Jenny had a dental appointment at Hope Island marina at 9:30 so headed off in the dinghy with shopping bags as well. We needed a few supplies for the visitors.

While Jenny’s teeth were examined John read the paper and enjoyed coffee and croissants at a local coffee shop. Bought a few supplies at a gourmet  butchers and Coles then back to the dinghy dock. So handy to have a dinghy dock right near the supermarket.

After loading groceries onboard O’vive we motored up to GCCM, the wind had become quite strong and as the pontoon was only about 8m long we called for assistance to tie up. With help from the crew on the dock and John’s expert manoeuvring we tied up without damage.

John, Morgan and I had lunch at the marina cafe then strolled through the expo until Friz and Tracey arrived at 4:30. It was great to see them again.

Sandra and Doug arrived an hour later so a long happy hour ensued. Jenny being the sober one drove us all to dinner at The Boardwalk Pub at Coomera about 5 minutes away where everyone decided the meals were very average. Back to O’vive for more drinks.

Wind N 10 knts              sunny            HT 11.10

Another calm peaceful morning except the odd stink boat that roared past later on sending  huge rolling waves over to us. I guess we were anchored almost in the channel as we were somewhat gunshy.

A few cleaning chores and much to our surprise ‘Back Friday’ motored past heading to Mooloolaba. We pulled anchor and motored with the tide up the Coomera River past some very impressive dwellings and anchored on a large sweeping bend just past Sanctuary Cove Marina. We were heading for Gold Coast City Marina (GCCM )the next day as we were expecting visitors while the boat show was on.

Had a lazy afternoon then took the dinghy up to GCCM to check out our berth for the next few days.

Jenny and Morgan got off at a park and played ball then back to the boat before a storm arrived.

Green curry chicken for dinner with coconut rice and a peaceful sleep.

Wind NE 5 – 10 knts sunny , slightly overcast –  South Stradbroke Island

Woke up to a lovely calm anchorage very quiet, Agile wallabies were feeding on the shoreline picking up the mangrove pod. They were very pretty looking with a dark stripe between their large ears and a pale cheek stripe on each side of their face. Morgan was fascinated as we were anchored quite close to the shore.

After toad in the hole for breakfast we lowered the dinghy and motored up to Marina Mirage at Southport to get a newspaper and a coffee. The new 5hp motor on the dinghy made the going slow and it took us about 40 mins to get there. We stopped at Bums Bay pontoon near Seaworld to let Morgan have a run, circled Back Friday ( Brian and Debbie’s boat- they left Yamba a day before us) . They weren’t home so we continued on.

We ended up having lunch at a cafe at Marina Mirage then headed back to Ovive. Lunch was very ordinary and overpriced.

Oh dear! As we approached O’vive we could see she was sitting on her hulls out of the water but on a crazy angle. The tide had gone out and the wind which had got a lot stronger had pushed her around onto the shore, not good. She looked to be sitting on her keels and rudder but at that stage the props wern’t touching which was good.

High tide was at 10:10 pm and it was only 2:00 pm so we had a long stressful wait for the tide to get to its lowest at 3:30 then start rising again. We sat on the deserted beach for a while and waited.

Morgan was very hot as she wasn’t allowed out of the dinghy because no dogs are allowed on Stradie so we finally put her on the tilted Ovive.

The tide rose slowly but the rudders had sunk into the sand so we needed some buoyancy to pull them out. To add to our problems stink boats kept roaring up the channel making a huge wash which would rock O’vive putting more strain on the rudders and keels.

Eventually we climbed aboard rather than bake in the sun and read for a few hours until the tide crept up. Eventually we leveled up and about 7:30 we were floating. Relief. We pulled the anchor and moved further into the channel to re anchor. It was strange that we ran aground as we had already been through a low tide the night before and didn’t touch bottom.

Dinner was a simple affair of very tasty venison and potato soup cooked fairly quickly in the pressure cooker  as we wern’t overly hungry, then off to bed.

The anchor alarm went off in the night but we hadn’t dragged so we re set it for 170 ft as we had 24 m of chain and bridle out. Will have to work out how to change the anchor alarm from feet to metres.

90 nm  Overcast  Wind 5 -10 knts SW

Departed Yamba at 6:00 through the bar as we had anchored at Whiting Beach overnight instead of staying in the Marina, quite swelly in the bay. As we headed out the tide was coming in, there was stuff all wind and a slight fog. At least we had enough light to pick a track to exit the breakwater through the swell. A yacht was sitting outside waiting for the light so he could see to cross the bar as there were quite a few rolling  waves on the northern end.

Pulled out the jib and headed north on 7.3 knots of wind , we kept the motors going as we wanted to get through the Seaway before the tide changed at 9:30 pm.

The day was uneventful only managing an average of 6.6 knts. John had several sleeps but because Jenny had taken tablets she couldn’t sleep so Morgan moved up to first mate instead of second.

We sailed close to the coast to keep out of the 3 – 5 knt current that flows south around Byron which was slightly further out. The wind shifted round to the north as we travelled further up the coast so we had to drop the jib and motor. Morgan and I saw a pod of dolphins  and John saw a whale way out.

Arrived outside the Seaway ay 9:00 but tricky to distinguish the beacons on the breakwater against fisherman with red lights fishing in the entrance. Took it slow and finally dropped anchor at 9:30 off South Stradbroke Island just north of the Seaway. Reheated some stew for dinner then went to bed as we seemed to be very tired.

I am very new to this website business so am feeling my way round it, if anyone has any suggestions ( mean my friends) on how to improve it in laymans terms let me know. Jenny