An Idyllic Afternoon

31st Jul 2010


Sitting in the shaded sun, on the soft grass verge above Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Island, I am again driven to reflect on the splendour of the world in which we live and the magnificence of the opportunities this trip has availed.

After a few odd jobs, we left Townsville around 10:00 for a gentle passage across the 10 nm or so to the far side Magnetic Island and had a delightful sail. This was truly one of the 25% days of sailing or ‘Coffee Days’ as I call them. These are days when the skies are clear, the winds are right and the sea is tranquil.

Rounding the corner of Horseshow bay on the NE corner of Magnetic (the locals call it Maggie), we dodged the shark nest and found a spot among the 30 or so boats already at anchor; is was after all a Saturday. After a quick bite while we confirmed the anchor hold, we ran the dingy onto the beach for a look around, a swim and of course, the quiet time near the beach where this blog started.

Here we met up with a couple a cruising folks we had conversed with on VHF prior to Townsville: Greg and Alan were travelling on ‘Banjerin’, a 34’ Van De Stadt on a trip surprisingly similar to ourselves and this led to a long(ish) and enjoyable conversation and exchange of stories that took us through the rest of the afternoon.

Now Magnetic is a big Island so it has much in the way of amenities. Horseshow Bay, notably, is on the far side of the island so still retains that sense of isolation. As such it offers the best of both worlds with shops and a pub yet somehow still provides a feel of 'far away' and personal ‘ownership’.

The plan is to leave here in the morning and head North but as is becoming a common theme – I guess we will see. Another day here might just be the ticket!

Ergonomic divergence

30th Jul 2010


We are still in Townsville sorting out a few issues so this is one for technically minded.

In aviation, the possibility of an autopilot taking uncommanded hold of the aircraft, is a routinely address possibility even though it happens rarely. In fact, it was long ago that the ergonomics ( the human machine interface) of flight deck layout became a hot topic as pressing the wrong button or switch etc at the wrong time, could (and in the old days did) cause a major problem when airborne. Such knowledge is now an integral part of modern aviation but not, it seems, in the yachting world.

While coming into port at Townsville, as we rounding the outer breakwater, we needed to follow a dredged path to the marina entrance. This had a published depth of 1.1m. Pilgrim draws 1.7 but, the 1.1 refers to the depth at the lowest possible tide. As it was we had a tide of 0.8 so do the sums and one concludes that we should have, as a minimum, 0.2 under the keel. Not a lot but enough! None the less as we slowly motored in we watch the sounder closely as did the depth alarm. This I have set to 1.0 m under the keel and at that depth a alarm sounds on both the sounder and the plotter. The reset for the alarm is also on both but the plotter is the easier to use. With the alarm silenced by the reset, and further reduction in depth reactivates this useful but penetrating siren. The routine then is for one of us, me in this case, to sit at the plotter constantly silencing the alarm. Now what button might you imagine, is right beside the ‘silence’ button? Yep, the autohelm engage button!!!

A moment of distraction on my part, almost instantly had Paul yelling that the boat was turning by itself and (naturally) into shallower water! It took me half a heart beat to figure all this and to drop the autohelm but half a heart beat is a long time when things suddenly decide to turn pear shaped. Ergonomics indeed!

A Rapid Onset of 'Old Bloke'

29th Jul 2010

Paul has specifically asked that today I make mention of the fact that a few days ago, he turned 60. Certainly momentous but largely just a day like any other.

Now a mere 9 days  into his 61st year, Paul came back from shopping today with; a Blood Pressure monitor, a bunch of drugs to ease a sore foot and an assortment of pressure bandages, ice packs etc. It seems that the ailments of age are coming thick and fast! I had better pick up the pace!

Even so, for now we will probably stay here another day to give him a rest and finish the repairs that are not yet complete.  Next on the sched. will likely be Magnetic and Orpheus islands then on to Cairns.

Unclad and Unclear

28th Jul 2010

Well; after the difficult evening as predicted, the winds dropped around 21:00 and the night became not only tolerable but almost pleasant. Indeed I slept soundly through to about 04:00 when a topside inspection revealed calm conditions and clear skies. We were still hopelessly isolated in this vast stretch of murky water, surrounded by non descript marshes and virtually no sign of humanity but for the faint glow of distant industry somewhere around Aye.

Be that as it may, when we got up around 06:30 the sun was on its way up into the clear skies of the day and the water had stilled to a mill pond. After a quick breakfast, I got to the task of raising all the anchor cable I had put out. Well aware that this would be a muddy and messy business I armed myself with my favourite bucket (on a rope) in the hope of clearing the mud and weed that was surely to have inflicted itself on the chain. After about 10 mins I gave up and simply pulled the it, mess and all, on board with a plan to clean it up at our next port. Giving Paul the thumbs up to motor off, I continued with my efforts to clean up the deck, now covered in the stickiest and blackest mud one might imagine.

OK, here you need to understand that getting water from the sea, while underway, has its traps. Notably, if the bucket bites the water and the boat speed is high, there is little hope of holding onto the lanyard as a full bucket at 6 kts is just too much to restrain. The tactic then is to avoid a full bite by dropping the bucket in the foamy water off the bow wave. This I done successfully with this very bucket for almost 9 years; that is until today – when I lost it!

Not a real big deal but the water was calm and time was on our side we decided to turn and try to retrieve this errant item. Giving Paul steering instructions, I am pleased to report that we soon had it right on the nose but unfortunately our speed was far to high and we over ran my attempt to pick it up as it disappeared somewhere under the boat.

While almost certainly on the bottom by now the problem I had was that I needed to be sure the lanyard hadn’t been picked up by the prop, a catastrophic possibility! The only solution was for me to get into the water, murky and horrid as it was, and visually inspect under the boat. To save time I stripped off ( I grant you this is a very unattractive image) and over the side I went. The visibility in the water was about ½ metre so I needed to grop about under the boat until I was satisfied all was clear, all the while wondering about crocodiles (which are certainly found in these waters) and other such dangers of the far North.

With that done, the next 4 hours were a simple motor/sail in calm conditions all the way to Cape Cleveland (left), about 10 nm south of Townsville. Here we needed to thread our way between a couple of rocks and once around the corner we set sail for a gentle drift into Townsville.

Now snug in the marina, he plan is the usual maintenance, restock tomorrow then head of agiain to destinations North!

Grey skies, short seas and lousy anchorage

27th Jul 2010

Up pre dawn yet again, we were off at 06:30 in what looked like it might be an improving day. As it turned out this was not the case as the day remained tough all the way.

As a result of the persistence of the wind over the last week, the seas were very lumpy. In fact, the short steep seas of about 2-3 m demanded hand steering all day and this on its own was reasonably challenging as the seas were quartering us and persistently trying to drive the stern around, particularly when assisted by the bigger gusts which were reaching not far short of 30 kts from time to time. Combine all this with a grey sky and a grey horizon with nothing in sight for 360 degs. And you have a picture of the day.

Now this leg was a long one of 68nm to Townsville and the need to gibe away from course  occasionally was adding time to the day thus leading us to consider a stop off at Cape Bowling Green. Of this place, the Lucas guide was reasonably upbeat, referring to it as a good anchorage. however, on arrival, we noted that as this Cape is a very low landform it was not very likely to provide any protection from the wind. For this reason we travelled some 5 miles in to the bay looking for some respite but finished up anchoring in shallow water a good way off the shore with the wind blowing almost as hard as it was in the open water.

Having ‘spent’ 2 hours looking for this spot we had all but run ourselves out of options as both day light and our own energy reserves were running low. We therefore decided to stay and put up with what we had and hope for the wind to drop off.  This called for a lot of anchor chain and the nylon strop specially set to avoid chaffing as the boat tugged violently against the anchor as the wind and small wind waves drove the boat backwards.

Clearly not ideal  but none the less quite doable as the water is quite shallow and the anchor is expected to do its job. Still,  the night is destined to be long as constant anchor checks will be required and the general nature of the ride, while not too bad, is far from still. We shall see!

Whales and more wind

26th Jul 2010

Up pre dawn, we weighed anchor at 06:30 and set course in 15 kts and lumpy seas. The day was overcast and unattractive and as the day progressed the winds increased to 25 kts + and the seas, small though they were, steepened as opposing tidal flows reached over 1 kt +. Even so, we made good progress with speeds that were to actually touch 9 kts across the ground, at one point late in the day but not without some challenging conditions.

As we rounded Cape Upstart, I expected to find easier conditions in the lee but this was not to be. Tide driven I suspect, the waves picked up and as the winds accelerated around the Cape we had just under 30 kts and following waves that rolled Pilgrim well off heading and plunging her bow underwater from time to time. Yee Ha! Not to paint too bad picture, the boat handled quite well and Paul did a good job on the helm. But, we did enjoy the relative calm when we finally reached the anchorage just inside Upstart Bay. I say relative as the winds still managed 25 kts bullets once at anchor but so far she has held well and I hope for a good night sleep.

The other high light of the day was a number of whale sighting which, in the conditions we had, are hard to see amongst the white caps and waves but a particularly good one was of mother and calf at very close quarters but once again, we missed the shot. I did however, manage a couple of shots from a later and more distant sighting.

Somewhere North of Airlie

25rd Jul 2010

Now it seems there are those who didn't appreciate my meteoroloical disitation so I guess there will be no more of that. Of course, I do have to mention weather occasionally such as the next sentence so I'm hoping such a mention is OK :

Even though the forecast were still for 25 – 30 kts, we had had enough of the Marina so we pushed on without a particular target. Once outside we had good speed in fair water and considered cashing in on this to get up to the Bowen region. Upon consideration however, I concluded that, given the conditions, we may be pressed to find a good anchorage further north so we pulled into a very snug anchorage somewhere about 15 nm north of Airlie. This will make tomorrows leg an all daylight trip but a key item that had an influence on this decision, was the recommendation that the fishing here was excellent. So after a walk on the beach we got back to Pilgrim and dropped our lines to be rewarded by a good catch of fair size Trevally like fish which proved to be excellent eating. All in all an excellent afternoon in this isolated and beautiful but largely unknown spot some where north of Airlie

After dinner I tuned the HF so we could listen in n the ‘Great Debate’ and being a political issue I shall make no further comment here. (It important to note that Paul and I are diametrically opposed on politics so discussion is to be avoided).

'Watsonian Dip’

23rd Jul 2010

With the boat work nearly complete we originally planned to head off tomorrow very early and sail up to Cape Upstart. However, the weather has turned and is blowing 30 kts with heavy rain predicted.

While this is annoying, it is very much the nature of cruising, as is the predisposition of cruising folk to sit out bad weather when they must. The underlying theme that applies here is to NOT be in a rush and not get into bad weather whenever it can be avoided. A message I have received from a number of ‘old salts’ in recent times and thus one I am happy to adhere to.

Of interest in all this is the fact that such weather is not typical of this region at this time of year. This is the dry season up north yet as the chart shows, its raining all the way to the tip of Cape York. Now please forgive my indulgence but as a minor climatologist, this meteorological scenario compels me to rabbit on a little with a 'know it all' explanation of this phenomenon:

As the chart shows, the massive High in the Bight, with it’s central pressure of 1032hP, is generating an unusually steep gradient in Qld. (note the isobar spacing as compared to NSW area). We all know from schooldays that the resultant wind will be East / Sth-East and will bring moist air to the coast. Even so, the predicted weather is well beyond the nature of what this High, in isolation, ought to produce.

The answer to this apparent oddity, is to be found in the trough ( the southward dipping isobars) extending below the gulf. A seemingly innocuous aberration, this feature usually results from a large scale upper air oscillations generated around the equator. They tend therefore to be very influential and enduring as their vertical and lateral extents are quite huge. So significant, yet familiar, are these things to our East Australian weather that long ago, a fellow teacher of meteorology coined the unofficial name of ‘Watsonian Dip’, referring to the southward dip in the isobars and claiming all this in his own name - Watson! For some resason , this has always stayed with me so a Watsonian dip it is!

So; what all this result in is a situation where the incoming moist air from the high, is accelerated into the trough (like going downhill, hence the wind speed) then 'dragged' upward, on a massive scale, towards the high altitude source of this synoptic feature. This uplifting of course results in cooling and rain, usually lots of it for a few days.

Therefore, its safe to say that we will almost certainly spend tomorrow here, predominantly because of the weather but (speaking honestly) in part because it’s my birthday today and I might just have a red or two tonight!

Cheers to the Watsonian!

“Macerator – Macerator”

18th-20th Jul 2010

Perhaps an odd subject but none the less the focus of our protracted stay at Airlie beach is that of the macerator. But, before I explain the why and the what, you must first ‘sing the above title, to the tune of “mashed potato” as in:

“Macerator - Macerator –Di, Dar, Di, Da!”

Why; because for some reason every time this topic gets mentioned ‘all and sundry’ seem to erupt into this tune and given the unsavoury nature of the subject I guess one can understand why.

Now this macerator is a pump on the boat’s toilet system (called the head in marine terminology) which has the dual roll of pumping out the toilet waste and mashing it all in to fine particles before dumping it in the Ocean. The lesser system, as currently fitted to Pilgrim, is a manual pump that is quite adequate for the first role but ineffective at the latter. For this reason Queensland Marine Environmental laws require all boat to have Macerators and apply hefty fines to those that don’t. Now you see why we have been stuck in Airlie.

In fact, I ordered the required parts last week by phone but of course, details in despatch etc mean they are yet to arrive some 4 days after tying up here. All is not lost however, as I needed to do the trip planning up to Cape York and had a number of jobs I needed to get done on the boat.

One such task was securing the attach point of the main sheet to the boom - basically the ‘rope’ ( a term rarely used on a boat) on which the mainsail swings. Anyway, contrary to my many efforts, a large and important nut had been slackening off from time to time thus threatening a situation where the boom might swing wildly to its extreme and this would cause untold trauma. Early in our stay, as luck would have it, I noted that the boat ‘next door’ was having some stainless work done so for a token amount, the guys came over and welded the offending item in place. Problem solved! This along with fuel issues, sail repairs and some painting are likely to keep us gainfully employed although I do admit that I am keen to push on, particularly after a conversation with a local who was explaining that some of the best cruising in Australia was north of here. We’ll see.

Like Pitt Street

17th Jul 2010

Aiming to be at Airlie beach by 12:00 we set off just on 08:00 with a 15-20 SE still blowing. Passing through Hooks passage at slack water and then enjoying a 20 kts reach all the way to Airlie, Pilgrim top out at 7.2 under just the No. 1 headsail alone.

While a very pleasant few hours, the trip had little that was noteworthy but for the density of traffic in these parts. We had big and little sail boats, including the Young Endeavour under sail and all nature of marine traffic in general. Tying up at around 13:00 we set about cleaning ourselves and the boat as we plan to be here a few days for some work on the boat.

Grandeur, Grandkids and gratitude.

16th Jul 2010

The day started fine but windy. After breakfast we motored the dingy to the beach for a swim, a snorkel and a local look around. Of note here is that for a brief time we actually had the beach to ourselves and as yesterdays blogg suggests, this is a rare event on Whitehaven.

Another point of note was the arrival sometime late yesterday, of a little red trailer sailor that we had seen in Shaw Island and again at Hamilton. This little vessel is a mere 5m in total and is towing a small dingy. All this makes the achievement of sailing in 20 kt winds, 2 kts tidal currents and moderately rough sea state, an act of madness or that of a true sailor. Evidence suggests the latter as by all appearances the three folks on board are at ease and making good progress around the islands.

Anyway, back to the beach; although it is true that Whitehaven is a tourist focal point and hence not within the spirit of our trip, it is none the less true to say that it remains a place of absolute grandeur. The white sand, the tropic setting the blue waters and the natural beauty of the island all make this a genuinely beautiful place. The park folks have also done a great job with nice little camping areas and bush toilets etc to accommodate the boaties, the campers and the tourist.

Seeking an opportunity to explore this pace, we elected to stay again today and thus spend most of tomorrow morning getting to Airlie where Carla has a bus to catch home. But all that was to be rewarded by a walk that took us to the south side of the island via a pleasant track that included sightings of snakes, goannas and a myriad of bird life. On return from the walk we returned to the boat for lunch and a brief siesta.

As I lay in my cabin listening to Paul Simon on the IPod, gently rocking on the swell and glancing at the photos of all the grandkids on the panel above my bunk, I took a moment to acknowledge the good fortune favoured upon me. As we all know, this has not been without effort but on this occasion the true depth of the experience we were enjoying was foremost and I felt grateful!

Witness to near disaster.

15th Jul 2010


Leaving Hamilton at 10:30 we were soon under headsail in a strong 20 kts S/SE wind, heading along the passage between Hamilton and Whitsunday islands. In this narrow passage, the tide easily runs at over 2 kts and this, fortunately, was in our favour so we made good time.

Now the route to the famous Whitehaven takes us through Solway Passage, a similar narrow fast moving waterway between Whitsunday and Haslewood Islands. As we approached, we noted the seas were very confused with strong wind against current and this was further exacerbated by the need to avoid Frith Rock, a clearly obvious but potentially treacherous chunk of rock in about the middle of the Passage at its Southern entrance. Being cautious in nature, we elected to go outside the rock where as the route inside is not uncommon, particularly for power boats. One such power boat was on our port and moving fast on a course that suggested that he did indeed intend to track inside (between the rock and its associated headland). On my last glance I noted that it now appeared that he was going to go outside Frith Rock so I turned to some matter of sail trim and thought no more about our ‘stink boat’ colleague. It was about then that I heard Paul shout out “ wow, look at that!”. What he had observed was the said vessel getting very near the rock at high speed and then suddenly ( and presumably urgently) executing a very hard turn to port to avoid impact. It seemed to us that the skipper had been distracted and was lucky enough to look just in time to avoid what would have been a disaster.

Arriving a Whitehaven we dropped anchor off the beach (see left) in a stiff breeze that was to persist all through the night but the Manson 45 anchor and 45 m of 10mm chain  set on a 14mm nylon strop, did the job and held us firm. After an afternoon ashore, among the many many boats and all the tourist vessels that come to this famous beach, we returned to Pilgrim for a good night including a sing along in the cockpit before retiring to a rolly but quite acceptable night.

Whales and workers

14th Jul 2010


After another relaxed start to the day, we set off from Shaw Isalnd at about 09:30. Motoring against the tidal flow we were soon clear of the narrows and set sail in a pleasant breeze that gave us around 5 kts. With the sun shinning and the seas flat, a gentle sail across to Hamilton was just the thing. Of course, we shortly found ourselves in the lee of an Island and in the midst of a lull so for a while Pilgrim was all but stopped in the calm blue waters of the Whitsundays. Being in no hurry however, we simply accepted this and drifted on, enjoying the tranquillity until the wind again built to a perfect 15 kts.

As often happens, somewhere enroute on this day, my I’Phone sprang to life as reception was restored from some unseen tower on the mainland. With the opportunity to call 'My Mary' I did so and spoke to her during a respite she was enjoying at work. Now consider this; She is at work, I am in the Whitsundays, she has difficult customers and the like, I have perfect sailing conditions, she is in the middle of relaying some routine  but important administrative matter when I interrupt with an excited call of; “Whale, off the port bow about 200m!” A young whale had gently surfaced for a breath of two and slipped beneath the waves to reappear a few minutes latter. All this, of course, is probably NOT the sort of thing you want to hear when trapped in your day to day working routine. I rather feel that Whales and workers are probably not a good mix.

Arriving at Hamilton we had a protracted wait for a berth but that was of little concern really as we were there in good time to celebrate Pauls 60th Birthday, an event that was to continue all the way to Whitehaven, our next stop.

Someone doesn’t want us to go to Thomas Island

13th Jul 2010

After a relaxed start to the day including watching the sunrise (left), a swim and a big breakfast, we set off about 09:30. The intention was to get to Thomas Island, a favoured spot after having stayed there several years back on “Meridian of Greenwich”. The spot I had in mind needs a Nth or at least and Easterly wind and that was a forecast possibility. The plan then was to have lunch and see how the forecast turned out before making a “D” about the night. Just on arrival however, the winds picked up to 18 kts+, all from the SE and the seas chopped something terrible. The chart showed the area to be prone to rip tide, particularly with wind against tide such as we had but the overall effect seemed well beyond what I expected. Was someone telling me not to stay here???. Was this cauldron some sort of sign??? I can’t say but heeding the ‘warning’ I altered course to the West; now bound for Shaw Island.

Shaw is a big Island immediately South of Lindeman’s and offers an abundance of shelter from the SE winds and swell. Finding the place a little crowed we motored up the passage a little to a spot opposite the Club Med resort on Lindeman’s. This proved a good move as we had shelter from most of the wind and had a great beach all to ourselves. After a spot of rain, we all enjoyed a solar shower on the deck as the afternoon settled into an absolute delight, as the picture right attests.

Waiting for Jamie!

12th Jul 2010

While ‘hold up’ in Mackay, we shared the space with a couple of very notable vessels!

Among these was the Young Endeavour; in town for just a few days. When it was opened to the public, we (and couple of sailing colleagues) jumped at the opportunity to have a look on board. Of the visit, I would regard as a highlight; my observation that she had a little rust around her side ports, Why? – Because I seem to be always at Pilgrim to keep such streaks at bay, so now I can feel so much better knowing I share the challenge with such a venerable steel vessel!

Also in town was a private ‘Yank’ mega boat, registered in the Cook Islands and worth a reported $45M to buy and some $20m a year to keep. This was easily the marina’s show stopper. That is, until Jamie Packer’s boat arrived. Perhaps 50% bigger again and gleaming new. I do admit that I really enjoyed the thought that the mega rich yank’s would be most ‘put out’ by being so convincingly usurped by a Aussie.

Now here’s the rub – both Jamie and I needed fuel. Of course, he got in first so I waited and that’s OK as I thought he would probably needs a little more than me. Well, I took on 45 ltrs and judging from the totals on a number of the ‘high flow’ pumps, he took on quite a few thousand litres more than that!!!

Anyway, with full tanks and drizzling rain, we pushed out of the harbour about 09:30 and set off on a ‘headsail only’ run all the way to Goldsmith Island (South of Lindeman Island). We achieved a good 6 kts in a 15 kts following wind and though the seas was a little rolly, the trip was enjoyable and largely without effort.

The anchorage at Goldsmith was typically beautiful but for the low tide mud and the need to dodge the coral outcrops when travelling to shore in the dingy. After beach walk we tried our hand at fishing with no luck and settled into a great meal and a great night before hitting the sack.

The night turned out to be not quite so good as advertised as the SE winds held, feeding us 15 - 20 kts bullets all night and driving a small but crossing swell into the anchorage. For this reason I was up early so took the opportunity for a bit a fishing as the sun came up to reveal another blue sunny day.

Mackay Marina

09th - 11th Jul 2010

Spending the first day sorting out the steering, we planned to stay the weekend to sit out some wind and rain but as forecasts improved we decided on a Sunday departure. On waking however, the day was wet and blowing and there had even been sea spray coming over the huge breakwater walls that form this harbour; so we stayed another day.

As mentioned earlier, Mackay has an enormous tide range of over 5 m. As the picture left shows, this is manifest very clearly in the slope of the ramps from the marina up to shore and the amount of exposed tidal marks on the rocks. In fact, people in the know, tend to avoid moving heavy trollies at low tide as its just too hard to get them up the ramp!

"We have lost Steering!”

08th Jul 2010

The weather on waking at Percy Island was not good and more importantly, was worse than forecast. I therefore made the decision to up anchor and head for Mackay before the predicted 30 kts Southerlies came in. Setting full sails we took off at 7 kts on a beautiful 15 kts beam reach. As we cleared the island, the 15 kts grew to 20 kts and the seas chopped up a little but as we ‘flashed’ across the waves and ignored the grey skies and falling rain; all was well. At least, all was well until I announced: “we have just lost steering!” as the wheel spun freely in my hand. A very unhappy state indeed!

Now part of my preparation of Pilgrim was a new direct drive auto pilot. A large part of this decision (and expenditure) was that in the event of a steering linkage failure, the autopilot would still have control. My first moves upon experiencing the steering loss then, was the haul on the main, furl the headsail and engage the auto pilot into wind. This all happen quickly and as planned so the boat was almost immediately under control again. Even though I had been monitoring the steering system for a few days, the problem was not in the cable run so for the next 45mins Paul and I dismantle the steering quadrant in order to see and analyse the problem. This we did and came up with a repair that held all the way to Mackay. Basically, a drive cog has slipped off its keyway, allowing the keyway to fall out. Fortunately I found the key in the bilge and with the aid of the ‘magic of zip locks’, repositioned the cog a locked it in place.

With that little diversion out of the way we continued on our way to Mackay but as the trip was going to be cold and wet and involved a number of course changes to avoid islands and shoals, the day was likely to be a long one. As things turned out however, we made really good time, turning a potentially 12 hrs trip into a 10 hour trip (plus the lost hour when disabled). This got us into Mackay just on dark after a quite eventful trip.

Apart from the steering issues, we had a great dolphin visit by a bunch of little guys who seemed to be in competition for who could leap furthest from the water. They stayed for probably 20 – 30 minutes in all and offered a great diversion from the rain. The other event was yet another distant whale sighting, Just a tail but still cause for excitement as was a similar sighting by Carla two days before. We are, of course, yet to get the shot but we will keep trying!

A final saga occurred later in the trip when Carla commented on a small island off the starboard bow. As I looked I said, “no its not and island, it is in fact a very large bulk carrier”. Up to now, I had not bothered to turn on the AIS (automatic Identification System) as I didn’t expect heavy traffic. Going below to do so, I said that I may as well turn the thing and get some use out of it. Upon return to the cockpit, I pscaled out the plotter scale to get a wider view (the plotter shows AIS traffic as little boat icons) to be utterly shocked by the sight of 60, yes 60, returns right on our track. This turned out to be the pilotage area for Hay Point, which I believe is coal, but I certainly had no idea of the scale of the operation or the number a vessels involved. Over the next 2 hours we sailed our way through this maze of anchored vessels and managed to avoid the 1 or 2 that were underway. Never again will I leave the AIS off when in shipping lanes!

Arriving at the entrance of the harbour we manoeuvred in via the three sets of leads, the very lumpy entrance and what is becoming, the ever present kayaker traffic, to find ourselves inside a vast harbor surrounded by breakwaters that must be 10 m high at least. The tide in this place is huge and it is of course within the cyclone risk area. Finding the berth was typically challenging but we secured in our allocated spot, happy with the day complete.

Sunrise delight – Sunset utopia

07th Jul 2010


Please indulge me as I (Once again) start at the end of today and try to paint you the scene we found at Middel Percy Island (64nm off Mackay):

In the background is the music of Mark Knoffler porting from the I‘Phone to the boats sound system. To the East, above the dark silhouette of Middle Percy Island, is a display of stars, the likes of which many folk will never see. To the West is a fading sunset of picture perfect beauty, framed by the outer islands of the Percy group. Pilgrim is rolling gently on a small tide driven swell and the smell of dinner cooking below is drifting across the deck. Now the only thing ‘disturbing’ all this all this, is the sound of bait fish all around the boat, leaping clear of the water so as to avoid the unseen predators that are chasing them. Not bad at all! ............... Middle Percy by the way is a Mecca for boaties and has been for many many years, probably brought about by the hospitality of the original inhabitants from about the 1920s, that has continued to this day. But its time to go back to the start of the day, which also had its high points:

The day started with the statement; “The weather is all over the place! “ Yesterday was meant to be sunny and still yet turned out to be overcast, lumpy and drizzly. Today was said to be wet yet we woke to a beautiful sunrise against clear blue skies. We motored out of Pearl Bay into the dark blue waters of Shoalwater Bay in company with Windstormer but being more of a purest than I he had his motor off shortly after departure where as we ‘Yanmar’ed” ahead for several hours.

One justification for this lack of sailing purity was that I knew we would have trouble with tides and lack of wind. The tides in this place are among the highest in the east coast. Mackay get the most for entirely local reasons but Shoalwater Bay is know for its massive tidal flows. Today’s tide is some 5 meters and current up to 2.5 knots can be experienced. For this reasons a lot of planning focuses on tide times and I, wrongly it seems, suspected that and outgoing tide would be right but as I type we are pushing about 1 kts of contrary tide. Never the les the trip to Percy was ‘ all good’ and on arrival, the ominous looking clouds that had been sitting over the island seemed to move on cue to give us a great afternoon exploring the beach and the famous A frame.

Now this A frame (probably like grand father axe) has been here for years and supports the tradition of leaving some item of memorabilia from your vessel when you pass through. Some of these items date back to the 50’s so the tradition is long established and we were not about to break it. Leaving a small “PILGRIM” sign with names and dates, we walked the beach and returned in the dingy to Pilgrim just on dark and that’s where this blog began.

Pine trees at Pearl Bay

06th Jul 2010

Departing Rosslyn Bay at 05:45 we had hoped for a fine day but got O’cast and drizzle. The trip was uneventful but for a visit by two big and probably senior dolphins both of whom wore a number of battle scares.

Arrival at Pearl bay was great with a number of small Pine covered islands on the way to a very snug and pretty anchorage. (see sunset scne at Left). Here we also found some comrades from Rosslyn bay with the yachts Jemima and Windstormer both into Fishing and beers as we dropped.

The night was very pleasant with a good dinner then an early night in what turned out to be a sound anchorage.

Not so - Great Keppel

4th Jul 2010


After a check of the weather, we deciding on a fast cat ride to Great Keppel rather than take Pilgrim over as we planned. This would avoid the forecast wind and of course be an easy day for us all.

Upon arrival we were dismayed to find the place in a very poor state with a major resort in ruins after being closed for some 2.5 years. In fact the entire place looked in decline if not entirely moribund. We later learned that the resort owner is in conflict with Peter Garret (Minister for fuzzy animals).

None the less we had a good walk around the island and found a reasonable lunch before heading ‘home’ on the cat at about 16:00.