Slow Travelling

One question that inevitably comes up when we talk to people about cruising the Great Barrier Reef is what spots we absolutely loved.

While there were easily several places in this part of the world that we really enjoyed, one that was certainly right up there is Middle Percy Island.

Pretty infamous in cruising circles Middle Percy Island is the quintessential island cruising experience.

West Bay is a white sandy, inviting beach complete wih coconut palms and the ” Percy Hilton’ an A frame structure that serves as a meeting point and hangout for cruisers. Full of momentos from passing yachts and complete with the ‘swing’ and hammocks. A decent walk up the hill and you will find the homestead, where the current custodians of the island live. Refreshments and some fresh produce might be available, these guys are doing a great job of looking after the island.

Frowned on by Alan Lucas in his cruising guides as a uncomfortable anchorage we were lucky during our time there and only experienced some minor swell typical of any island anchorage in this area.

Warm days at Middle Percy  swimming in clear blue water, cooking fresh fish in coconut and watching a magic sunset every night made it a hard spot to leave. If you wanted to be social there were always other cruisers to get together with.  If not then watching life pass by pleasantly seemed to fill up  day.

The history of this island is umm well interesting, To find out more it about this fascinaing place visit

http://percyisland.com.au

After a few carefree days in Southport which also included couple of anxious phone calls home to work contacts and parents we were now very much behind our “intended cruise plan” ( the word schedule is very taboo in cruising circles, to use it even in whsipered tones is to tempt weather fate and most certainly doom one to all manner of storms and mechanical hold ups).

We left Southport in the middle of Melbourne Cup festivities in company with Whimaway to again take advantage of a very small weather window and had an uncomfortable start to the passage beating into large but decreasing seas. By the time Jo and Sophie went to bed however conditions aboard had improved considerably, by the early hours of the morning we had a warm westerly at 15 knots and with sheets eased and the moon shining as Dolphins swam past us and it was a magic sail. I put in my Ipod and decided to not wake Jo for her watch.

In planning this trip I had expected to enjoy the pretty places we would see, the islands and the beaches, to have fun meeting the new people we would meet, however it was these quiet but magic moments on sailboat moving easily before the wind and the moon that I had not expected.

We entered Coffs Harbour in the afternoon, had a very enjoyable dinner at the Yacht Club with Whimawa yand thought about how much had changed in the months since we had last arrived tired and terrified in Coffs Harbour after our first overnight passage.

After crossing the bar early in the morning we arrived into Mooloolaba in the afternoon after another great sail down in lively conditions.

After tying up at the Marina we had a BBQ ashore with the other Alfreds boats, to celebrate what for some would be the end of their cruise. While it was not quite the end for us, it was the end of a stage. No longer were our thoughts on pretty anchorages and new adventures, for us and for the remainder of our little fleet the focus was now on getting the boat back home.

With a delay again because of weather we enjoyed a couple of carefree days in Mooloolaba, including catching up with Jo’s brother Adrian, wife Anna and Sophie’s Cuz’ William.

With time now a real factor, we had a small window of weather on the weekend to get to Southport. We left Mooloolaba early in the morning and just made it in through the Gold Coast Seaway on Sunset. Luckily friends came in handy again and as we pulled into Southport Yacht Club in the dark Silk Road were there to take our lines. Southport would mean another weather delay, however again we made the best of the situation, enjoying a roast at the yachtclub with Silk Road and walks along the beach.

Finally, after waiting and waiting the weather was looking ok to leave Bundaberg. An easy morning departure in company with the ‘Alfreds Armada’ saw us beating into some still reasonably steep seas for a while until we managed to get far enough across to receive some protection from Fraser Island. By lunchtime we were enjoying a nice sail in flat water as we were coming into the Great Sandy Straits.

That night we all anchored in South White Cliffs with sundowners aboard Mix’d Nutz as we discussed our proposed assault on Sheridan Flats the next day. The shallowest part of the Great Sandy Straits it requires spot on timing to take full advantage of tide in order to cross in a keel boat. Given that we had 7 keel boats to get through, and we had heard reports from other boats of possible issues with the marker buoys we were a little apprehensive. With Cariad the shallowest boat going first and calling depth soundings back to the rest of us we all made it through ok and anchored at Elbow Point for early sundowners on Windsong before literally queing up early the next morning to cross the Wide Bay Bar with several other yachts in rolly but otherwise benign conditions.

There’s some “weather” coming was the summary of the forecast for the next few days.

So the decision was made to continue to ge as far south as we could be before the big SE winds arrived. The weather forecast also read, as it had done for a few days, isolated thunderstorms, but we had barely seen any storm activity so we made for Burnett Heads (Bundaberg) the next day.

As we left Pancake Creek in the morning you guessed it. A storm smashed us. There’s something about being on the water, in a small boat, in a big sea, with wild winds and a storm coming that makes you realise how little control we have of the world, on land it is easier to get caught up in daily life and feel in control; on a boat: waves, wind, and weather there is little we can do about it.

So what do you do in a situation like this? We’d made preparations and decisions months ago. Plan A: don’t go out in a storm or if we knew one was coming. Plan B: if we were out there anyway and the storm was coming we needed a solid boat with the correct sails and safety equipment, amongst a large list of other items… check. Then more immediate preparations are made at the dock- life jackets and safety harnesses on, all items secured, hatches closed, the boat ship shape, make sure we had the passaged planned out with all contingencies and then all that can be done from there is to keep a weather eye. So as the storm approached we decreased the sail area that we had up and waited…

So storms are a little scary in a small boat,  but the preparations had been made and all that we could do was trust the vessel that we were in and sit through it and hope that our mast didn’t become a lightening rod, panic only makes it difficult to make good, clear decisions.

So we got a little wet and it was a lit windy… oh well, no harm done. We battled on through the larger waves and swell, due to the storm, to Bundaberg; glad that another storm that was building had somehow gone completely over us and was all around us at one stage, but that didn’t effect us at all.

Port Bundaberg Marina was a welcome sight, our marina berth was a little interesting, however, the depth sounder showing 1.8m of water and the tide was still ebbing for a little longer… that’s only 10cm of water under the keel! We arrived just in time for Sundowners with the Alfreds boats that were already there to wait out the weather… how long we would be there, who would know?