Buckets of Serenity

We pulled out of Gladstone April 12th and passed through the North Channel rather than via the Narrows for reasons explained earlier. On the charts it looked more challenging than it actually was and apart from being (politely) challenged by a ferry, the passage was uneventful. We even had a naval escort part of the way, 

   

                                                                                                        With our Anchor ears on so we                                                                                                               can yell quietly. (thanks Mavis)

From there we headed direct to Great Keppel and enjoyed good sailing conditions. I "complained" about the northerlies when we on our way to Bundaberg late last year; well, the South Easterlies have well and truly kicked in and we have had 15 - 20 kts up the ginger for the last month. Great for sailing but sometimes a little relief would be nice - becoming a sailor, never bloody satisfied!

Gladstone Marina

Great Keppel is pretty rugged but a nice enough anchorage, if a little swelly, We took the dinghy (Penelope) ashore and went for walk along the beach - you know, sand between the toes and all that stuff. Ya gotta do it.

Forgot to mention - we crossed the tropic of Capricorn and had a drink to celebrate.

From GK (that's we sailors call it) we headed for Port Clinton. Easy entrance and talk about serenity, this is where it all started , buckets of it. It's a big area and there were just two other boats both anchored miles away from us. We anchored just under Mt Flinders opposite a beautiful little beach. Shy turtles poked there heads up every now and then and fish moved all around us including a few stingarees, which jumped out of the water - being chased by something, they don't do that for fun! We spent two nights secure at anchor and it was fantastic. Unfortunately it's part of theShoalwater Military area and from time to time they bomb the shit out of the palce.

Mount Flinders and beach Port Clinton

The plan was to go from Port Clinton to Pearl Bay, apparently the prettiest anchorage on the coast but the swell was developing and the anchorage there was untenable so we cruised through the bay and entered Island Head Creek. Spent the night at anchor in another good anchorage before leaving next morning for the Percy Islands.

Another rollicking sail up to Middle Percy (getting a bit sick of "rollicking") and dropped the pick off the A Frame amongst 4 other boats (one an ex Sandringham boat - "Lumiere").I can understand why "real" yachties rave about Middle Percy, it does look like something out of the Swiss Family Robinson. Beautiful beach, fringed with coconut palms (non native, but look good) and the A Frame building that is full of "memorabilia" from past visitors. It's actually at risk of becoming a bit of a junk heap but interesting nevertheless. We got adventurous and hiked up the hill to the old homestead. A hell of a climb but well worth it just to see the "homestead" and the "interesting" characters who live there. Came back down via a shorter track and the lagoon where one of the local characters has his boat in dry dock.

Dry Dock Percy Islands

Weather was beginning to build so we decided to head for Mackay for reprovisioning and relief for a couple of days.

15 - 20 kts up the ginger

Not sure if the video works

A little front approacheth

I CAN steer (note the style)

As I write this we are in Mackay, fully provisioned and preparing to head off again tomorrow am. From here to Scawfell Island - Brampton and then to Lindeman and into the Whitsundays proper for two or three weeks. So our hero, Odysseus, will once more plow the watery plain and we will see what adventure await.