Great Sandy Straights and Wide Bay Bar

In order to continue our southward journey onthe Great Sandy Straight, we had to be up very early to be at an extremely shallow "dog leg" in the channel, for high tide. We are back in a part of the world where tide changes are big and currents can help or hinder your progress while underway. This particular spot is only 3 feet deep at low tide and 13 feet deep at high tide; we need a total of 7 feet to float the boat across. It was a game of follow the leader, as there were a gaggle of boats lined up to make the passage through. Slow going, but not a big challenge. We have to anchor up again at the end of the channel beside another sandy strip, as we need to cross the bar the next morning on high tide. Tonight's high tide would get us out into the open, but then we would have to travel overnight to get to our next marina stop. Hey, we're on holiday, no schedule -Yet! It's not really so tough to hang on the hook and watch what the Aussies do and we have a dinner date on Oso to look forward too. It is amazing how shinny you can make boat stainless with a couple of spare hours, rubbing away and enjoying the sunshine. The Aussies on shore are all busy bouncing around in their 4x4's staking out the prime beach fishing spot for the day/afternoon/night. We are at a place called Tin Can Inlet inside of Inskip Point. As far as I can see, the whole of the eastern side of Australia is one great big sand pile and the locals love to play in it, fishing, surfing, camping, sunbathing and 4x4ing, Oh, and boating too.

 

Next morning: our journey through the Wide Bay Bar at 6:30 am is uneventful (just how we planned it). You call into the local Coast Guard office and get the way point coordinates to follow as the sand bar changes with weather conditions and water movement, then just connect the dots with your boat to get to the outside. We are blessed with a gorgeous flat ocean so no big swell to bob over and no wind waves to splash through. We are now headed to Mooloolaba Marina and the water conditions are fantastic. You'd never guess that we are in the middle of one of the biggest "storm factory" pieces of water in the world. Somebody is watching over us and we are Thankful. At this point, we are about 150 miles North of Brisbane. So after Mooloolaba (mouthful!), Oso Blanco will motor on into the Manly Harbour in Brisbane and we will do a night passage around Moreton , North Stradbroke and South Stradbroke Islands to gain the passage into The Gold Coast Marina (slightly south of Brisbane) which is our final destination. The inside passage is just too shallow for us to comfortably navigate. For now, we are basking in a great day of cruising under a clear sky and even clearer waters, the 25 degree C temp. makes it pretty much perfect.

Moving Southward from Bundaberg

The Great Sandy Straights Marina on Hervey Bay is a pretty decent place to call home for a day or two. It has an extensive network of shops and services at the top of the ramp and some pretty decent restaurants and bars. We wandered over to the Hervey Bay Boat Club one afternoon for a beer and were amused to find that it was a great big open hall with tables, a bar, a bandstand and gambling machines. The place is packed with 70 (plus) year old Gramas and Grampas just kicking up their heels to the 60's duet that was playing. Glen teased the very young bar girl that he felt like a teenager here! Our new favorite beer is Toohey New. From here we wandered down the impossibly long Esplanade that runs along the ocean past four different beach front communities. We only made it as far as the middle of the first downtown before making our way back to the boat. Everything is different in Australia as far as the trees, the birds, the animals, it is amazing. Our attention is riveted to a rainbow of colour in one of the bushes, it is a beautiful Rainbow Lorakete (kind of a parrot type bird). Oh, he was so charming and exquisitely coloured, just like a rainbow!

 

The next stop on our way south is an anchorage in the Great Sandy Straight, beside the Kingfisher Resort on Frazer Island. Frazer Island is the biggest all sand island in the world and is a complete national park. The thing to do here is hire (rent) a 4x4 and blast through the bush on a single lane sand road - the sand is baby powder fine and about 2 feet deep, it is like driving through snow banks. There are a multitude of destinations, but there are only so many you can see on a one day rental so with our lunch box packed we spin out of the parking lot at 8:00am, Eric, Ann, Bear, Glen (driving) and me (navigating) and bounce our way across to the Eastern Beach. This beach is 75 miles long and is the best highway on the island. You access all of the sights by deeking in from the beach and then back out to travel up to the next one. We saw a dingo! Dingos are not dogs, but they sure look like dogs. On our itinerary are two beautiful inland lakes, one head lands look out - that is stunning, a beached wreck of a very large ship, the beach itself, rainbow sand cliffs and a small resort. It is a great day and we enjoy the rugged beauty that unfolds before us. Glen even got us through all of the rough spots without getting stuck - a big change from when we would 4x4 as youngsters - the goal then was to see how often you could get stuck and then get out! Sometimes it is nice to be older. Our day was finished in fine style at the Kingfisher's pool bar, Bear got to swim and we adults refreshed ourselves with drinks, Pizza was our dinner. What a great day.

Australia - Bundaberg

Australia

We're here, we're here! Safe and sound and not too badly shook (a word?) up. Actually the passage was great except for a couple of 6 hour stretches.

 

We arrived at Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia, as planned at 9:00 am on Nov 4/11, both Oso Blanco and ourselves. Because the marina was short of space, due to all of the "yachties" arriving from various South Pacific ports, we had to raft together on the end dock. That means Oso tied to the dock and we tied to Oso. It looked pretty neat to see the two big "Nordies" snuggled together out there. Nordhavns certainly are popular boats in this region, everybody comes down the dock to see them and ask questions. It is a good way to meet the local people and get information on what is entertaining and special in any given area while they are quizzing you about your boat. Customs clearance was a piece of cake compared to many of the other foreign ports we have attended and in no time we were free to step on land and begin our Adventures in Australia.

 

My first foray into the "outback" (which is technically a wrong statement because we are coastal) was a brisk walk over to the nearest grocery store (IGA) to pick up some fresh produce having surrendered our "stores" to the quarantine fellows. Guess what? We saw a kangaroo lounging in the shade, just off the road! The groceries are much the same as in any store in North America and the prices were pretty decent considering it was just a small outlet. We have been hearing how expensive Australia will be. So far, other than the 4 cents extra we have to pay to compete with their dollar (vs. Canadian) it is pretty much like we are used to at home. Our next day in Bundaberg had us catching the local bus and riding the 18 km into the town. The Mission - get some consistent internet connection. We are now the proud owners of a cellular wifi unit that works beautifully. Yeah!! Bundaberg is a relatively small town, it's claim to fame is the production of Bundaberg Rum. The local economy is sugar cane agriculture which fits with the production of rum perfectly.

 

We did a meet and greet with the yachting rally group, but didn't know any of these boaters, except Oso Blanco. We did catch up with John and Sheryl from Sea Mist, fellow Canadians that we have seen in various locations all over the South Pacific, and had a good visit with them.

 

Nov 6 we headed further south to the port at Urangan to see something new, as we wind our way down to the Gold Coast where we will keep the boat for most of our time here.

Day Three - New Cal to Australia

It is 9:00 pm and of course dark. The water conditions are much nicer tonight than last night. Both boats are chugging along without incident so far. We expect to be in Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia by early morning on November 4th for our Customs and Immigration check-in. Nothing exciting happened today, that is probably a good thing. Our location is lat. 23.39.088 S and long. 157.10.334 E

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Moon Light

I stare through the forward window into the blackness of a very dark night. Slowly a pale silvery pool grows in the distance as the 1/2 moon breaks through the clouds. Suddenly a clear path shimmers before me on the churning water. Maybe, now, I am not so anxious for the way to be lit when I see how large the waves really are! Sitting in the Captain's Chair is the most stable place to be. I can imagine how well Glen is sleeping below, his body first pressing deep into the mattress then lightly floating above it as the motion of the boat rocks, not so gently, through the large swells before us. Not to mention the noise created when one of the waves "slaps" the hull, broad side. The moon light brightens a bit more and a flash of white catches my eye off to the side of the bow. An albatross teeters back and forth gamely trying to balance on the railing. Crazy bird! We knew to expect these conditions, but we always hope the weather guy is wrong. When he predicts smooth weather he is! Supposedly this "Junk" should only be a duration of 12 hours. Right now that seems like a week away. But I must quit complaining because it can certainly be a whole lot worse. We've had 36 hours of idyllic travel conditions prior to tonight. The moon slips back behind the dark veil of cloud cutting off my vision and I imagine that the motion is much smaller than it was moments before.

Our position is lat. 23.10.430 S and long. 160.24.097 E. We have 19 knots of wind and it is 20.8 degrees C. Our speed is 8.6 knots at 1346 RPM - we've been getting a great push from the current.

Here's to a smoother tomorrow!

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Fianl days in New Caledonia

We definitely needed a few days in port. One to get some business done and two to restock the galley. We washed all of the salt grime off of the boat. Yes, we know it will get dirty again. Compare this action to washing your car in winter, it just has to be done. Since we are preparing to leave to Australia on Oct 31 and Monday and Tuesday are holidays here, we have to clear customs and get our duty free fuel on Friday the 28th. Oso Blanco and Jackster came in to do the same. The three of us bid farewell to Noumea and headed to Island Maitre to anchor out and enjoy the now calming weather conditions. Our final three days in New Cal are going to be the finest we've had and help us to see why many boaters consider this country "a little slice of Heaven".

It is unbelievable how blue and smooth the water can be and how white and inviting the sandy beaches. We find a good dive site at Maitre, lots of large fish, two turtles, an octopus and more. The island itself is just a strip of sparkling sand with a many star resort perched on top. The boat gathering is on our boat tonight. We are all so excited about being able to get into the water again, we go for the big stretch and opt to head to the Amedee Light house for the next couple of days even though it is not classed as an overnight anchorage.

Amedee, another sand pile, but big enough to support a beautiful old light house from 1867 and a handful of "day use" buildings. It is a daytime destination for people coming by fast boats from Noumea and quite popular. There is a couple of wrecks to dive and an accessible reef wall dive. It's pretty and calm and we finish our final two days in New Cal playing in the water by day and gathering on Oso to eat and visit by night. We even have a Halloween night for Bear where we dress up and he gets treats. His Mom and Dad brought him "trick or treating" to our boat and to Jackster. Goofy, yes, but kids need some kid stuff (adults do too).

On the morning of October 31 we holler our final goodbyes to David and Jacqui on Jackster as we lift our anchor one last time from New Caledonia waters. They will head to New Zealand for cyclone season and Oso Blanco and us are headed for Australia. We have a four day run ahead of us. For the most part, the weather is favorable with a small bit of rough stuff at the mid way point. Here's hoping the weather guys can keep being wrong!

It is now 11:00 pm on the 31 st and I know, that you all know, that we must be on passage as I have finally gotten down to completing my blog entries. Sorry for the deluge. There was a 1/4 moon shining, but it is dark black now, there is a moderate swell so the ride is comfortable and there is only 6 knots of wind. Our position is lat. 22.37.784 S and long. 164.04.602 E.

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Anchoring Practise

Finally, we imagine that the winds have died down, at least our weather program indicates that they should only be about 12 to 15 knots (normal trade wind speeds). Regardless, we have done all that we can in Prony Bay and need to move on. Our choice destination is Mato Island. Mato is a submerged horseshoe shaped reef with a large rock island (the size of a large barn) on one side. There are three sail boats anchored inside the light blue sandy reef and there are kite surfers racing back and forth over any clear space. The weather guy is wrong again, the wind is still pushing 25 knots and there is a 2 foot chop on the water in the anchorage. Well, why can't we anchor on the lee side of the big rock island? It is sheltered from the wind and the water is nice and calm, but after three attempts to get the anchor hooked, we understand why there is no little anchor symbol on the chart... the bottom is smooth rock with no holding. Mato is another beautiful little white sand, blue water location that needs flat calm weather. Off we go to our next choice, the west side of Ouen Island, to hide from the south easterly winds, in the bay of the Turtle. According to our guide books, this should be a good anchorage and it has some interesting things to see and do on land. We anchor once beside a catamaran. The wind comes up and over the hills in front of us and the swell seems to find us too. The catamaran moves on and we decide to move to where it was anchored, closer to shore and maybe out of the swell. Still no peace. We up anchor again and head north along the island's west coast to Bay Ue, it has to be better there! There are three sail boats all hugging the shore line in a row, so we pull up the end of the line and anchor for a sixth time today. There is still strong gusting wind, but no swell. Whew, we can rest here and well deserved after a full day of anchor practise.

We find a great dive location at the small islet Tioae, off shore of the bay. Between the dive (we found Four octopus here!), climbing a shale covered hill to get a bird's eye view of the bay and long walks on the mile long beach picking shells, we manage to spend a couple of peaceful days.

Its time for some company again. Jackster and Oso Blanco are out of the marina now, so we agree to meet them at Island Mbe Kouen. This is our choice of anchorage and it is strongly recommended for winds such as we are "Still" getting. I don't know what kind of boats these guide writers traveled in, but they certainly had to be tiny craft to consider these "recommended" anchorages any kind of good. Mbe Kouen is literally a pile of sand with a reef around it and another reef at a right angle to it. Oh, no, another gorgeous bit of tropical beach and water that could use a big dose of calm weather. But we three boats are hardy sea boats now, so bring on the wind and waves, we can take it! We have pot luck dinner on board Oso Blanco. David plays taxi service with his dingy as it is too windy at 30 plus knots for us to set ours down safely. He is soaked to the skin after bashing through the waves from boat to boat. The evening is full of laughter and good food while the wind huffs and puffs outside our doors. By morning, Oso has exploded their anchoring bridle and all of the chaffing gear on ours is shredded. Eric's creaky voice (from lack of sleep) comes over the radio at 7:00 am "Anybody else had enough yet?" We all had. Jacqui was charged with picking the next anchorage and off we all trooped, two 64 ft Nordhavns and one 54 ft Amel sail boat, to Tiare on the main island of New Caledonia. This turns out to be a more protected bit of water, but sadly still too rough for us to do anything more than dingy to shore for a long beach walk. The sun is at least shining. We make the gruesome discovery of the body of a large turtle washed up on the beach. No visible causes of death, maybe the ingestion of a plastic bag which turtles mistake as jelly fish - their favorite food. The winds have calmed a bit by evening and our local boat gathering on Oso is as boisterous as ever. Why always on Oso? Because Eric and Ann's young son Bear (9 yrs) has all of his entertainment there and doesn't have to be bored with "adult stuff" by coming to either our boat or Jackster.

The next morning dawns, sunny and wouldn't you know it, dead calm! Great! (said with disgust) Glen and I have to head into the marina to get our visas to Australia applied for and inform the proper authorities of our upcoming arrival. This requires internet. Needless to say we are greatly disappointed to think we are going to be missing out on snorkeling and maybe even diving in these wonderful conditions. Oh, but our sadness is short lived as by the time we reach the marina, the ever present wind is happening again and reports from "the Gang" say the water fun, proved negative. So, O.K., fine, we'll go do some work!

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Isle of Pines

We wake up to find that we are anchored in what seems like the middle of a huge body of water. We are in the west arm of Rade du Norde an arm of Prony Bay. Who cares? We had a nice calm sleep with no visitors.

Our destination today is Isle of Pines, one of New Caledonia's Gems and as the name would imply, it is covered with their signature, tall, graceful pines. We are meeting Oso Blanco there, they have been anchoring out for the past two weeks with guests on board and are short of some supplies (liquid supplies) which we are bringing for them. The anchorage is Bay Kuto and it is definitely popular as there are about 15 boats all tucked in. It is truly a beautiful place. We do a dingy ride to shore so that we can do a walk around and are treated to the finest, white sand beaches we have yet to encounter. Like baby powder, rich, soft, shimmering. There are sunbathers everywhere as there are a number of resorts and guest houses. We are in search of the elusive internet signal, but the New Cal's have seclusion down to an art. There is internet there, but not for us to access. Rats! It is so hard to keep up with business and communications to home out here. O.K. so when on a beautiful beach….. take a walk and enjoy it. So we did. Eric and Ann have made dinner reservations (us included) for a nice restaurant on the beach. Happy Hour is done on the boat then we all dingy'd in for a very nice dinner and good company. They leave in the morning to slowly make their way back for their guest's departure.

The idyllic conditions of the bay were not to continue. During the night, the winds increased to 25 knots and the swell came into the anchorage making for a very rough night which was made even rougher by the early 5:00 am awakening by the sound of scrapping on the boat's hull. One of the other sail boats had dragged it's anchor and was sitting under our bow scratching up and down on our stainless bow plate and nearby fiberglass. We have finally been scared by our cruising life! Much French exclaiming and waving of hands (whatever that all means!!!) we both pull up and re-set further apart. We hang out for the day, hoping that things will calm down but by the next morning, we've had enough and head out to find calmer waters. The Isle of Pines is beautiful, but only in beautiful weather.

Back to Prony we go, it is a vast protected inlet really, with multiple bays. In this direction of wind, Prony is the only secure anchorage we can see in the South Lagoon. We stop for one night in Baie de la Somme. It isn't all that pretty, the area is rather dry, with red cracked hills covered with scrubby growth, but there is a dive site near here that we want to do, "the Needle". It is an underwater pinnacle formed by a hot mineral spring coming from the ocean floor. The architecture is wonderful and the sea life is varied and interesting with some very large fish as permanent residents. This area, New Caledonia, is colder water diving, average water temp is 73 degrees, where as Fiji was 80 degrees, so we dig out our 5 mil wet suits in order to enjoy the below surface sites. Another day finds us in the Carenage anchorage , there is a nice walk here and a hot pool (luke warm). In all, we hang out for three days hoping for the winds to go away. Not much like a tropical paradise right now!

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