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.