Swift Sailing to Southport

Sunset over Tin Can Bay

As much as we love Tin Can Bay, we had spent time here in 2014 and we are getting impatient over our slow progress. 

We have let our comprehensive boat insurance lapse and downgraded to third party, as insurance costs skyrocket and risk is small.

Unfortunately, marinas which usually were happy to accept boats on third party insurance are now requiring comprehensive. We enjoyed our last two days of remaining comprehensive insurance at Tin Can Bay marina, and now it's all anchorages, unless the more southerly marinas aren't as strict. (For my non-yachting savvy friends - marinas are the nautical equivalent of caravan parks whereas an anchorage is the equivalent of a sheltered bush camp.)

So we edged out from the convenience of the marina with it's fancy flushing toilets, hot showers and coin laundry to the other side of the bay, which was sheltered and secluded and from which we could watch spectacular sunsets over Tin Can Bay.

From there we edged out further to Inskip Point from which a ferry takes 4WD vehicles the short distance to Fraser Is.

As you can see, it's all unsealed roads and fun, fun, fun. 

Inskip Point is a popular camping area where hundreds of campers get away to relax about 6 inches away from the next camper!

The sandy spit at the end was what interested us the most. From aboard Winkali, we had been watching hundreds of birds roosting on the spit and a spectacular sandbar at low tide.

We went ashore armed with cameras which had been gathering dust.

Thousands of Soldier Crabs disappeared into the wet sand as we approached. After many photos of wet sand and vanishing crabs, I managed to sneak up without scaring them away for a few shots.

Some amazing choreography went into the coordinated patterning on the sand flats of Inskip Point.








Tearing ourselves away from the distraction of the Soldier Crabs, we went after larger quarry - birds.

Thousands of migratory birds fly from the Arctic region each summer to fatten up on abundant food supplies in various areas of Australia. The Great Sandy Straits between Fraser Is and mainland, is one of these important areas. Unfortunately, migratory birds are in decline as strategic feeding areas along their migratory route are being destroyed by human activity.
Click here for further reading on migratory birds.

Lucky for us, there were many still to be seen and we feel privileged to be able to see them still. I worry that generations to come will have to rely on photos to see them.

Most of the waders were out on the sand bar but I managed to get close up to a few locals.

From L - R
Red-capped Plover
Crested Terns
Bar-tailed Godwit and
Common Sandpipers
Mistletoe Bird





Although we had resigned ourselves to waitings for several days at Inskip Point, we found ourselves off and sailing after only one night as the northerlies kicked in early.

It was about 150 nautical miles (or 277.8k) to Southport which meant an overnight sail. When there is a crew of only 2 on board, no-one gets much sleep so we were quite exhausted when we arrived at 1pm the following day.

Although we were prepared to drop anchor and get some much needed sleep, we had arrived in an area totally different to any other we had ever visited. Sleep was some hours away.

The Gold Coast is well known for its Theme Park attractions, fantastic surf beaches and wild night-life.

However, we were unprepared for the wild abandon on the Broadwater waterways. Every conceivable watercraft was to be found going flat out, every which way. Jet skis, boats, aeroplanes, paragliders and even a crazy guy in a futuristic jet pressure water suit sorted out the hopefuls who were sedately weaving their way through this mayhem while sitting for their boat license. 

This is best described through this short movie of our travels from Inskip Point to Southport. It ends with a special guest appearance from Boston, our grand-dog who stayed with us for the weekend with Jess (Ian's daughter who wouldn't let me take her photo).

Well, we are now at Coffs Harbour after another fantastic sail and another overnighter. Southerlies are forcing us to rest here a couple of days till a northerly change which will hopefully arrive by Saturday.

Then it's off to Port Macquarie :)

Slow Boat to Tin Can Bay

Cyclone Debbie victim

 We finally found a small weather window which came in the form of easing south-easterlies. We took this opportunity to set sail as we felt that we had stalled before the trip had really started.

It turned out that the winds hadn't eased enough but we were committed, so after a couple of days of battling opposing winds, along with the obligatory tacking, we finally made it to Gloucester Is. 

Gloucester Is is about 30km North West of Airlie, which was at the epicentre of Cyclone Debbie earlier this year.

It was here that we found the first evidence of that destructive cyclone. It came in the form of Tateyama Maru (above picture).

Ian googled up the Tateyama Maru and came up with an interesting story. Apparently the owner tried to quickly insure the boat when Cyclone Debbie was imminent. The insurance company required a survey before they would insure (which is normal for any boat). As the owner had neither the time nor the funds to do this, he quickly tried to give the boat away to government maritime agencies. Of course, they didn't want it either. The result was that it washed up on Bona Bay, Gloucester Is.

We rested for a day at Gloucester. It is a beautiful island with turquoise waters and a sandy beach. We went for a walk and Ian ignored the beach and led me straight into a swamp. It was supposed to be a short cut to another sandy beach (better perhaps?).


We battled the swamp for a while, till we decided the first beach was pretty good and eventually, found our way back.

Picnic shed after Cyclone Debbie 

Here we found more relics of Cyclone Debbie. Ian was off on a mission as there was a fair bit of 'treasure' washed up in the corner of the beach.

Ian searches for exactly the right treasure.

While Ian was doing his thing, I looked for some wildlife to photograph. The most prolific wildlife, which wasn't too shy to be seen, were March-flies.

I captured this one as he landed on my backpack, possibly sampling it for blood. I knew I was next in line for the sample - RIP March-fly.





Back on the boat, Ian proceeded to make much mess with his treasure and a drill.

As it turned out, he was making a present for me!

Ian tries it out to make sure it's safe.

It can sometimes become a little awkward transferring from the dinghy to the boat. A helpful step goes a long way to preserving my dignity, especially when the water is a bit choppy :)







One day's sail from Gloucester Is took us to Airlie. The damage from Cyclone Debbie was a lot less than I expected. A clean up well done and you had to look hard for any evidence.

The weather hasn't been too kind to us this trip. We have often had to wait in sheltered anchorages for the weather to ease up a bit. The Bureau of Meteorology has been a bit out with its predictions and we have been caught up in some weather which we would have preferred to sit out. Well, I can see an analogy here with life in general. Ha, it's the tough times that make us appreciate the good times more.

We're in Tin Can Bay at the moment, waiting for the go-ahead from the Bureau of Meteorology. Thursday should be good!

I'll leave you with a short movielett of some of the sailing conditions we had.

A New Adventure - To Tasmania

Well it's been 3 years and 8 months since our last cruising adventure and poor Winkali has been sitting idle for most of that time with only the very occasional short trip since then.

It's finally time to dust her off and go cruising - to Tasmania.

We left Port Douglas on 1 November for the first leg of the trip which took us to Townsville. Winkali was due her 2 yearly haul out for a bit of maintenance. Sailing was quite uneventful with calm seas, meaning we had to motor most of the way. 

We had a bit of a hiccup as we left Orpheus Is when Ian noticed a bubble in the hose leading from the water pump. Worried that it might burst and leave us motorless, we headed back to Orpheus Is to the safety of a mooring.

On closer inspection, the bubble seemed 
to a result of corrosion on the metal pipe to which the hose was attached. The following day we had fair winds in which to sail which brought us closer to Townsville. From there we were confident the hose would hold out and we weren't disappointed.

Travel lift awaits

Now hauling a yacht out for maintenance is always an interesting thing. First up we manoeuvre into a u-shaped enclosure where a travel lift awaits.

Two giant slings are then carefully (we hope) placed into position under our boat so as to lift it without tipping the boat out. Incidentally, we are still on board as we haven't had a chance to get off yet. You can see Ian standing at the bow.

Winkali is carefully lifted out of the water.

The travel lift then drives forward far enough so Ian and I can step off the bow onto land.






Winkali is then lifted high into the air to clear the dock.

From there she is taken onto dry land where she is lowered so all the growth and sludge can be guerneyed (high pressure hose). Ian kindly offered to take a photo of me doing it, however, OHS rules mean that we stand and watch while someone else does it for us 😊.




From there she is parked and propped up so we can work on her. 

I dressed up as a marshmallow and did the painting.

Ian dressed up as a tradie and did the mechanics.





We both worked very hard and completed our work within two days and were ready to be set back in the water first thing on Friday.

Unfortunately, strong winds arrived which made it unadvisable to launch without risk. Not wanting to damage the paintwork, and the rest of the boat under the paint, we decided to delay. This meant having to wait till Monday as all the workers around here have weekends off. How inconvenient!!





Might as well make the most of it and get the washing dry. Winkali becomes a clothes line for the day.




Winkali is ready to sail and we have three days to kill, so I google up the 10 best things to do around Townsville (for free).

Number 1 is to go to the top of Castle Hill, the only hill in Townsville. 
We have the choice to drive up there or to walk the Goat Track. Since we don't have a car . . . . . Mmaaaaa.

It's a fair old walk from the boat yard to town which is the starting point. We time it perfectly for walking in the hottest part of the day.

Castle Hill against the backdrop of high-rise units

We have already walked 3.5k to get to this point. Another couple of ks should get us to the base.

Getting closer

At last, the beginning

It's steep

The view from the top made it all worth while.







We even befriended an unsuspecting tourist so she could take a photo of us. We had to abandon her later though as she was too fast for us.

Now google hadn't listed our next major activity in the top 10. As a matter of fact, I don't even think google knows about this place!

Well, it's not a secret that Ian and I like nothing better than to go poking around swamps with our cameras, and our boat yard was located right next to a lovely tidal mangrove swamp. 

Tides out. Perfect!

This is what we found:

An enormous mudskipper, with an old man face.

A Great Egret eating an enormous mudskipper.

A Royal Spoonbill, looking for a mudskipper.

A Reef Egret fleeing from a mudskipper.

More small mudskippers, with a weird periscopic fin on their backs which they erected when they got aggressive.

These little ones were extremely territorial and would erect their fin and go at anything which stood in their way, even crabs. 

Ian emerges safely from the mangroves.







Well, fingers crossed. Tomorrow is Monday and we are hoping to get back into the water first thing in the morning. It's still windy, but it should ease off over night.

As I have already covered most of Queensland in previous blogs, I won't bore you too much by going over old stuff.