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.