1/7/20 Wed. Early start leaving from West coast of Fraser Is in the dark at 4.30 am . Motored till dawn then attempted sail with main and screecher. Wind full astern and floppy screecher. Motored till 9am. Tried to sail again screecher only. Arrived Lady Elliott 2.30 pm , took up island mooring then asked dive boat where the other blue mooring was. 1 Yacht on blue mooring. Other mooring further north east, off breaking reef. All positions rolly. Ashore to test out snorkel gear after calling channel 68 to island for permission. Quick snorkel over broken coral then back to boat for a rough night, secure on mooring.
2/7/20 Thur.To Lady Musgrave. Had planned to stay and snorkel but way too much swell . Left for Lady Musgrave 22 nm away. Sailed under Main and screecher . Swell still 1-1.5 meters but less beam on so better ride.22 boats in lagoon but nice visisbilityat dead low to come in and anchor. Swam off boat and checked anchor. Lovely calm anchorage. Made water,light winds.
3/7/20 Fri . Lovely calm night. Slept in then snorkelled from dinghy anchored off south west corner at mid tide.Greg and Peter up top top of mast in bosuns chair. Snorkeled north west side at 3pm. Coral Bloom causing problems and covered our hair. Good coral and lots of small fish. Peter snorkelled without fins.Pressure cooked brisket for dinner.
4/7/20 Sat.15-23 knots. Boisterous mooring with higher winds. Made water, read, Greg organised boat documents. Tried to watch movie , then interrupted by Greg under sink flooding water. He removed the water filter with the water pump on!Nice clean kitchen cupboard and wet carpet as a result.Ashore at low tide for a walk around island. Boys up the light tower. No signal. Winds continued overnight. Greg caught a variety of small fish, kiss and release, then caught a large fish (50cm)unsure what it was. Later found out it was a Blackall or mother in laws fish . If you have any other fish you give it to your mother in law to eat!
5/7/20 /Sun. lady Musgrave. Wind continues 18 knts average. As usual generator on for making water ( 200 Lts) and water heater. Stayed aboard for morning due to wind. Off to snorkel northern rim of reef at lowish tide. Lovely coral gardens. 4 average size turtles and one enormous one sitting in a bommie hollow with his smaller wife. Breeze cold but water warm. Home to scale and barbecue fish from last night. Fish okay eating but not the greatest. Wind dropped in afternoon , able to kayak to southern lagoon long bommie. Able to drift view. Wind dropping. Full moon rise.
6/7/20 Mon. Musgrave 10 -15 knots.Generator and made water. Discussion about moving anchor chain from around Bommie where it had wrapped itself. Help offered by neighbour cat Star Gazer on vhf. While releasing clutch on windlass, chain began to free fall and sheared off end of shaft. Yikes. Hand pulled 70 metres of chain back on with Peter threading into chain locker. Assisted by Stuart from Stargazer under scuba. He had to disconnect anchor and unwind chain from around bommie. Pulled anchor and remaining chain onto tramp and moved to pick up mooring and sorted out the mess. Decision to go to Gladstone tomorrow for windlass repair.
7/7/20 Tuesday. Musgrave to Gladstone marina. 67km. Started to drop mooring 0700. While travelling slowly hit a large bommie with the bottom of the starboard keel . !!! Reversed off and returned to pick up mooring to assess damage. Trickling water into bilge near head. Stuart back in scuba to check damage and used underwater putty to repair hole in forward part of keel.
Seemed to slow leak down. Decision to head to Gladstone. Long rough sail in 20 -27 knts with a cross swell . Lots of slamming, Under motor and Genoa as not up to any more excitement with reefing main. Arrived at duski into East channel marker lights. Called Port authority re entrance. Last gas tanker leaving port and no further ships down channel for 2 hours. Yay! Entered harbour area in dark following channel markers. Very bright industry lights making for nerve wracking experience. Turned into Marina with very confusing dredging lights in operation. Finally figured out access to berth on the end . Greg did a beautiful reverse down dock to berth and in. Grateful to see Dale and Jeaness from Muscat and their little girls ready to catch our lines. Great relief to be in.
8/7/20 Wednesday. Gladstone Marina.Great day ordering new winch and shaft part for windlass. Washing. Ordered Iridium go . Chased down fusion part which was meant to be sent to Mum.But addressed 9 Bronson which is a demolished cemetery house. Yacht club dinner and walk back across bridge to Marina precinct. Travel lift and fiberglass guy organised for Monday.
9/7/20 Thursday. Travel lift not big enough for our boat. Investigated Burnett Heads then Urangan. Will have to go back to Urangan. Shopping and Bunnings , fish and chips for dinner. Leak very slow .
10/7/20 Friday. Organised boat stuff. Took out para anchor, and drogue onto grassy area. Spoke with Daniel from Samsara and their difficulties dragging anchor at Lady Elliott Island.Windlass finally arrived at 4.30 so mad scramble to get it installed before dark and re thread 75 metres of chain back onto it.Neville and Lisa Sonter on their way down from Micks funeral in Proserpine. Came for drinks and then all out for dinner in town.Lucky to find a restaurant with room for us with Covid restrictions.
11/7/20 Sat. Greg and Peter off to Bunnings early in Peters hire car.Weather looking good to head south.Aiming for Pancake ck tonight. Nervous but happy to be moving towards a fix in fine weather. Great motor to Pancake Ck. Gentle swell most of journey down sea lane. No big ships again. Slow careful entry via leads into inner anchorage and took up mooring. Dead still and beautiful sunset. Used 2 ropes on mooring. Leak from damage continues mild. But sump pump working every 30 – 45 minutes. Fires at Bustard head . Smokey.
12/7/20 Sun. Pancake ck, Up early. Smoke haze but able to navigate out at low tide .Messages to Peter and Michelle on Round Hill Hd at Agnes Waters as we motored by on gorgeous , sunny , low swell conditions. Able to sail with Screecher from 9.30 to sundown when wind died. Wind 9 knots sailing at 6.5 knts. Sailed a little further on Genoa then furled. Also caught a Spanish mackerel at Sundown. Greg made quick work of chopping up and into freezer. Don’t want cigutera during night passage so will eat while close to land. Gentle motor slow into night to avoid arriving Harvey Bay too early. Took ages past Bundaberg/Burnett hds entrance. No other boats. Pitch black using radar , like driving full speed with your lights out. Kym on watch till midnight then Greg till 5 am. Called travel lift arranged for haul out at 12.30 today.
13/7/20 Mon Boatyard Harvey Bay.Past fairway mark around 9 am,Parked outside harbour using windlass for first time . Into lift at 2pm. Strap over window as per diagram.On lift realised this was pushing the earthing plate into hull on port side. Boat chocked on blocks and Greg knocked off holding putty to release water. Fiberglass guy confident of good repair.Asleep in a boatyard on our own.
14/7/20 Tues. Boatyard. Leak draining still, Greg removed earth plate to check for damage.
15/7/20 Wed thr to Sat 18/7/20 Boatyard. Scott working on fiberglass, still trying to dry out middle area on keel with heat gun., Greg in contact with Insurance . 2 trips to Bunnings and Stockland by Bus. Earthing plate reattached and sealed. Hopefully it doesn’t leak on refloat.
19/7/20 Sun. Boatyard. Cleaned teak and then walk to café, then continued to Torquay, Scarness. F&C lunch in the park. Bus to bunnings then Uber back to boat as no buses Sunday.Laundry and prepare for leaving tomorrow.Glorious weather. Spoke with Tom and Sabine who are busy installing air con in their bus ready for sale of shop in Sept. Greg spent afternoon humping 100 litres fuel to top up. Still a little scared of docking – ie fuel dock.
20/7/20 Mon. Boat finally back in water 10am on Murphys ship lift Urangan. Immediately set off north. Arrived burnett Hds 1830 and anchored in the dark off the Marina.
21/7/20 Tues.Departed at first light. 10-15 kn SE increasing to 25k by 1600. Pancake Ck very crowded and had to anchor closer than we were comfortable with.
22/7/20 Wed. Greg up early and anchor had dragged. Tried to reset in another spot closer to entrance. Hopeless due to strong current. Tried to pick up mooring bouy near entrance but too small for us and broke our boat hook. Worried that outside was 30 kn and too rough but had no choice so headed to Gladstone anyway. Only 15-20 outside and mild swell . Good trip to Gladstone and 2 nights in Marina to regroup during southerly blow.
24/7/20 Friday. Left marina 0545, arrived Hummocky Is 2pm. Met other cruisers on beach who knew Discovery from the New Cal last year. Rolly night on anchor.
25/7/20 Sat. Nice sail from Hummocky to Wreck Bay Keppel. Only 2 other yachts with us.
26/7/20 Sunday stayed in Wreck Bay on our own after local fisherman gave us some squid. Walked to main lighthouse track and talked to James at the top.
28/7/20 Tues. Wreck Bay to Pearl Bay , 0600 – arrived 1630. 10-15 SW . Quite a few already in Pearl Bay. Didn’t go ashore.
29/7/20 Wed Departed Pearl Bay 0630 for 55.4 NM to Middle Percy West Bay. Wind dropped late morning, motored arrived 1700 . Followed most of the way by the Ketch Mandalay who we later met.
30/7/20 Thursday. Walked most of the way to homestead, left Discovery plaque in the A frame for posterity. Used a piece of fibreglass from cutouts in air con cupboard. Drinks on Mandalay for sundowners. Maggie and Tony.
31/7/20 Friday. Departed West bay at dawn 20 -25 kn building to 28. Wrapped screecher while trying to furl it. Dangerous exercise dropping sail to deck in swell and 28 kns. Lessons learned. Tied Screecher to deck and continued to Scawfell and blissful calm attached to marine park mooring. Mandalay motorsailed behind all day.
Scawfell ISland
2020 Wandering Aimlessly 