Heading South

17hrs south of Mackay lies Port Clinton and a further 10 hrs south of Port Clinton lies a small little island which is about 28 miles south east of Yeppoon - Hummocky Island. Pretty non- descript, with a small bay, a beach about 200 meters long and is only a good anchorage in light south east winds a swell to match…..and that’s what the weather gods gave us.

We arrived in Mackay 17 days ago (via Shaw and Goldsmith Is) to get the motor serviced for the trip back south and settled in there a few days earlier than planned on account of the strong south east winds that were forecast.

We had heard stories of long waits while the winds abated and, looking back on our time in the Whitsundays, should have put it together… mind you, Mackay is a lovely place, though I can’t help feeling that with all the new money arising from the mines and the development that goes with it, the place might have missed an opportunity to keep its identity as a distinctive north Queensland town with its roots in sugar cane, preceded by timber and, yes…mining way back when. The highlight was a pub crawl with the Crew and drive up the valley to the mountains and a good look around.

The big advantage of being on a marina for two weeks is the people you meet…most waiting to head south too. Captains and crews from America (Florida and San Diego) who have travelled the Pacific, others from Sydney and further south, like Kay and Allen from Ballarat (Mystique - apparently it has a yacht club) who have been sailing for a long time and now retired. Then there is Ray and Bec from the central coast (on Champs Elysee), with their additional crew of almost 4 yr old Vienna (who has the confidence and sure footing that only a 4 yr old can have). They were in the Hamo race week and apparently they recognized me from when I picked up the trophy for our magnificent third place in race 4….. did I mention that previously? They are sort of retired, having sold their businesses and kept a restaurant at Murray’s Beach for a bit of fun.
 

We tried to leave Mackay after day 10 (the forecast was OK) with Ray and crew, and another boat, but only managed about 2 hrs into a 10 hr haul to the Percy Islands when we figured the forecast was wrong and not about to correct itself…so we all turned back and were in the marina for morning tea.

Ruth and Peter (As If) who we met back in June, were there and were the organizers of numerous BBQs, and even a farewell for us prior to our leaving. It’s not a great expense to stay at the Marina, but the $47 a day adds up, nearly as quickly as the grog bill, so we weren’t sad to hit the road. 

But I digress… after the Hamo race week we had numerous visitors with Phill, Barb, Di and Brad - basing ourselves at Hamilton Is and doing day trips followed by balcony dinners at Phill’s unit.

The Crew’s sister and husband joined us (Peter and Jennette) and doing the same sort of thing, but throwing in an over-nighter, which went well until we touched the reef at Chalkies Beach – no damage done other than to a bit of pride. After that we sailed up to Bowen with good weather and winds and reached our max sailing speed with no motor of 10.2 knots with The Crew at the helm. We saw whales breaching and birthing, big sting rays, heaps of turtles and a few dolphins.

 

The boat is going well now, though we had a bad run, starting with the antenna falling off during the Hamo race week, then the starter motor giving up the ghost, followed by the dripless seal on the propeller shaft deciding it wanted to become a dripping seal and finally the auto pilot read out went blank…apparently a common fault that happens to these things about 3 months out of the warranty period. It’s a feel good moment when you know you are contributing to the local economy.

The decision to go as far south as possible in this weather window wasn’t too hard, as we need to be down to the Hervey Bay area to pick up our neighbor (Mark) who will be sailing with us to Mooloolabah. 7 Boats left Mackay at 5am last Monday, some planning to go through to Great Keppel and some doing the smaller hop to the Percy or Duke Islands. The options for us were Port Clinton, Island Head Creek or Pearl Bay. 

We decided that Port Clinton was the safest given that we would be arriving after dark on a rising tide after 16+ hours of sailing. We were up at dawn and off to Rosslyn Bay (Yeppoon), filled up with diesel and then to Hummocky where we had the bay to ourselves and enjoyed the solitude.

We left at dawn (again) to get to Pancake Creek, a run of about 8 hrs, but into the wind with a small but persistent little chop that annoyed the s$#@ out of The Crew. The Creek is about 5 hrs south of Gladstone and 8 hrs north of Bundaberg and is a haven from those pesky south east winds for boats traveling either way. 

We will stay here for a few days R and R - it is as good a place as any to spend a few days – lovely beaches, fishing (if only we could) and we are bound to meet some others we have met, or meet new captains and crews. From here we are hopeful of heading due east to Lady Musgrave Is, then south to Fitzroy Is before heading to Hervey Bay at the end of next week…but we will await the pleasure of the weather gods and see how pleased they are with us.