Saturday 27th Oct
So after more engineering in Mackay we now have a ‘vented loop’ in the engine cooling water system. Yes, yes I know all you budding marine diesel engineers will be asking why we didn’t already have one. Well it had something to do with the old eutectic plumbing and was overlooked in the last engineering project, all right?. So stop being a bunch of smart arses. Remember no one likes a smart arse.
Left Mackay at 05.30 last Wednesday and of course no breeze and the current against us meant we spent twelve hours listening to every noise coming from the engine. Seawater in the cylinders can’t improve a diesel’s longevity.
Middle Percy is a top spot but of course that means it’s also like a parking lot for cruising boats. For the boating minded there was also a 6 metre tidal range which places certain demands on anchoring.
Rolled around all night and left along with 10 other boats for Island Head Creek looking forward to a more comfortable night.
Pleasant enough sail in the afternoon after a morning spent motoring into the standard 2.5 knots of counter current.
Needed a bit of care entering the creek between the rocks and a hard place but the hospitality shown by the locals was immense. Clouds of sandflies greeted us on arrival and stayed with us until we escaped at 5.30am the following morning. A swim would have been nice but there’s the box-jellyfish, Iragandji and of course crocodiles. A walk on the beach maybe? But you must consider stone fish, toe-cutter fish and the stinging Gympie tree. All right look it up. So we took our chances with the sandflies. They seem altogether less likely to be fatal.
Yesterday usual stuff, current against us all morning. Gave thanks to the weather god when finally some breeze came up around midday. He over shot a bit as it built to 20-25. Keppel Bay is shallow which makes for interesting seas. Notice how that word ‘interesting’ crops up again and again. Went round the back of North Keppel to get the main down. This was where we nearly ended our cruise. In the process of getting the main sorted we’d edged a bit closer to the rocks than we thought. So when we resumed our track the isolated rock off the S.W. corner was dead in our path. Fortunately it was low tide and there was just enough wash around it to announce its presence. The GPS suggests we were only a few metres from disaster. Would have been a bit embarrassing to scuttle the boat on a rock marked on all the charts.
Surfed into Rosslyn Bay on breaking waves and redeemed ourselves by sailing under bare poles neatly into the marina berth.
Today we get to change the oil yet again. To be sure to be sure. Pam goes up the mast to do a check of the top of the rig as we found a split pin had failed at the bottom of the forestay. If she’s well behaved I’ll let her come down again.
Next decision is where to from here. The Narrows through to Gladstone is famous for sandflies and mosquitoes and if it blows like a bastard from the N.E. Pancake Creek and 1770 aren’t terribly appealing so it might be straight through to Bundaberg.ober