out of the hatch to give him an idea of which direction the noise was coming from. First we thought it was the fenders and then we thought it was the kayak. Several times we thought it was the kayak! No! The noise happened to be a lose stanchion vibrating oh so ever slightly with the howling wind, vibrating enough to send the tapping noise down through the hull and echoing in the cabin. Bloody thing...........! :o{} As a temporary fix MrJ shoved a piece of cardboard down in beside the offending stanchion and we got another hours sleep before the dawn and our body clock wake us up anyway.

Neriki

0800h - MrJ and I make a bee line over to Neriki. It is their haul-out day and time to go. MrJ and Ric trot off to see the men at the yard while I am keeping company with Shelly, on board. I was glad that Shelly was able to be on board this time for the haul-out., last year she was not. If you are going to be a yachties then you need to experience all of it, even if it gives you butterflies in the tummy or bad nerves.



On the sling

The boys are back, time to go! I ask Ric if he would like me to single up the lines on the pontoon for leaving the berth. He gives me a strange look. I explain what I mean; taking the line from the boat cleat to the dock cleat around once loosely and then back to the boat cleat so that you can flick the line off from the deck instead of untying from the pontoon. Great idea! (I hear) Shelly is amazed that she does not have to do the lines and then jump back on board. I’m so glad that I have been of help to someone.

Off and away with only one fender to protect the wind generator on the back, Ric steers his boat between the poles and over the slings. He does a very good job of pulling the Neriki up with the wind pushing from behind. Slings on we all hop of to watch Neriki being hauled up by the huge travel lift and carried into the work yard where the boat will be pressure sprayed before sitting down in the yard. This part can take an hour or so and the boys had to have their smoko first. Ric and Shelly’s friend, Wayne had arrived and we all decided to go to the local cafe for food and coffee while they wait.

MrJ and I went back to AR to start doing a few of our own chores. We ran into Simon and Julie again, inviting them around for coffee and a chat before lunch which they did, it was so great to catch up and we didn’t get any chores done. Oh well! That’s boating life for you.

The afternoon I spent cleaning the heads and bathrooms; using up some of the water that we have on board to help lighten the load for our haul-out and because you can’t run any water through the boat drain when the boat is on the hard-stand.

Yes we are hauling out in Mackay! Yes we can live on board! As long as we keep it hush, hush; so don’t you go telling anyone, will you? After helping Neriki with their haul-out MrJ and I went and spoke with Vicki, the lady in the yard office. MrJ had already spoken to her yesterday following a missed call telephone conversation about our haul-out. Things had been sorted and a time was discussed. So our meet up in the office with Vicki confirmed a time for Friday morning when the weather is supposed to be better.

That afternoon MrJ and I wandered around to Good On Ya for sundowners with no sun but the warmth of the inside of the boat and the good friendship of Simon and Julie. As always MrJ and I take our own drinks and some nibbles. These days I am drinking G&Ts and not so much wine and I am not getting the bad headaches that I used to – this is good.

Good On Ya - Simon

Simon makes all his own spirits on board and when he sees that I am about to pour myself a store bought Gin he stops me and suggests that I try one of his. Whoooo! How much, he say, just a little, I say and he proceeds to nearly half fill the tumbler with Gin. Hold up, I say and then fill the rest of my glass with tonic, diet tonic too as I am trying to be good. Yeah right! As I keep taking sips from my strong drink I keep adding more tonic water and do get away with this tactic for this drink and another drink poured the same, but by now the Gin has gone to my head and the third drink let slip and forget to keep topping the tonic. Now with the forth drink, and this is my last drink, I don’t really care. I didn’t feel drunk or even very tiddly and am very surprised that I even made it back to AR along the long fingers in the strong wind without falling into the water; good sea legs and MrJ’s arm to hold onto. What a great evening we had with great friends and great stories.

That night I thought that I would sleep so soundly. But no!  That old stanchion was at it again until MrJ plugged it with a toothpick.

Making a Run for Mackay – Kai’s Birthday

Monday 28^th May 2012

Making a Run for Mackay – Kai’s Birthday
21’06.888 E – 149’13.509 S
Strong winds, sunny, cool and running seas.

Another day begins on my adventures (Curlew Island)

Not much sleep was had during the night on anchor at Curlew Island. We were having strong winds with bullet up to 30knt shooting around the western bluff headland all night. At one time I really did think that the anchor chain bridal was about to snap; it was making these horrible big crunch of a noise every time the boat was forcible push around. Not a very good night!

0700h; I was so glad to be underway even if the seas were still running, with sloppy waves crashing everywhere. By the time we had sailed through the shallow shoals a bit SE of Hay Point the sea had settle a fraction; or at least enough to give AR a better ride and we had Neriki following.

Sunrise on the Bluff, Curlew Island

The saga of Neriki’s anchor problems just get worse. Now Ric and Shelly are having to hauling their anchor chain and anchor by hand, in rough seas and high winds. No more once we all get into Mackay.

Ship in Port

It took us seven hours to get to Mackay and another 40 minutes to get into the marina and to come along side. MrJ helms AR out of the sloppy sea in through the break wall to the calm water of the Mackay Harbour where there were a few large ships in the outer port loading or unloading their cargo. We had been given a berth way down the end of the marina, as usual. Our berth was a blow-on to the dock situation but there still was another catamaran in the pen next door being blown towards the middle in the strong breeze. It took MrJ and me a couple of goes at getting into out pen; MrJ playing the wind to his advantage and another boaties did come along to take a line for me.

Once AR had been settled, we changed into some clean clothes and take the long walk up to the marina office to check-in.

My how it felt good to be out of those stormy seas and walking on the level again. And yes, I did get to speak to Kai for his birthday, phoning him through the computer with the use of Skype.

Wild Ride to Curlew Island

Sunday 27^th May 2012

Wild Ride to Curlew Island
21’35.596 E – 149’47.915 S
Strong winds, wild sea, cold temperature but nice sunshine.

Leaving Marble Island

MrJ and I pulled anchor just before 0700h to be away from the island, to get enough coverage on the HF for the SICYC Radio Net which I was doing this morning in place of Andy on Paws. Andy was away on a yacht race – how dare he have such fun on a Sunday morning....!!! ;o))))))

HF signal was very good; my broadcast was getting out and I received contact with David off Quinco in Manly, David off Moonglade in the Mary River, Maryborough and a boat named “Rittoure” in Luganville Vanuatu. No time for too much chit-chat, we were underway and the sails needed to be hauled.

Our sail north across to Curlew was under the headsail, genoa with strong winds (up to and above 25knts at times) from the SSW and a running sea of 2.5/3mtrs pushing us hard. MrJ had to do hand steer a lot of the way as our dear George (auto pilot) could not keep up with the constant pushing of the rough seas. I suppose we were lucky that it was a sunny day and not raining like yesterday.

Neriki was following with the main and headsail reefed. Ric had to pull up to put a third reef in his main and wound the headsail in more as it was getting too fierce for so much sail. The seas and having to do so much sail work must have frightened Shelly somewhat as I had her on the VHF radio not too long after this and she did not sound too cool. This was their first real time out in bad running seas and I do know how hard it seems at the time, but they got through it all and can sail again on better days. After a hard day like this you would like to think that a good anchorage would be waiting; not so.

Passing Bluff Island

The anchorage on the northern side of Curlew is supposed to be good for up to 30knts from E – SW, but that depends entirely which part of the bay that you have anchored in, which also depends on how much your boat draws because of the shoaling reefs and beach with a great tide difference of 6/7mtrs at spring and 4mtrs at neaps. These huge tidal differences mean that you cannot anchor too close in shore or you will find yourself high and dry on the long shoaling beaches. T me this anchorage brought back memories of a few years ago when MrJ and I were caught out in very bad weather, huge SE winds and swell with three days of rain stuck in this anchorage at Curlew on a spring tide. For those three days, we recorded doing 9n/m at anchor.

Saturday 26^th May 2012

Heading for Hunter, Made it to Marble Island
21’58.338 E – 150’10.433 S
Rain, rain and more rain, cooler temperatures, S/SW winds 10/20knts in the AM

Neriki Passing Cape Townsend

MrJ and I had a restless sleep last night; keeping an ear out for all the numerous noises – wind sounds, waves slapping and boat movements. No ugly crunch sounds though so we knew that AR’s hulls were not hitting the sand shoal.

And then there was the anchor alarm......!!!

It woke me and I give MrJ a shove; he has to get up to see what’s up – “nothing” he says – and then the alarm goes off again. This time for real – last time it was a no satellite reception alarm. Buggar!

MrJ resets the alarm that did sound because AR had shifted at anchor with the change of tide – we had swung around to another direction. Poor feller climbs back into the warm bed – he runs around half dressed and half asleep in the middle of the night while I lay still in the warmth of the doona. Neither of us really gets much sleep.

A cup of tea at 0530h while MrJ was checking the weather patterns for the day on the wi-fi; I took the SICYC radio sked at 0700h, we had a call from Neriki and then after a quick breakfast we were away.

Ric and Shelly on Neriki managed their anchor without our help this morning; had to pull the anchor up by hand and this will be the same at the next anchorage. It was still raining lightly as both boats headed out the creek and I did notice another catamaran following. I think it is Koolaroo (???).

MrJ and I and dressed in our foul weather gear because of the rain and the cold; much cooler this morning that any other morning and it stayed the same all day. Cold and wet! :o{}

We have a good sail in fairly calm sea; the wind picks up as the boat passes Strong Tide Passage and stays there for the rest of the trip. Sailing with a reefed main and four turns on the genoa reaching speed of up to 9/10knts at times.

Out into the rough stuff we go as AR leaves Cape Townsend behind. The seas are not so big just a little confused but between here and Mackay it can be like this due to some of the strong tidal current throughout the whole area. AR is riding well with the choppy sea conditions and the wind is staying from the SW so it was a quick change of plans and direction to head for the top of Marble Island instead of behind Hunter Island.

1320 found MrJ and I dropping anchor on the northern side of Marble Island; anchorage J marked in the Curtis Coast Guide Book in about six meters of sparkling clear water. Within half an hour we were followed in by the other three boats, Neriki, Kularoo and Emma Jane; Kularoo and Emma Jane having to anchor a little further around the western point of this small bay.

The landscape on this side of Marble is very beautiful with large undulating green hill, small white beaches, small rocky points a grand marble headland further westward in the longer bay marked as anchorage K.

Neriki arriving at Marble Island

Marble is a privately owned island, one of several in the Duke Group. The island was settled in the 1800s for agricultural purposes and has been passed down over the years through many owners. The present owner acquired it as a sheep station in the late 1960s and subsequently developed it as a cattle property. While Marble Island  no longer runs as many cattle, this development entailed a major investment to develop the island with basic infrastructure: an airstrip, many dams, cattle yards, refrigeration rooms, generator & working sheds, along with manager's residence, owner's holiday residence, and in a secluded area of the front beach is the 'farmstay' beach cottage. Marble has been used as a hunting resort, mostly by Americans pursuing the island's deer that had been introduced to the islands. I have been told that the deer now roam on most of the Duke Islands as they can swim from island to island. At the turn of the century, 1904, mining started on a part of the island which had a source of iron ore. Iron Island, a small outcrop from the main island, was developed and mined as a source of iron ore which was shipped to the mainland for processing.

Marble Island is named for the pink and white marble found on the island.

Day 10 - Island Head Creek - Strong wind warning

Friday 25^th May 2012

Day 10 - Island Head Creek - Strong wind warning
22’22.212 E – 150’38.766
Good anchorage in NE winds

Morning on a dull day

Well here we are still in Island Head Creek not that there is anything wrong with that under better condition it is a fabulous place to stay for an extended period of time with beautiful long golden beaches and glorious wilderness waterways to die for, but now I am getting that “I need to be moving” feeling.

The strong northerlies dropped away during the night leaving calm, calm before the storm I feel. Morning brought the rain, rain by the buckets loads; speaking of which we still haven’t done anything about our rain catching apparatus and it will be raining all day again. With the rain came the wind, strong winds from the SW, 25-30knt winds and they are blowing all day as well. The change in wind direction and wind strength has pushed AR in closer to the southern sand shoal. Here we are again on a Lee Shore!

The day goes by and from inside the saloon and cabins we keep watch and listen to the wind howling about; there is no rest for the wind or for the rain and the day drags on. I pass my time reading through some of the information booklets that I have collected or MrJ has printed on the northern parts of Australia; making special places to be taken note of in future.

We watch and we listen and now that the day is drawing to an end and the tide is flowing out we are now looking as well. Looking at the water receding revealing the sand shoal behind. I even take time to notice the numerous waterbirds along the appearing sand bank but am more concerned about the ever encroaching sand. Looks like there will not be much sleeping tonight!