Mackay Harbour

Wildfox
Anthony Swanston
Fri 29 May 2015 00:57
An overnight sail brings me to the Percy Isles and two friends are at anchor. One of them has got her anchor chain badly rapped around a coral head. I move to a sandier part! I know from listening to the radio that it would cost AU$1,000 to get a diver out here.

A day sail to Double Island. It looks innocent but has a five knot current around the top end. I leave early next morning and sail past the Hay Point loader. Four ships at a time are loading coal. From my chartplotter photograph you can see 24 of the 37 ships waiting their turn to load. I calculate that at this rate of going that in 8 years, 4 months, 3 weeks and 6 days all of Australia will have been exported...

My log says 28,000 nautical miles. My log tells lies. It is currently under-reading by 2 knots and frequently does not work at all due to seaweed and barnacle growth. I have probably done 32,000 since leaving.

I get to Mackay harbour which has a tidal range of 6.5 metres. It's stone wall is huge and needs to be cyclone proof. I have to get my Indonesian visa sorted. The lighthouse ashore used to be at the Percy Isles. It is rivited steel on a wooden frame and was the last light in Australia to run on paraffin.


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