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3/5/2010
Mackay : we
departed monday
8:00 and arrived at Airlie beach shortly
after 18:00. Nice Spinnaker sail for most
of the time.
Having a
rest day at Airlie Lagoon and getting the first injections for Indonesia. will do some shopping on wednesday
and leave thursday morning for Cape Upstart
and on to Magnetic
Island.
Sylvia and Dean
trying to catch something near Gloucester.
Left
Airlie on the 6/5/2010 at 6 am and arrived at Cape Upstart
about 19:00. Plan to stay for a day and will sail to Magnetic Island.
Left Cape
Upstart on the 8/5 at 6am and arrived at Horseshoe Bay,
Magnetic Island around 16:00. 10 hours for 75
NM. Spinnaker sailing all the way and lots of "
surfing". will stay here until monday 10/5 and leave on yhr
11/5 for Palm
Island.
Left Magnetic
Island on the 11/5 7am and arrived
at north east bay, Palm
Island 12:00. This
would be one of the nicest anchorage we have been
to, Dean made good on his promise and got us some nice Crays,
a coral trout, a parrot fish and a small Octopus. All very deliciious and Silvi was very
happy. got a bit rolly
at night but well worth it. the inhabitants of the
Island believe that this bay is haunted
and it also has no real road access. we were all
alone and the holding was good. we saw some
Dolphins while we did the bbq. MAGIC!
Crayfish,
Calamari and Coral Trout all within an hour. must
say the Coral Trout was the most delicious one of them all. very sweet and succulent meat. YUMMY.
Who is
Happy????????
Freshwater
just 50 meters off the beach at Palm
Island.
Left Palm
island on the 12/5 6:30 am destination Dunk Island
arrival 17:30 and the fishing was good 2 spanish and one spotted Mackerel. All within an hour.
The freezer is full with fish and Silvi is
very HAPPY!
Us at
Dunk Island Lookout.
Left Dunk
Island on the 14/5/2010 at 6:30 am and arrived at Fitzroy Island
at 16.00 hrs. Good winds and half Spinnaker sail. Lost a lure on a 100 lbs
line and don't even want to know what sort of fish took that. after that a few bites but no hookup.
will continue on tomorrow to Cairns and stay there for a few days.
Left
Fitzroy Island on the 15/5/2010 at 7:00
and arrived in Cairns 11:00. Anchoring just outside the city marina on
'skid row'. caught up with some old friends and
started grocery shopping. will leave on wednesday morning for Low Isles.
Left Cairns on the
19/5/2010 at 7:00 and arrived at Low Isles 13:00. not
a nice day with a promise of a shower. grey and
overcast. We would like to thank John ( La Nina)
for all his help and hospitality while we were in
Cairns
and wish him all the best for his
Job. Go n get them, John.
Left Low
Isles on the 20/5/2010 at 7:00 and
arrived at Hope
Island 13:00. Lots of
Spinnaker 'surfing' with winds around 15-25 knots. Dean and Silvi tried to get some seafood but to no avail. Large
sign on the island says: no swimming...CROCODILES. Lucky they cannot read.
Left Hope
Island 7:00 on the 21/5/2010 and arrived at Lizard Island
15:00. easy Spinnaker sail. there
were only three other boats here and therefore.....no sundowners.
Shame---Shame--Shame. well there is always
tomorrow. we plan to stay here for a few days and
do all the 'things'. Dean has not been to Lizard before.
Left
Lizard on the 25/05/2010 06:00 for Waining reef
and arrived 08:30. staying
for a few hours and will then head to Howick Island for the night. fishing on the way was fantastic with one spaniard,macktuna and a kingfish. lost
a fourth reeling it in. BUGGER. Arrived at Howick
Island
at 14:30 and had a very calm night with no wind and a light tide. Dean
thought that he could hear crocodile noises during the night and there was
the occassional splash. lifted
anchor at 06:30 ( 26/05/2010)destination Cape Melville. 4
knots of wind and we motor sailed. no
internet reception for almost a week and i'm
having withdrawal symptons. Caught one spanish Mack just near Cape Melville . arrived there
14:30. Captain not happy about no wind, Crew happy
about the catch. so far most of the fish have been
taken with a silver spoon lure.
Left Cape
Melville on the 27/05/10 at 10:30 late start
due to no wind. downwind spinnaker run to Princess Charlotte Bay.
arrived 15:00. short day
but we did not like to motor all day. anyway the
wind is back again ( 10-15 knots SE) and the forecast is for that for the
next 3 days. the beach looked ok, but getting to
it involved pulling the dinghy across knee deep mud. not
nice. a bit better at high tide. lots of fish in the muddy water and larger fish (
sharks) feeding on them. not a good place for
swimming. there is a track to a resort which was
started but never finished. most of the
buildings vandalised and partly burned. someone
lost big money.
Left Princess
Charlotte Bay on
the 28/05/10 at 07:00 for Fife Island,
arrival 16:30.still not enough wind and 'patchy'. Fife Island
has a beacon one palm and two palm trunks. anchorage
nice enough.
Left Fife Island on the 29/05/2010 06:45. hardly any wind
all day. spinnaker for most of it doing about 4
knots. the wind did not pick up until 16:00 andn even then it was a ' measly' 10 knots or so. got into Lockhardt river after
dark at about 20:00. INTERNET.....ACCESSSSSSS...... will leave for an easy
18 mile trip to portland roads tomorrow. the weather forecast is not all that good and we might
have to wait there for a few days. hope we can get
some fresh produce. stopped fishing, the freezer
is full......there will be no internet reception until seisia
in about 4 days. hope to catch up with jan/dale at the next stop.
Left Lockhardt river 09:30 on the 30/05/10 for an easy sail
to Portland
roads. again no wind until lunch and then not
much. arrived at 14:00 and found dale & jan in the bay alongside erica
& andies boat. anyway
as re-unions go .............. cake and drinks all
around. we tried to auction of the last piece of silvi's
delicious black forest cake with a starting bid of $ 500 but, alas no
bidders, so we have to eat it
ourselves....SHAME...SHAME...SHAME............!
Left
Portland Roads on 1/6/2010 06:45 and arrived at Shellbourne
Bay 15:00. interesting sailing day and beautiful
scenery. at least the wind is back.
Left
Shelbourne bay 06:00 on 2/6/2010 and arrived at Escape River 16:30. Lots of
pearl rafts all over the place and one does not
want to get in here at dark. Anchored around the pearl operations
house.
Left
Escape river 08:00 on the 3/6/2010 and went to Shortland reef a short 6 nm
or so away were 3 coral trouts and 6 crayfish were collected. about 12:00 we left for Cape York.
It was low tide and a few sandbanks had to be dodged. went
ashore and took pictures of the most northerly spot on the Australian
continent. There is an old abandoned wilderness eco lodge of the beach
vandalised but not burned as yet.
Left Cape
York 08:00 on the 4/6/2010 and motored to Seisa
to arrive at 12:00. Dean had to leave us here since to return home because
of an illness in the family. We hope that all works out for him. will stay a few days in Seisia
and will then continue on to Darwin.
We are still in Seisia waiting for the wind to
ease up a bit. Jan and Dale arrived here on the 9/6/2010. not much to do here in Seisia
but the locals are friendly and there is a Friday evening shinding at the local fishing club with a decent raggae band.
 HBZSEL28
Silvi went on a day
trip to Thursday
Island on the 15/6/2010
via ferry. the weather has calmed down a bid and
we started the sail across the gulf of carpenteria
on thursday the 17/6/2010 at 7.30 am and arrived
on saturday the 19/6/2010 at 17:00. quite a sail. first day ok,
night ok but a bit lumpy. second day ok with a
large group of round headed dolphins ( very large and curious) staying and
surfing with us the 2 meter following swell. night
sail was calm but the last day got challenging. 15-20 knots but two squalls
with rain and wind up to 32 knots. near cape wessel 3-4
meter waves following us and wind up to 34 knots. nice
anchorage and we're looking forward to a good night sleep and some small
repairs and maintenance an daedalus.
22/6/2010 weather still not good and it looks as if we will
be here until the end of the week. went into the
next bay up and met up with jan/dale again. their bodyboat (OVEDIE)
collected 2
fishing nets which disabled their engine and rudder. with
a little tow and fancy sailing they managed to get into the bay and cut the
net. went to the beach today and collected
oysters. the would have been the largest ones we
ever saw and tasted delicious. eight boats in the
bay all waiting for the weather and heading to darwin. had a friendly visit from australian
customs today, just checking everyone around.
24/6/2010 we left the Wessel Islands for Port
Essington at 12:00 in company with a 39 ft brtitish registered
monohull called Independent Freedom. ( Dianah and Steve). Weather
was fair and we did good speed with a reefed Mainsail and the
occasional Head to balance the boat. arrived on the 26/6/2010
8 am at Port Essington. We could have arrived about 3 am but did'nt
like the idea to sail in darkness into an unknown anchorage. there
were reports of Pearling rafts in the bay. the first anchorage at
the front near the jetty (Black Point) prooved a bit roley for
Independent Freedom and we went another 4 NM further into to
Berkely Bay. Lots of Pearling rafts but easily avoided. Lovely
anchorage close to the beach and very quiet. it's worth the extra
distance. Went ashore and saw a crocodile resting in the water near
the beach.
Lots of tracks in the sand.
28/6/2010 left Berkely Bay 10:00 for a
short trip to Trepang Bay ( 24NM). arrived 15:00. on the way we met
2 catamarans going the same direction. one of them being Ultimate
Dream. we identified ourselves on the the vhf and had a talk with
Richard. Will catch up with them in Darwin. At present we are
travelling with a 39 ft British monohull ( Steven/Diana). please
note the absense of Mainstays for both masts. the masts sit in a
sleeve at the bottom of the hull and are rotating.
29/6/2010 early start at 1:00 to catch the
ingoing tide ar Cape Don. Good sail with a few other boats doing the same. arrived at Darwin
19:00 with last light. WE MADE IT!!!!
30/6/2010 up Fannies Bay with
socialising and getting info from other rally participants. went
into darwin today and stocked up on essentials like camenbert cheese
and coca cola ( oh.. the simple things in life......). will
move into a bit closer inshore tomorrow.
Indonesia: depart Darwin
24/7/2010 for Itinerary please click on Indonesian itinerary Link up
left. Theree will
be no extra charges for crewmembers to join the rally and all the cultural
events are free. Make sure that you have a valid passport and that you
organise your own visa ( can be done in Darwin).
Crewing
positions are available for BALI to Phuket.
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