Wind   20 – 30 knots S  Sunny

Beautiful sunny morning with the wind starting to pick up. The three of us strolled over to the rock formation overlooking the marina on the southern side for a morning hike.

From the base it was a short 700mt walk up to the top of Double Head giving us bird’s eye views of the marina and outlying islands. The stepped path wove under hanging fig trees, vine thickets and hoardes of birds nest ferns. At the top we got a close up of Fan Rock, the core of an old volcano with spectacular basalt columns in a fan shape.

Once we reached the windswept top of the next head  the vegetation changed to that typical of all the islands in the area of tussocks and grass trees. As it was a National Park we kept Morgan on a lead.

John felt ambitious and booked a round of golf at the Yeppoon Golf and Country club. There was no bus as it was Sunday and the courtesy car was booked out so Jenny organised him a lift with three old giggling ladies who took him right to the club house. His first swing gave him grief in the back so a fellow golfer gave him some Tramadol (very strong pain killer ) to ease the pain and he was able to continue. It didn’t go well with the after golf beer as he said he felt spaced out. The taxi ride back was $30.

The crews from Moor R & R and Back Friday came over for happy hour and dinner of venison ( far too dry) steamed vegies, chat potatoes and cauliflower au gratin. It was a very jolly evening.

Wind   15 – 20 knots S  Sunny   25 nmi

Departed the windy murky waters of Sea Hill for Yeppoon at 7:30. The Fitzroy River runs through Rockhampton and out to sea and is always a horrible brown sediment filled colour. It took at least two hours before we got to clearer blue water.

Motor sailed on the jib past Peak, Wedge and Pelican Islands. We kept on the coastal side of these island to take advantage of the wind direction and arrived at the entrance to the marina at 11:30 , just on high tide. Apparently the entrance has silted up quite a bit and there is only 1.1 depth at low tide.

We tied up on red pontoon no.54, a great spot, sideways instead of the usual bow or stern in, it was very easy. Opposite are a couple off Twisted from Yamba, Chris and Marg , we met them at a Shaggers get together in January. Enjoyed  lunch at the Waterline cafe out the front of the marina. We ordered reef fish and baby calamari, it sure was baby there was more batter than calamari.

Where are the rest of my mates ?

The crews from Moor R &R and Back Friday arrived back in the marina from a day trip to the Keppels at about 4:30 so we went and said hello then walked over to the Yacht club for a drink. The Capricorn Cruising Yacht club has had a face lift since we were here in 09 and its very presentable with large timber windows and a deck overlooking the marina.

We are staying here for  a few days until the strong wind warning passes.

Wind   10 – 15 knots increasing to 20 in afternoon  SE  Sunny

After hosing down the boat and filling the water tanks we departed the marina at 8:30 and headed up the congested channels to the Narrows.

The Narrows is a mangrove lined, calm waterway between mainland QLD and Curtis Island. The approaches to the Narrows have changed dramatically since we came through in 2005 and are now punctuated by  very contentious natural gas liquefaction plants on Curtis Is and bulk coal and mineral loading terminals on the mainland.

We aimed to get to the middle of the Narrows at high tide as it completely dries for a 2km stretch in the middle around the cattle crossing area. When we got there  at 11:30 we only had 1.55 under the keel as the tide had already changed and had been on the run out for 30 minutes. I think the tide charts must be out a little. The cattle crossing is fascinating as at low tide the cattle are driven across the channel to and from Curtis Is.

After successfully negotiating the the channel we dropped anchor off Maria creek to have lunch and sort out the autopilot that has been playing up again and rounding up. John is starting to get some pain again.

We arrived at Sea Hill on the inside of Curtis and went ashore for a walk on the long yellow sandy beach . Morgan madly chased the ball and what looked like larger Hardy heads . Sea Hill was once a busy pilot station for Rockhampton until it closed as a commercial port in the 1960s.

A simple dinner of lamb chops with mashed potatoes, onion gravy and vegies for tea.

Wind   10 – 15 knots SE  Sunny

We cast off the mooring lines for Bojangles as they were heading for Cape Capricorn via the NE passage.

John , Morgan and I rode to the bottom of Auckland Hill and walked the 111 steps to the lockout and cafe. Beautiful clear skies gave us a magnificent view of the harbour and surrounds.

Breakfast at the cafe then a ride back to the marina via the fish markets where we bought more mullet for bait and half a kilo of medium banana prawns. They were only $15 kg which was very cheap.

A few more chores were done including more washing and hopefully fixing the anchor swivel.

Jenny rode to the shops to get a few last minute supplies. Gladstone seems to have fallen on hard times. The drop in the mining boom has really affected the town. Office buildings were empty and several shops had closed down. The streets seemed rather deserted for a town of 35,000.

We have been getting about 2 muddies per day in the trap so we have a lot of crab to eat. John cooked chilli ginger crab for dinner which was very, very delicious. Morgan kept bringing us her bowl hoping for some.

Wind   10 – 15 knots NE showers

The day started with clear sunny skies but developed into showers later.

Jenny and Morgan rode from the marina along the foreshore to the other side of the river to the steps that lead to Auckland Hill lookout.

There are 111 steps up the hill guiding you to a magnificent view at the top. Gladstone Harbour is in full view from the bottom of Facing Island to the beginning of the Narrows between Curtis Is and the mainland.  Gladstone is primarily mining related so the view consists of wharves and terminals for alumina , cement, liquefied natural gas and coal. There is some controversy about the fish habitats in the harbour as fisheries are receiving reports of diseased fish and some with milky eyes due to the water quality.

We caught the courtesy bus to a local shopping centre, it runs Mon, Wed and Fri for marina clients. The shopping centre was very average and a little hard to get everything on our lists. The helpful bus driver took John round to the plumbers to get some new hoses for our back deck wash that had burst.

Later in the afternoon after the showers cleared, Jenny gave Morgan a haircut as she is getting too hot in this weather.

John , Morgan and I rode to the yacht club for dinner with Lesley , Rob and Keith, the rack of lamb and porterhouse steak with peppercorn sauce was very tasty. The boys watched NSW beat QLD in the second State of Origin match while Lesley and I walked home.

Lazy start to the day after the last couple of days.  Caught the marina courtesy bus round to the little cafe overlooking the water on the other side of the marina. Rob and Lesley came with us for a relaxing breakfast in the sunshine. The temperature is set for 26 degrees today.

John is feeling much better although he still has the odd twinge of pain in the kidney area.

We rode the bikes round to the chandlery to purchase some parts to install the fuel bug zapper. It has an ultra violet light that kills the bugs as they pass through the fuel polishing system. Took us a bit longer to install than we anticipated but that’s working on a boat for you.

Other chores were completed, washing etc then we rode along the Auckland River foreshore to the yacht club to have dinner with Rob, Lesley and Keith their friend they had just picked up from the station. Keith is sailing with them for 10 days.

Checked our crab pot we had below the boat and it yielded one crab, Not bad, mud crabs in the marina.

Wind   10 – 15 knots SE  Sunny

The new skipper couldn’t sleep much due to nerves so up at 5:30 in preparation although there wasn’t much to do as I had done it all the previous night. Paul from Moor R & R came across in his dinghy at 7:00 to help unravel the bridal from the anchor chain as it had become very tangled from the strong winds and tides in the inlet. We completed that task and pulled up the anchor then Paul left for his boat as they were heading for Cape Capricorn.

I motored out of the inlet with Bojangles ahead of me, the SE swell coming round Bustard head as we entered the ocean was slightly uncomfortable.  Headed towards Gladstone Harbour on a course of 280 degrees. It felt very strange to be solo on board and just the first mate Morgan, not that she did much.

There was enough wind to pull the jib so we motor sailed for an hour then turned the motors off and sailed on the jib at 5knts. The screecher would have been better but I wasn’t putting it up on my own.

In the meantime John had rung saying the hospital had done all sorts of tests and couldn’t find anything wrong so kicked him out of the hospital at 3:00 am. He went down the road to a Red Cross house for the rest of the night.

The first mate and I negotiated the shipping channel in the busy Gladstone Harbour. These days you have to call up the Port of Gladstone on channel 13 to let them know you are entering the area due to the number of ships traversing it. The port area is approximately 15 nm long (27.7 Km) and the infrastructure surrounding the harbour has grown substantially since we were here in 2005.

We kept well to the side of the channel and sometimes outside it to give the massive ships plenty of room.

We arrived at the marina at about 1:30 where John who was waiting hopped into the marina work dinghy and came out to O’vive  to berth her as I wasn’t looking forward to that part.

John seems to still have some pain occasionally but more of a dull ache, we are still no wiser to its cause.

The marina rates are very reasonable only $59 per night compared to $84 at Mooloolaba.

Ordered Chinese takeaway for dinner with a delivery fee to the marina of $3 , pretty good.

Wind   15 – 20 knots SE  Sunny

John is not very well this morning, he has intense pain in the vicinity of his right kidney  and radiating round to his abdomen. He took Panadol, Voltaren and Endone and the pain receded slightly only to reappear when he hobbled to the toilet.

Jenny went ashore to retrieve the crab traps, one had a crab in it and the other was missing its float. Lucky it was low tide so I could find the trap. Morgan had her regular chase of fish while Jenny searched for crabs, no luck.

By 3:00 John had deteriorated, at one stage the pain became so excruciated  he said it felt like something tore inside.

I had been speaking to Gladstone Marina who in turn contacted Round Hill (1770) VMR who called and put me onto a QLD ambulance doctor in Brisbane. The doc did not have a diagnosis . The end result was the rescue boat came round from 1770 (as there are no roads into Pancake Creek) 13nm, with a medic who administered morphine to John and took him back in the rescue boat. A boat ride of approx 1 and a half hour then in the 4wd ambulance to Gladstone hospital. (John said he was horribly sick on the boat due to all the drugs).

So it was up to Jenny and Morgan to get the boat to Gladstone tomorrow. We will have the assurance of another boat travelling to the same destination as Rob and Lesley  are heading to Gladstone in Bojangles  as well.

Wind   20 -25 knots SE  60% chance of showers

More wind and more showers, although the showers are more frequent today.

When the tide was low enough we took the dinghy over to the mud flats to check the traps. Both were empty but still had plentiful bait. Left them in 10” of water and searched the creek banks and flats for crabs. Found several small mud crabs sitting in little pools half camouflaged with mud and water but the adult ones were hard to find.

John eventually spotted one in a slight depression, stabbed it with his knife and put it in the bucket.

The rain arrived again so back to O’vive and crab cooking.

After lunch the boys from Bojangles, Back Friday and Moor R & R turned up to go yabbying so we set off in convoy looking for a suitable spot along the northern banks of the inlet. Unfortunately there were hundreds of soldier crabs ( not a good sign) but no yabbies. It was Paul’s first yabby expedition and with the lack of yabbies made him very dubious of the whole process.

Morgan had a great time as usual chasing small fish and as we walked we discovered many different stingrays basking in the shallow water. They took off when you got close enough to see their spots and colours. Some were a lovely brown colour with black spots and slender tails and some plain brown with feathery tails, all ranging between a metre and half a metre across the flaps. (I suspect Cowtail Ray and Long Tailed Ray were what we spotted most commonly).

Back to O’vive in yet another squall where it rained fairly heavily for the remainder of the day and well into the night. John watched his Ashes 13/14 DVD , while Jenny made Honey Joys.

Battered scallops with ginger and shallots for dinner. John was sick in the night with bad pain in the right kidney area. He moved to the couch.

Wind   20 – 30 knots SE  Sunny with scattered showers

Woke up to wind and squally showers, John cooked the appropriate breakfast for the location. Pancakes! Ours had lemon and sugar Morgan only had hers buttered. John spoils her not me.

The showers cleared so we took the dinghy over to check the crab traps but they were high and dry on the sand flats. The tidal difference here is about 2 metres so we obviously didn’t put them in deep enough water to start with.

Jenny and Morgan walked across the sand and mud flats to check them and found  a mud crab in each one. John minded the dinghy as we didn’t take the anchor with us. Fantastic, looks like crab for lunch.

Morgan had an enjoyable time chasing small fish in the shallows, she went for 500 mts running around up the sand flats after them, it was a struggle getting her back to the dinghy and very out of character as she doesn’t usually leave our side.

Another couple were wandering around looking for crabs as they had lost their trap some days before. They found two crabs just sitting on the mud bank which they rolled over and picked them up and into their bucket. I’ve never seen crabs just sitting out like that. I shall go and look tomorrow.

Back to Ovive where we fished and cooked crab. Caught no fish but the crab was superb.

We were invited to a Lagoon catamaran called Moor R & R (Paul and Kathy) for dinner with Rob and Lesley and Bryan and Deb. Excellent evening of spaghetti bolognaise (delicious), salad, crusty bread and lots of laughs. We delivered R&L and B& D back to their boats about 9:30 and retired to O’vive where Morgan was waiting patiently.