No pictures of Green Island (not a lot to see really) and we only stayed the one night. It's only a mile or so south of St Helena and we were sheltering from an Easterly. Got up early in the morning and went over to Manly to re-provision. There's no public jetty there however the fuel dock is open at 0800 and when we'd finished filling the guy let us stay in one of the berths for a couple of hours while we did the shopping. Also took the opportunity to fill the water.
Hmm, struggling with the idea of dates in the blog. Should I leave the date automatic which shows when I wrote it or should I manually change it back to the date when it occurred?
Anyway, we stayed the night of the 8th, went to Manly on the 9th and I'm writing this on the 18th.
Grr, just went and looked and it didn't make sense at all with the dates. I've now decided that I'll just have to keep it more up to date or live with the dates looking a bit weird.
Saturday, 17 January 2015
Sunday, 11 January 2015
St Helena Island - Moreton Bay
On the 6th Jan we left Dockside again with an outgoing tide. Much nicer as we had reached the mouth of the river in just over 2 hours (about an hour faster than a few days before). Turned right into a 15 - 20 knot head wind and decided that we'd only go as far as St Helena Island which is only about 3 miles. Anchored in the shelter of the island for a couple of nights. Brisbane dock in the distance makes the cranes look like giraffes.
On the 8th Jan we went on to the island to look around and discovered it used be a prison between 1865 and 1932. It's all national park and you can walk around some bits but needed to book a guided tour for other parts of the island. Unfortunately neither of us took a phone hence no photos and we couldn't even ring up and find out more details about the guided tours.
On the 8th Jan we went on to the island to look around and discovered it used be a prison between 1865 and 1932. It's all national park and you can walk around some bits but needed to book a guided tour for other parts of the island. Unfortunately neither of us took a phone hence no photos and we couldn't even ring up and find out more details about the guided tours.
The New Year
We flew back from Canberra on the 30th December with Glenn and Necia and spent new years eve at dockside. It was pretty warm so my xmas present from Belinda (water pistol) got a workout with the neighbours on the dock.
We passed on going to Southbank on new years eve and instead took the ferry over on new years day and had a swim and a beer over there with slightly less of a crowd.
On the 2nd left the dock and went into an 15 kt easterly across Moreton Bay over to the sand hills (between 'Big' Sand Hills and 'Little' Sand Hills) at the south end of Moreton Island. We stayed there a couple of nights and managed a short picnic on a sand bank during low tide. While we were there I used an ex foliating glove and cleaned off some of the brown Brisbane river slime. Pretty happy that we only have a couple of barnacles after 6 months.
On the 4th we sailed up to Tangalooma and I managed 7.5 kts of boat speed with one reef in the main and a full head sail running at right angles to the same 15 kts easterly. Happy with that too!
Only spent an hour or so at Tangalooma while we got some ice and then moved to the top end of Lucinda Bay just south of Tangalooma to stay for the night. Very protected from the easterly.
On the 5th we headed back in to the river and up to Dockside again so Glenn and Necia would be able to make their flight the next day.
We passed on going to Southbank on new years eve and instead took the ferry over on new years day and had a swim and a beer over there with slightly less of a crowd.
On the 2nd left the dock and went into an 15 kt easterly across Moreton Bay over to the sand hills (between 'Big' Sand Hills and 'Little' Sand Hills) at the south end of Moreton Island. We stayed there a couple of nights and managed a short picnic on a sand bank during low tide. While we were there I used an ex foliating glove and cleaned off some of the brown Brisbane river slime. Pretty happy that we only have a couple of barnacles after 6 months.
On the 4th we sailed up to Tangalooma and I managed 7.5 kts of boat speed with one reef in the main and a full head sail running at right angles to the same 15 kts easterly. Happy with that too!
Only spent an hour or so at Tangalooma while we got some ice and then moved to the top end of Lucinda Bay just south of Tangalooma to stay for the night. Very protected from the easterly.
On the 5th we headed back in to the river and up to Dockside again so Glenn and Necia would be able to make their flight the next day.
Tuesday, 16 December 2014
Brisbane storm
Martin getting caught in a storm coming back across the river on Thursday the 27th November.
Here's the video
Here's the video
Update: 16 Dec. Just had the quote done today. $3,300 for the bonnet and roof after we've already done $500 for a new windscreen. Fortunately all covered by insurance but the excess hurts.
Belinda still on the boat in the same storm
End result for the boat is some fabric / vinyl needs to be replaced. Solar panels look like someone has attacked them with a ball peen hammer and the anemometer (3 cup things that go round and tell me how fast the wind is) is a little worse for wear.
All in all it could have been a lot worse.
Wednesday, 19 November 2014
Nearly finished working again
Been a really busy couple of months. Now that the G20 meeting has finished and I'm not doing shift work life can get back to normal. I've still got another couple of weeks to go working out near the airport and then we'll head home for Christmas. Met a great bunch of people working in the events management industry which is new to me (industry not meeting great people), some technical challenges but mostly about customer service.
We've been staying at the Dockside marina which is really close to the city with the only down side being the wake created by the ferries as they go past. During the day they mostly stick to the speed limit but when they finish at midnight it seems to be a race to get back to the base for the night. It's also nice waking up early and everything being dead calm until about 0602 when the first ferry of the day starts.
Despite the fact that Dockside is close to the city, for the last 2 weeks we've been staying in a hotel in the city which has made it easier for the late nights, early mornings and supporting different people in the hotels throughout the city. Made a nice change to have aircon 24/7.
No more work for this year, it's time for some boat maintenance. I've ordered the sealant for the port side window and that'll take me a couple of days with the help of Greg. That reminds me, I need to do a post about the people on the dock here.
Anyway, time for me to start the day but I will do a catchup of the last couple of months.
We've been staying at the Dockside marina which is really close to the city with the only down side being the wake created by the ferries as they go past. During the day they mostly stick to the speed limit but when they finish at midnight it seems to be a race to get back to the base for the night. It's also nice waking up early and everything being dead calm until about 0602 when the first ferry of the day starts.
Despite the fact that Dockside is close to the city, for the last 2 weeks we've been staying in a hotel in the city which has made it easier for the late nights, early mornings and supporting different people in the hotels throughout the city. Made a nice change to have aircon 24/7.
No more work for this year, it's time for some boat maintenance. I've ordered the sealant for the port side window and that'll take me a couple of days with the help of Greg. That reminds me, I need to do a post about the people on the dock here.
Anyway, time for me to start the day but I will do a catchup of the last couple of months.
Wednesday, 1 October 2014
Brisbane here we come
On the Canaipa Passage, staying the night at Canaipa Point riding out the southerly that just hit.
Monday, 8 September 2014
Sunday, 31 August 2014
Goodbye Iluka - Yamba
Well we have left the Clarence River, tonight we will anchor in Byron Bay ETA 1700hrs.
In a couple of days we will finally be in the Gold Coast, our home for the next month :-)
Wednesday, 20 August 2014
!@#$% weather
Darn weather can't make up it's mind. Yesterday we went for a walk about a quarter way along the breakwater wall. Took a video which I'll upload later that shows how rough it was. Forecast was for 22 knots from the south and it came in about 2pm. With the forecast for the next week showing combinations of wind over 20 knots and swell up to 3.6 metres we have decided to come in to the marina at Yamba and stay on the dock.
We came over here at 6 this morning and the breeze has dropped right off to less than 5 knots and the water is like glass. Anyway, we're here for a week now.
We came over here at 6 this morning and the breeze has dropped right off to less than 5 knots and the water is like glass. Anyway, we're here for a week now.
Sunday, 17 August 2014
And the weather window closes ...
So the hope was to be leaving Yamba / Iluka early on Tuesday morning and staying in front of a 15 knot southerly with 2.5m swell heading up to the Gold Coast arriving Wednesday midday ish.
Anyway looks like it's coming through a bit earlier and by the time we get to Byron Bay it will have caught up with us. We'd be running with a 3m southerly swell up to the border at least but it should have died down to 1.5m by the time we get to the Gold Coast. I guess at least it would be behind us. We'll still go under the Harwood bridge tomorrow just in case the forecast changes again but at this stage we'll be here another week or so. The arrows show wind strength and direction while the shaed blue shows the swell height.
Anyway looks like it's coming through a bit earlier and by the time we get to Byron Bay it will have caught up with us. We'd be running with a 3m southerly swell up to the border at least but it should have died down to 1.5m by the time we get to the Gold Coast. I guess at least it would be behind us. We'll still go under the Harwood bridge tomorrow just in case the forecast changes again but at this stage we'll be here another week or so. The arrows show wind strength and direction while the shaed blue shows the swell height.
And the swell direction and height
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