Running Out of Luck

After the dolphin feeding fun was over we motored up to Coolibah Creek on Fraser Island to anchor overnight in preparation for our final 80 mile sail to Brisbane the next morning. After sailing over 10,000 nautical miles around island chains and across open oceans this short journey proved to be the most challenging for us so far. Two days earlier we had attempted to cross the bar but turned back when the Coastguard advised us that another yacht had suffered sail damage and the conditions could only be described as 'ugly out there'. Maybe our luck had finally began to run out as the following series of events unfolded for our next attempt. The engine on Faraway had been running a little rough over the last few days so in the overnight anchorage Ian decided to change the fuel filter. He was unable to prime the fuel without air bubbles forming and the engine would run for a few minutes then stop starved of fuel. We changed the filter again and still had the same problem four hours later. There was no way that we could cross the shallow and dangerous Wide Bay Bar in the morning without a reliable engine. We called a Yanmar engine specialist in Tin Can Bay and he suggested to check the fuel lines back to the source. Luckily Ian spotted the problem immediately. One of the copper fuel hose connectors had sheared off from the fuel tank preventing a constant fuel flow to the engine. Ian managed to reconnect the hose with some spare watermaker parts and our engine started to work again like magic. There was only time left for a quick dinner and an early night as we had a 4:30am start the next day. We woke up to a miserable and rainy day but pulled the dinghy up and our anchor and headed towards the bar. We could see at least 12 other yachts motoring out as well to cross the bar at high tide. This was a good sign compared to our first attempt at crossing the bar when we didn't see any other yachts out on the water. We were both apprehensive about the crossing but realised that once we were over it would be a straight run down to Brisbane. There was only one spot where it became shallow on the bar and the waves were steep between 2 to 3 metres but our engine held out and Faraway glided over the big waves effortlessly. Unfortunately the predicted winds never came so we had to motor south. The visibility was so poor that we nearly didn't see a small fishing boat bobbing out on the ocean across our path (I have no idea why they would be out fishing in such a small boat in terrible conditions). I took a bleak photo of the coloured sands on the famous 40 mile beach as we motor sailed past. After 5 hours of motoring we decided to stop off at Laguna Bay in Noosa to put the anchor down and give Faraway and ourselves a rest. We planned to leave around 10pm that night with the wind and sail down to Brisbane for sunrise. That was the plan. After anchoring out off the shark nets in fairly calm conditions and light winds we had some lunch and a rest. The winds started to increase late afternoon and by 4pm we decided that the swell was getting too big for comfort. Ian went on deck to put the lines out for a downwind sail when all of a sudden Faraway seemed to suddenly change direction in the water. I could see the shark nets and the beach getting closer and closer. We were drifting onto the beach! Ian yelled out to pull the anchor up so I ran to the bow and started winching. I hadn't winch very far when a length of chain came up without our 70lb anchor. Our anchor chain had snapped and our faithful anchor was lost forever. Our worst nightmare had happened after all these miles. Ian had to cold start the engine and we accelerated through the waves out to sea. I was in shock at this stage. After 15 mins we called the Coastguard so they could warn the other yachts anchored in the bay. The Coastguard then informed us that a severe thunderstorm was headed our way as the day turned into night. As I looked out of the cockpit all I could see were thunderclouds and lightning. There was no escape we were surrounded by bad weather. Ian decided to run north to avoid the storms that were showing up on the radar in an intensity that we had never seen before. Lightning was hitting the water all around us and also on land. The situation had become extremely dangerous. Ian tracked the storm until we could head south. Luckily we managed to avoid the worst of it. The predicted wind did not arrive so we continued motoring along the coast until we reached an area south of Mooloolaba. We were able to sail a course here to fill in time so we could be south of Caloundra for entrance into the North West Channel at sunrise. Ian kept a good watch during the night for large ships which were anchored off shore waiting for their pilots. The sunrise brought clear skies and a beautiful view over Caloundra and the Glass House Mountains. We slowly motored along the channel into Moreton Bay. I saw a small pod of dolphins which was a nice welcome. We were both totally exhausted and looking forward to getting into Scarborough Marina for a rest. We arrived safely around 10am just in time to avoid more thunderstorms and the heavy rain that hit the coast around noon. I'm happy to hang up my anchor for a a while now and have some land time. We won't be going very far anyway until we buy some more chain and a replacement anchor. If there is a Santa Claus we could certainly do with a visit!

Tin Can Bay - Dolphin Feeding

On Friday, December 9 we took the dinghy to shore early to drop Peter off to catch the bus to Brisbane. We moored the dinghy right next to a cafe where the locals have been feeding rare Indo-Pacific Humpback dolphins since the 1950's. I just had to take a look and ran over in time to see the last fish being hand fed to one of these unusual looking dolphins. The last photo shows one of the dolphins looking very lonely! He was waiting around for more food so the guides asked everyone to leave the area so he would know there was no more food and return to sea. It was pretty incredible to see the dolphins up so close and I've copied a little bit of interesting information about these marine mammals from the Barnacles Dolphin Centre website.

History of the Tin Can Dolphins

We are often asked “how did these dolphins come to interact with the locals at Tin Can Bay”? It started back in the 1950’s when an injured dolphin beached himself on the sand at Barnacles Cafe. The locals took pity on him and started to feed him. This dolphin was well battle scarred and became known as ‘Old Scarry’. Once he was well enough Old Scarry returned to the wild but regularly returned to the bay to visit the locals and enjoy a free meal.

The second well known dolphin at Tin Can Bay was a female, also called Scarry. In 1991, there was much excitement when Scarry arrived in the bay with a calf. The local school children named this one ‘Mystique’ who continues to visit the bay on a daily basis as the third generation to carry on this tradition.

Mystique is the alpha male of his pod and is also scarred from his many battles, including a battle with a bull shark in December 2007. Once again a dolphin sought refuge in the cove at Barnacles with volunteers feeding and caring for him around the clock for 10 days. Once he was able to hunt for himself, Mystique thanked everyone with an aerial display before heading out with Patch to return to the wild.

Patch is a female member of Mystique’s pod who started to come into the Cove to feed after the disappearance of Scarry. She is thought to be around 23 years old and weigh just over 200 kg. In comparison to Mystique she has very few battle scars and she is throwing a pink colour as she ages.

More recently another young dolphin known as ‘Harmony’ began visiting regularly with Mystique. Harmony is a juvenile male thought to be about three years old. This makes the fourth generation of dolphin to feed with the locals and visitors to Tin Can Bay. Harmony is also quite scarred for one so young and appears to be holding up the family tradition of liking a good fight. Harmony is very inquisitive and likes to check out his human visitors from a distance.

Dire Straits

We are still up in the Sandy Straits with our friend Peter who we met while sailing the South Pacific. Peter, a seasoned sailor and Professional Skipper decided to call in on us for a visit on Faraway en-route back home to New Zealand. Our plan is to sail south to Brisbane by the end of this week but at the moment there are strong wind warnings, big seas and rain clouds looming overhead of us. We are basically stuck here until the weather situation improves. We picked Peter up on Wednesday in Tin Can Bay then motored north through the narrow Sheridan Flats to seek shelter in Kingfisher Bay from the severe thunderstorms and winds that were predicted to head our way. We arrived in the bay late afternoon and quickly went ashore to explore the resort with Peter. We sat on the beach and had sundowners while watching the storm brew over on the mainland. We had already stowed and tied everything away onboard Faraway in preparation for the storm. Luckily the storm virtually went around us and we sat in the cockpit watching the lightning show and the sunset beneath the towering black clouds. We experienced strong wind gusts over the next few days and it has been mostly very hot and sunny. We have spent the days hiking the bush tracks, pumping for yabbies, kayaking and fishing off the jetty. Ian has spent hours working on our generator and engine but we have found some time to relax for a change. On Saturday afternoon we watched a beautiful golden sunset over the mouth of the Maryborough River from the bow of Faraway. As the sun slid beneath the horizon a large turtle breached the surface of the water very close to Faraway. At that moment we realized how special this journey was and appreciated the opportunity to explore Fraser Island from a yacht. After enjoying all that nature has to offer Peter suggested that we head over to the resort for a restaurant meal. We had quick showers and put our ‘normal’ clothes on for the occasion and braved the return dinghy trip in the dark. We had some yummy cocktails and a delicious dinner in the Seabells Restaurant. The next day we were all slow to start but I went for a nice kayak along the mangroves while Ian pumped for yabbies. Faraway looked at home against the back drop of white sandy beaches, tall coloured sand dunes and bright blue skies. We decided to head south in the afternoon and made an overnight stop at the South White Cliffs anchorage. Unfortunately the bugs were all over us because we anchored very close to the mangroves and the wind had dropped off. Today we were up at 5:30am to head down to Garry’s anchorage on the high tide. Before we set off Ian and Peter went to check the crab pots and they were lucky enough to get one big buck Mud Crab. The crab is destined for our plates at lunchtime today if Ian can get motivated to clean and cook him. It is a very rainy and overcast day but a nice change from the scorching heat of the last few weeks. While the sun isn’t shining I have time to catch up on the blog and start writing those soon to be overdue Christmas cards!

Tin Can Bay Marina

We have spent the last 2 days in Tin Can Bay Marina doing the clothes washing and washing down Faraway. For a yacht she was starting to smell quite fishy with all the crab bait and fish bait that had been passed over the aft deck. The Marina is in a lovely location next to beautiful parks and nature reserves teeming with wildlife. My favourites are the rainbow lorikeets shown in this photo. When the tide is out in the bay the scenery changes dramatically and it is possible to walk and fish along the mud banks. At the moment the military is letting off unexploded bombs and flares on the nearby range so the sunsets have been pretty spectacular with the smoke in the sky. November is one of the hottest times of the year in this part of Australia and Ian and I are finding the days pretty exhausting if we are outdoors. Luckily there is normally a cooling breeze in the afternoon that we can look forward to.

Porky and Steely Visit

After Whitey left my brother Andrew and his mate Steely took the forward cabin! Andrew brought his motor boat down from Gladstone and the boys loaded Faraway with their food and bags then zipped off to set their crab pots while the tide was right. They met up with us for lunch on board Faraway at the Elbow. After lunch we all went to shore and pumped for yabbies. It was pretty easy once we found the right spot but unfortunately the fish weren't even biting on yabbies. We went back to Faraway and Ian cooked a great BBQ meat dinner for us. The boys were exhausted so we all got a pretty early night in. The next morning we were up early and jumped into Andrews boat to do some fishing with lures. We drove right in close to the mangroves and saw loads of turtles, rays and sea birds. It was great to see so much life in one small area. I was the only person to catch a fish and it turned out to be a shovel nose shark with a very cute face shown in the top photo. Andrew's mate Steely turned out to be the 'Mud Crab Whisperer'. He knew everything there is to know about catching these delicacies and zoomed off in the dinghy with Ian to pull up the pots while Andrew and I fished. They ended up catching 3 males which were enough for dinner for the 4 of us. Steely brought a gas cooker with him and the boys hit the beach before sunset to cook the crabs. Andrew proved to be a deft hand at cleaning the crabs and he kept us supplied with lots of meat from the claws for our dinner. It was nice to have the boys on board for the weekend and we both learned a lot about fishing and crabbing (even though we didn't catch a 'keeper' fish between the 4 of us.

Whitey visits Faraway

When Helen and Jess left Faraway our old time friend Whitey from Peregian Beach came on board. He was very keen to do some fishing with us off Fraser Island. It was a territory he normally visited by 4 wheel drive so this was a new experience for him. Whitey brought enough cool boxes to keep us going for a week in beers and bait and Ian had to do 2 dinghy trips to get all the items on Faraway. We had to put a cool box behind the wheel and the photo shows Whitey making a nice seat out of it. We spent the first night on Faraway anchored in Tin Can Bay. Whitey got his largest fishing rod out in search of a big pelagic fish. After an hour of no action he suddenly got a big strike on his line. He played the fish but it swam under our boat and wrapped itself around our anchor chain and broke the line. We argued over the next few days whether it was a shark or stingray that got away but Whitey insisted he had a huge fish hooked! The next day we sailed up to 'The Bluff' and anchored there for the night. We fished on a sand spit but the boys didn't catch anything except for a couple of toad fish and a bird. Unfortunately Whitey hooked the bird while fishing. The photo shows Ian releasing the bird from the hook. Luckily it flew off unharmed and none the worse for its experience. I got sidetracked from all the fishing by a pod of Pacific Humpback Dolphins that cruised by us. I followed them all the way along the beach and at one stage managed to get waist deep in the water with them before Ian came zooming along in the dinghy worried that there would be sharks in the water. It was a truly memorable experience to be so close in the water to these rare sea creatures. On Saturday morning we sadly had to return Whitey to shore in preparation for our next guests on board Faraway.

Helen and Jess Stonier Visit

My sister Helen and her daughter Jessica (my niece) visited Faraway for a couple of days of crabbing and fishing in the Sandy Straits. Jessica really enjoyed going crabbing with Uncle Ian and Helen got straight back into the fishing again. We had a nice time cruising between Inskip Point and Elbow Point. We caught a sand crab shown in the photo but unfortunately it was too small to keep. Ian and Jess were lucky enough to catch a male mud crab and Helen cooked him up for dinner on the second night. The photo shows Ian grinning after that perfect crab catch! We had a nice time with our relatives playing board games after sundowner drinks.

Ian gets Crabby

Ian and I are still hanging out in the Sandy Straits. It is such a beautiful part of Southern Queensland located in the wilderness area of Fraser Island (the largest sand island in the world). Ian bought himself a crab pot and has been enjoying trying his luck every day to catch the prized mud crab. This is Ian with a legal sized crab but unfortunately he couldn't keep it because it was a girl (Jenny). In Queensland you can only keep the male (buck) crabs for eating. Well every day Ian has become more frustrated as he has only caught girls so he is taking a break to figure out how to catch a male. We have watched some truly beautiful sunsets during the last week and have enjoyed staying in the same place for more than a few days. We have fished a lot but to date haven't really caught anything legal size. Ian is so proud even when he catches a toad fish! The top photo shows Ian fishing from the dinghy after the Fraser Island Ferry almost ran him down. Hopefully we will have better luck when my brother and his mate join us next weekend with their local knowledge, crab pots and professional fishing gear.

Sailing the Sandy Straits with my sister

After our arrival in Bundaberg and meeting up with family members we took my brave sister cruising along the Sandy Straits in Faraway. Helen took to sailing like a fish to water and seemed to enjoy every moment of the cruising life. She was so relaxed that after only 1 hour of sailing she started doing some needlework in the cockpit. We motor sailed down to Moon Point for our first night's anchorage. The next day we went ashore in the dinghy and explored the wilderness shores of Fraser Island. We saw a lot of stingrays feeding in the shallows and hundreds of shore birds wading for their dinner. The next day we sailed down to Kingfisher Bay Resort and went ashore to do some hiking and explored the resort. In the afternoon we sailed further down the straits to South White Cliffs and did some fishing during our sundowner drinks. Unfortunately nothing was biting so we quit early and enjoyed more drinks and a BBQ dinner cooked by Ian. In the morning we made an early start so we could motor through the shallow Sheridan Flats so we could arrive in Tin Can Bay marina by mid afternoon. We put Faraway on a marina berth and packed our bags to spend a weekend on land in Brisbane. My sister wasn't finished with sailing and is due to come back and join us soon.

Bundaberg Rum

We made it into Bundaberg Port Marina at around 8:30am and tied up on the Customs and Quarantine dock. We had a very friendly welcome to Australia and Immigration, Customs and Quarantine inspected our boat and released us after only 1 hour of discussion and inspection. We then moved Faraway to her marina berth and said a quick farewell to Arthur who jumped ship to catch a bus. We enjoyed our afternoon on land and had a well earned snooze when I heard someone knocking on the hull of the boat. I stumbled up on deck and a lady from the marina had a big bunch of congratulation flowers sent from Ian's mum, dad, sister and friends Jeanie and John. Ian and I were very surprised and delighted that they even managed to coordinate this from overseas. The next day we were inundated with relatives and the celebrations continued. The relatives have now left except for my sister Helen who has volunteered to come sailing with us for a few days around Hervey Bay. Helen and her husband Gavin also took us grocery shopping (after most of our food was confiscated or drunk) and to the Bundaberg Rum distillery today and we bought some delicious souvenirs! The humpback whales are still in Hervey Bay so hopefully we will see some more whale action in the next few days. It's late spring in Australia at the moment but Ian and I have found it quite cold after our South Pacific adventure and my tan is starting to fade already.