Diary for September and October
Mbhyw
Wed 21 Oct 2009 12:10
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Diary for September and
October.
We eventually left the beautiful anchorages on the east
coast of Santo where we had enjoyed a visit to watch The Great Fatty's
incredible circus (all acrobatics) at Turtle Bay,a dinghy trip through the rain
forest to a blue lagoon and free internet in what must be one of the most
beautiful anchorages in these parts,Sarunda Bay. A large house in the bay made
its wifi available to visiting yachties---we are usually charged a fortune for
wifi access when available.Swimming here was excellent with a dugong for company
if you were lucky.Many evenings spent here with Spirit of Ecstasy and
Camille---getting good exposure to Mexican Dominoes. Checkout
the outside loo below.
            The 1000 odd miles to Bundaburg started on 17th September
and with a lively 25-30 knot beam wind we were soon padding to and from
the masts as reef after reef was pulled in---how we envy those folk with furlers
sometimes! This carried on for several days until we were past both the Huon and
Chesterfield reefs after which every thing quietened down and we could see over
the top of the waves again. An enormous dust storm greeted us off Oz,but our
route to Bundaburg miraculously missed the top of it by 20 miles. An American 30
miles to the south heading for Brisbane reported to "rag of the air",our hf net,
35 knots of red dust as he closed the coast where as we had the gale for the
last 4 hours but good viz.
They really have some crap weather here but it is nice and
warm and these windy fronts are unusual we are told.
This was our first 1000+ trip 2 up as we normally have a
3rd person on board to share the watches. The most hairy part of the
sail was entering the customs marina berth down wind in 40knots, very
pleased to see 6 folk ready to grab us as we came in.We were soon cleared and
able to have our first drink for a week and catch up with sailing friends who
were here already.
Being small town people we loved Bundaburg with its
stores,cafes ,bookshops and old buildings. The area is amazingly fertile and
intensively farmed. We enjoyed 3 weeks here with visits to the "farmers markets"
,Woolworths and Coles supermarkets and various suppliers for things like
alternators,new battens and the other things that yachts seem to eat up when
used continuously. Our rubber dinghy is getting past it and we
have bought a large AB hyperlon rib(much smaller when deflated thank
goodness)
        We sailed the 50 miles run down to the channel between
Frazer Island and the mainland in a brisk north wind and shot into the Mary
River and then Susan Creek to get a good anchorage from the forecast blow about
to bless us with yet more wind.Wiser folk who knew the area carried onto Gary's
anchorage another few hours along the very shallow straight and well shelterd.
We could have been in Holland!!The first night had us
sitting on our flat keel for an hour or so at low water but the second was less
accommodating and a huge gust at 0130 blew us over 30deg and there we stayed
until we floated off an hour or so later.We then threaded our way down to Tin
Can Bay at the end of the straights and on to Australia's answer to Port
Grimaud, Mooloolaba. We like it here,seafood stalls everywhere,hundreds of
holiday makers on the beaches yards from the marina,all the conveniences
of a consumer society and wall to wall(now) sunshine.
We are very impressed with the joggers hurrying up and
down the cliff top walks( they even have little exercise areas with benches etc
for further gymnastics) also a very keen band of outrigger paddlers (1 to 8 man
canoes) shoot by our berth in the cool periods of morning and evening.These fit
people are the exceptions of course and pedestrians in this vast place are like
hens teeth. Next stop is Scarborough to check haul out options and
then onto Brisbane city centre for a bit of culture,pick up Chris and catch up
with some friends.Flying to london 6th December. |