Wind   20 – 30 knots SE  ( almost blowing the black dog off the boat) Sunny slightly overcast

The wind got quite strong in the night and the small yacht next to us kept hunting around on its anchor and nearly running into us. John reckons he must have about 40 mts of chain out. Deb and Bryan said they had the same problem with him when they were anchored in the same spot. They ended up moving. John was up for 4 hours keeping an eye on him until the tide changed, I only stayed up for two. We had tea and biscuits at 2:00 in the morning. We couldn’t pull our anchor and reset it in the dark as it may have taken several  attempts  and with the tide rushing out in the dark it was too risky. We think the swivel on the anchor needs attention. Will have to wait till we get to a marina to look at it.

At 8 in the morning we pulled in the chain and anchored further out in the channel . We dinghyed across to the vast sandbar in the middle of the inlet where John flicked a plastic in the hope of catching a flathead. Morgan and I played ball and searched for crabs and fish in the shallows as the tide rose.  John only caught one small flathead.

John went further up the inlet with the depth sounder in the dinghy and found a better spot to anchor out of the current. We motored Ovive through the other boats and found a little sanctuary where there was less  wind, very little current and no swinging boats.

We put the crab pots out on the corner of Chinamans Creek in a gutter and then had happy hour on Bojangles (Rob and Lesleys)  before we checked the pots. It was very enjoyable catching up with them on their Jeaneau 45. No crabs in the pots so left them till morning ( we put them out of the current this time).

John cooked Ray Grech’s scallop mornay for dinner, very delicious. No TV reception further up the inlet.

Wind   10 – 15 knots SE  Sunny slightly overcast              62 nm

Up anchor at 5:45 and motored out of the Burnett River with the sun just starting to peek above the horizon. The channel markers were flashing red and green reminiscent of a plane runway.

Turned north out of the shipping channel and put up the jib , then our lovely blue and white screecher. Had both motors on for a couple of hours as the wind was quite light.

As the day progressed we were able to goosewing the jib and screecher making for a delightful sail averaging 7.5 knts.

John hauled in a small 3lb tuna mackerel that he had to quickly skull drag back to Ovive as we couldn’t slow down unless we dropped the sails. He filleted it for bait and for Morgan as I want her to eat more fish. Tuna mac have very dark meat, looks like steak.

Arrived off Pancake Creek (Bustard Head) at  4:00 pm to see 16 other boats in the 2^nd anchorage where we usually anchor. We anchored directly off the beach in 4mts of water but once again the anchor chain was twisted and it took several  attempts  to get it to bite. Rob and Lesley off Bojangles arrived about an hour later.

Took Morgan ashore for her land fix where she ran madly up and down the heavy sandy beach. Looked like hard going.

Discovered Bryan and Deb from Back Friday were anchored amongst the fleet.  We putted over to them in the dinghy and went on board for a beer. Deb was happy to see Morgan and get her dog fix. Back to Ovive for leftovers and an early night.

Wind   10 – 15 knots SE  Sunny / Overcast in afternoon

44 nautical miles

As the wind is going to get stronger over the next few days we decided to head north today . Had a quick bike ride to the pier to give Morgan some exercise then completed chores, John went to the co-op and bought Hervey Bay scallops, green prawns and mullet for the crab pots. Our bug zapper part that we are waiting on has not arrived so  Deb at the marina will send it on to Gladstone marina. The marina managers Deb and Bob are very friendly and helpful and they run a good marina.

Left the marina at 10:00 and motor sailed all day as the wind was not quite the right angle. We only averaged 6.5 knots. Very unexciting day, no whales, dolphins, turtles, other boats, nothing to look at. Jenny made Mocha brownies.

Arrived in the Burnett river at 5:00, however it took a while to set the anchor as it kept rolling over onto its back (somewhat like Morgan). We think the chain is getting twisted when it overruns sometime when going out. Anchored of Port Bundaberg marina as Quarantine Bay  our usual anchorage has two barges in it. Goulash for dinner.

Early to bed as big day tomorrow.

Wind   15 – 20 knots  Sunny

Rode the bikes along the esplanade to Urangan Pier which is a historic timber structure.  It’s a former deep water cargo handling facility originally built to transfer sugar timber and coal to the ships. It was originally 1107 m long but it fell into disrepair until it was restored to 868 mts.  Now people use the pier for walking and fishing.

Had breakfast at Migaloos cafe at the land end of the pier but it was very ordinary.

Hired the marina car for $15 for 2 hours which is a great service. Its a Holden rodeo dual cab ute, very handy for groceries and fuel etc. We drove to Pialba shopping centre where Jenny shopped for supplies and John went to the Hervey bay golf course and hit 80 balls at the driving range.

On the way back we called into the chandlery and fuel depot at the adjoining marina in the hope of replacing our crab pot. We were very lucky as they stocked the same brand of collapsible one we lost. We purchased it for $50, $12 less than in Yamba.

Sweet and Sour chicken for dinner, John thought it was very tasty.

Wind   20 -25 knots  SE dropping to  15 – 20 in arvo          Sunny with showers

John and I rode the bike along the esplanade 6km to Torquay to get a paper. Morgan ran beside us on the lead as the rules are fairly strict here. John is having withdrawal symptoms as he hasn’t seen TV or a paper for 3 days.

We stopped on the way back for lunch at the former aquarium which is situated on piers on the beach over the water. It is now the Waterfront restaurant and only has the aquarium in half of the building. Excellent view of the bay and you can watch the boats coming and going. Calamari Mango salad and a Thai Beef salad were our choices.

Got a call from Rob and Lesley Green, they have been in the marina for a week having some work done on Bojangles. They are leaving tommorow for Bundy so we met them at the Yacht club for a drink and a light snack. Great to see them again. Meals very average as per usual there.

Wind   10- 15 knots  SW  turning  20 -25 in arvo          Sunny

28.5 nm HT 11.00 am

During the night the anchor alarm went off so we were running around naked in 20knts of wind, madly trying to determine if we had actually dragged. We made preparations to reset the anchor but then we swung back into position, it was just that the strong tidal flow and the cold front that had arrived was pushing us to the extent of our chain and we probably had slightly more than our 170 ft out. Back to bed  feeling very cold,then Jenny up early  at the low tide to try and spot the lost crab pot. No luck.

Up anchored at 9:00 and sailed on the jib up through Sheriden Flats, it was about 2 hrs off half tide but we still had 1.8 under the keel so no worries about running aground. We pulled up the screecher and goosewinged it and were doing 7knts in about 10 knts of wind. Nery nice and calm sail.

As we sailed up past Kingfisher  eco resort on Fraser the wind started to get stronger, we only had the screecher up at this stage and still doing about 10 knts. As we got to the top of Big Woody the wind had picked up to 20 knts so we turned upwind and struggled to furl the screecher. Just as well as when we turned towards Urangan the wind got up to 23 knts. The screecher is not designed for such strong winds.

Motored towards the marina through the shallow channel past the yellow special marker with over 1.5 under the keel at 2 hrs off low. Arrived in the marina at 3:30 and tied up on E15 on the end of a finger. Nice and easy to tie up.

Went over to the next marina to visit Paul and Sue Lancaster (originally from Khancoban) on their boat Capri. They were there for some warranty work on their boat.

Had a very delicious meal with them and a mate of theirs at Cafe Baleena on the boardwalk.( seafood chowder and rack of lamb). They all came back to Ovive for a rum.

Wind  under 10- 15 knots  S –SW             Sunny

Lovely peaceful night, woke up to another clear day although the wind is still a little cool. We needed to leave about 9:00 to get through the shallow channels around Boolye Pt and up to Ungowa at the top of the tide and before it started running against us. We hopped in the dinghy to pick up the crab traps that we had left out overnight. Oh dear they had both disappeared, the tide difference was about 2 m and it seems the floats were underwater. We searched for ages but to no avail.

Saw a small turtle (about 40cm dia) covered in barnacles that was floating and couldn’t seem to descend. Apparently if they have swallowed rubbish and plastics it blocks their passages and stops food from digesting. It breaks down and rots and releases gases into the stomach which makes the turtle buoyant so it cannot dive to feed , then it slowly dies. Not a happy site but there was nothing we could do about it.

We decided to stay put today and wait until low tide to search for our traps. John sanded and gel coated the dinghy cradle, Jenny cleaned and washed clothes then John watched a DVD of the 13/14 ashes tour.

At low tide we went in search of the elusive traps. We finally found one( not the good one) about a kilometre north of where we had dropped it. It was out in the deep current and caught against a snag. With repeated tugging John hauled up a very out of shape crab pot with one small fingermark bream and a medium size mud crab. We kept the crab and threw the bream back.

There was no sign of the other pot and after another 30 minutes of searching we had to give up as there was very little fuel left in the dinghy.

Roast chicken for dinner and crab for lunch tomorrow.

After bacon sandwiches for breaky we pulled the anchor at 8:30 and sailed up the Sandy Straits on the jib. There was very little wind and as we kept changing direction we furled the sail and motored up through the channels to anchor on the eastern shore of Moonboom Island. The island is one of the thousands in the great sandy straits and is just north of the northern entrance to Garry’s anchorage. It is covered in low trees, shrubs and mangrove with lots of sand flies.

We anchored in 4 metres of water at the top of the tide  then hopped in the dinghy and motored through the channels and over sand flats to the little fishing village of Maroom.

Maroom is very tiny with a boat ramp and pontoon, a park, caravan park and about 20 houses. Morgan and I played ball and kept an eye on the dinghy as some of the characters at the boat ramp looked dubious. John walked the 500 metres to the caravan park shop which he said was very small and purchased bait and milk.

Coming back took a lot longer as the tide had receded and the sand flats had dried so we headed some distance south down deeper channels until we could head north again.

Went ashore to a sand flat where John threw the cast net and gathered numbers of hardy heads each throw. Excellent bait.

Even I managed to get some when I had a go. We put the crab traps out in the hope of either blue swimmers or muddies but they came up empty. No fish on the lines either. Much better last night.

Steak and mashed potato with mushroom gravy, baked zucchini and steamed greens for dinner. Watched movie Lucy that Megs had lent us, pretty good.

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Wind  10 kt  Variable  Sunny Cool wind

A lazy morning while we wait for the tide to start rising, otherwise we will be going against the tide sailing north up the great Sandy Straits.

John sorted, cleaned and repaired his many rods and reels and although we had no bait to fish with made do with small pieces of raw chicken (Morgan’s dinner). Toad fish seemed the only ones interested in the chicken and a very strange looking creature that may be a type of Bristle Worm. How it swallowed the bait and hook is a mystery. John reckoned it was the ugliest thing he had seen  but I thought it quite pretty with its fluro yellow bristles.

We took the dinghy over to the sand bar to pump for yabbies but there were none , only an army of soldier crabs which Morgan was fascinated by when they suddenly disappeared into the sand.

We gathered some strange looking long worms in the hope that we could use as bait but they did not yield any fish either. John had a few throws of the cast net but only caught small toad fish.

We decided to stay here for the rest of the day and night as it’s a very peaceful anchorage even though there are six other boats anchored here.

Back to fishing with chicken and John managed a small grinner.

No good for eating , he used it for bait and got something big on his little trout rod with 8lb line. After fighting it for 10 minutes a White spotted shovel nosed ray finally rose to the surface and we let it go.

Five minutes later he had a larger one on that wasn’t giving up easily so a 15 minute struggle ensued. When it finally surfaced John grabbed it by the tail so we could remove its hook.

It had very short raspy dorsal spines that scarred the side of the transom and fishing line hanging out of its anus. Jenny pulled the fishing line and out came a stainless fish hook from its rear end. Obviously its been caught before. Morgan was disappointed to see it go.

No more fish after that as the tide was roaring out.

Ribs and scalloped potato for dinner.

Wind  SE 5 -10 knts        Sunny                                 55 nautical miles

The forecast was for winds of 10 – 15 but it was not looking too promising at 7:00 in the morning. We motored out of the marina at 7:30 and headed north amongst 5 other boats.

Everyone had been hoping for a good days sailing. The wind only managed 9 knts all morning so we had the main and screecher goosewinged.

We needed to average 7 knts to get to Wide Bay Bar at the bottom of Fraser Island by 4 oclock but were only averaging 5. We wanted to come in to the bar on a rising tide and before the sun got too low. John kept one motor running in the afternoon to help us arrive before dark.

Maritime have changed the co ordinates for the waypoints on the bar as usual , now there are only two instead of three. Once we get to Double Island point we will radio Tin Can Bay VMR and get the current coordinates. Wide Bay Bar is not a nice bar to cross, we always approach it with some trepidation as it has a lot of breaking water and shifting sands.

VMR had radioed all boats giving us a whale warning that said keep a lookout for whales and slow down if we see them. Haven’t seen any yet only a pod of dolphins that surfed the bows for quite  while inciting Morgan into a frenzy.

We arrived off Wide Bay Bar at 5:00 with 4 other boats behind and one in front, it didn’t look nice but we followed the waypoints given.

There was a lot of easterly swell as we turned around B waypoint which gave us a nasty roll but the monos behind were doing it tougher.

We successfully arrived at Pelican Bay just inside Inskip Point at 5:30 and dropped anchor in 2 metres of water. Chips, pork chipolatas and salad for dinner as nothing else was defrosted.