SEPTEMBER 7 , 2005

Journal Entry July 31-Pancake Creek Aug22-"River Rats" Page 1 Page 2

August 24 - 30, 2005

On Wednesday, August 24, we left Island Head Creek and traveled to Hexham Island where we spent a rolly night at anchor. Several of the islands in this northern part of Queensland have anchorages that protect from the southeast tradewinds, however, most of them are rolly due to the ocean swell that comes around the rocky island headlands. As well, the tides are huge in this part of the country and tidal ranges can be up to 15 feet twice a day. When the tidal current and the tradewinds are in opposition, it makes for a rolly time at the anchorage.

We left in the morning for Middle Percy Island and had a great spinnaker run of several hours. We had plans to enter the tidal boat harbour at Middle Percy because we had been told that this would be a good place for a catamaran to "dry out" in order for Paul to change the zinc anodes on the propellers. This means that we would purposely put ourselves in a place where we would be sitting in the sand at low tide.

Going into the tidal boat harbour meant that we had to wait at anchor outside of the entrance for two hours until we had enough water to cross the bar. We spent the two hours rocking in the swell and, because of this, knew that we didn't want to spend a night out there. While we were waiting, another catamaran, Ricki Ticki Tavi, arrived and waited as well for high tide. We had met this couple and their two young boys at Island Head Creek and they had spent the previous night at Hexham. One of the young boys, Tom, is an avid fisher and he had shown us where to fish at Island Head.

A few hours later, both catamarans were inside the harbour, in a lagoon. Ricki Ticki Tavi set anchor and tied up near the entrance, with the stern tied to a mangrove tree. We wanted to be in closer to the mangroves so that we would dry out for sure, thus we dropped anchor further in and then tied up, bow in, to several of the mangroves.

What a weird experience. Twice a day, we were high and dry. Unfortunately, we weren't quite level where we were sitting and there was a bit of a downward slope toward the stern of the boat which made it awkward moving around inside the boat at low tide. What was nice is that we could get off of the boat and walk around in the sand and mud at low tide.

Drying out like this means, however, that you have to change routines on the boat a bit. For instance, at low tide and for a few hours before and after there would be no seawater to draw up into the toilet for rinsing the bowl, so we had to keep a pail of seawater in the bathroom. We also couldn't use our watermaker to make water and we couldn't run the engines to charge the batteries unless it was high tide and we were floating. A few little, but very important, things to think about.

 

We couldn't do this if we had a monohull! We never realized how fat Bella Via is until we saw her dried out. Note that we now have a Canadian flag decal on each bow.


               
        Click on Pics to enlarge

It was while we were sitting "high and dry" at Middle Percy Island that Paul sat down and tried to describe his typical day for a few close friends and family. Here are excerpts from that message…"After an initial gander at the boat sitting in the sand, I climb back aboard to participate in my usual morning HAM radio net. Although it's not my day for net control, it is always interesting listening to the other boats on the net, what they are doing, and where they are going. Most of my contacts are traveling the east coast of Australia or in New Caledonia and Vanuatu. They are an excellent source of information to newbies like us. The HAM net starts at 6:40 and is usually finished by 7:15, which is followed by breakfast on the "Lido Deck". That's what Mary calls our cockpit when she fantasizes that it's a cruise ship where she is being waited on hand and foot. Breakfast consists of yogurt, granola, toast and reading. Conversation is OK but mostly reading is what happens at this time. After breakfast, it's time to get to work - the reason why we have dried the boat out in the first place. The anodes on the prop need to be changed. While I'm under the bottom, I may as well scrape away the barnacles that are starting to collect on the sail drives and the prop. Most disconcerting is how the barnacles, in seven months, have almost completely closed off the engine water intakes. More on this later. The first set of anodes gets replaced - no problems. When I go to install the second set, I discover that the spare parts that I have been sold are not identical and will NOT do the job. I have 6 sets of these spare anodes. Only 1 of the 6 is the correct size. The five others will have to be sent back to the dealer and the correct ones will need to be sent to me somewhere along the coast. I have to reinstall the old, worn anodes onto one of the sail drives. It continues to amaze me how we could have so many screw-ups and failures in such a short period of time. Enough of my belly-aching. After finishing with the anodes, I take a putty knife and use it to scrape away the barnacles that are growing on the sail drive. The good news is that the extra coats of bottom paint that I paid for seem to be doing their job and there is very little growth on the bottom of the boat. I also use this time to do a close inspection of the entire bottom of the boat, looking for anything that might not look right. All SEEMS well. With the jobs complete, it's a good photo-op, so Mary gets dragged out of the boat and onto the hard to take some pictures of me and Bella Via. After working on the bottom of the boat, I decide to reset my anchor. Remember, the tide has gone out and everything around us is completely dried, so resetting the anchor means walking over to it, digging it out of the sand and moving it to a new location. Enough work has been done for one day and I see that our boat neighbours, a cruising family with two boys, 8 and 10, are fishing in a deep pool at the entrance to our little harbour. I grab my fishing rod and tackle box and head over for another lesson on how to catch fish here in OZ. We aren't there long when squid begin to be attracted to a special squid lure that Greg, the father of this family, is using. I get out my squid lure - a very old one that was given to me as a gift by an elderly Australian couple that we had aboard some months ago. In half an hour, we landed 7 good size squid, most of them caught on my beat up old lure. Next comes squid cleaning 101. Not too bad really, just so long as you are not near anything that can be stained by the tremendous amount of dark, black ink that the squid squirt out while you are cleaning them. The seven squid are enough to feed a full meal to 7 people. We share the catch and I must now wade waist deep back to Bella Via because the tide has now risen and covered the sand that was once joining the two boats. It's now time for "Lunch on the LIDO Deck". Lunch consists of left over cabbage rolls from last night's dinner, (we eat very well) and lots of conversation about all that we have learned today. Conversation also includes discussion and plans for receiving a replacement water maker pump and motor from the manufacturer in California - yet another item aboard the boat that has failed under warranty. The list of warranty failures is endless. After lunch Mary and I dinghy over to the beach and tour the most unique beach site we have yet come across. When I verbalized to Mary how difficult it is to describe the site, she said, "a Gilligan's Island scene". It's the first beach that looks like our typical image of a south pacific island beach. Palm trees lining the beach from one end to anther. From these palm trees I knocked down two fresh coconuts which were husked with the help of a big spike permanently located on the edge of the beach. I drink the milk of the coconut as soon as the spike pierces the shell, spilling sweet coconut milk all over my shirt. What a treat! I'm munching on a piece of that coconut now. It reminds me of when I was a kid. Mom and Dad would occasionally bring one home from the grocery store. Located at the edge of the beach is a large 'A' frame hut where yachties from around the world have left a sign with their boat name on everything from old shoes to carved drift wood. It would take days to read all of the memorabilia that is here. Near by, is a real tree house where a local caretaker of the island was known to host many a romantic evening with adventurous flight attendants (so the legend goes). The entire scene is right out a movie. Mary and I get back into the dinghy, timing our departure from the beach with the swells that come breaking into the bow of the dinghy. It's quite a site seeing the routine we have for getting into the boat and under way without getting too badly swamped. When we get back to Bella Via, it's late afternoon and I decide that a little fishing is in order. Mary starts an engine to top up the batteries and produce some hot water for showers, (the solar panels are providing most of our power needs), while I get my fishing tackle assembled. Just then the engine temperature warning light and buzzer comes on. A quick inspection shows that water is not being drawn up to cool the engine. All thoughts of fishing are put aside and I immediately begin the process of diagnosing the source of the problem. It turns out that half of the water pump impeller is rotted or broken away (Who knows why!!!) and it must be replaced. Fortunately I have 4 spares aboard. The job is done in under an hour, (it should take less time) and I get to do some fishing before dinner after all. I troll out of our lagoon and into the ocean with no luck tonight. On the way back to Bella Via I stop at the neighbour's boat only to find that his afternoon effort to fish was quite successful. He's found a good spot where a variety of reef fish are biting. We will definitely try this spot tomorrow. When I get back to the mother ship, I haul the dinghy up onto its davits for the night. After a quick shower I get a chance to relax in my favorite deck chair for an hour before it's time to Bar-B-Q some Spanish Mackerel while Mary prepares the kalamari in the galley. With fresh tomatoes, garlic toast and a rice dish we have a meal fit for this king and queen. That's how we feel tonight, despite the hassles that we continue to have with boat functions."

Paul, drinking coconut milk after spending several minutes cracking open the shell and spiking a hole in the interior. We brought several coconuts back to the boat and put them in storage. They make for a good snack.

 

We stayed at Middle Percy for 6 full days as we decided to wait out another strong wind warning and we were having too much fun with the family from Ricki Ticki Tavi. We were also enjoying exploring the island. We did a three-hour walk one day - the long track (a long steady climb) took us up to an old homestead, where we saw our first Emu, and the short track back took us through a dried out area of mangroves. There are hundreds of wild goats all over the island and we regularly came across them on the path on our walk. They scurried away as soon as they saw us.

At high tide, the water would be covering the mangrove roots and almost to Paul's neck. We are fascinated with these mangroves roots, even though they usually herald spending time with sand flies and midgies.

 

August 31, 2005

On Wednesday morning, August 31, we said goodbye to Middle Percy Island. This wasn't as easy as it sounds. A few days previously Paul realized that we weren't actually floating during the high tide at night. Tides aren't all of the same height. There is usually one high tide of the day that is higher. Tidal heights and times also change according to the phases of the moon. So, the day before we wanted to leave the harbour, we moved into the deeper water near the entrance, right beside Ricki Ticki Tavi. We also knew that we needed a certain level of water at the entrance to get over the bar. So we checked our tide chart on the computer and figured out that we could get out after 8 a.m. All went well, and we set sail for Curlew.

At this stage of our travels, we are doing short island hops as we are nearing The Great Barrier Reef and there are islands all over the place. During our sail to Curlew Island, we finally caught our first pelagic fish. Pelagic means "the open sea". That is exactly where we were when we caught this 10-pound spotted mackerel. Not very big as mackerels go; but a great swimmer with an excellent taste. At the end of the day of travel, we had the good fortune to share the anchorage and our fish with the Ricki Ticki Tavi family and a single-hander from another boat whom we invited to Bella Via for a fish BBQ. We provided the fish and they brought everything else. It was a feast with wonderful company.

September 1, 2005

On this day, we set out intending to travel a total of 20 miles, but the winds had us moving so fast with the spinnaker flying (up to 9.5 knots one time), that we just kept going for a total of 60 miles to a more comfortable anchorage at Scawfell Island. Early in the day we had our first whale sighting. It wasn't very close but we did see the whale blowing water high into the air and his hump back. We look forward to our first close encounter.

We spent a few nights in Refuge Bay at Scawfell Island. A big anchorage, easy to get in and out of, and like a "Highway 401 rest stop" back home. Lots of boats coming and going; some even arriving at night.

September 4 - 7, 2005

After breakfast and a much needed hair-cutting session on the afterdeck, we left Scawfell Island and headed for Brampton Island. Another beautiful day for travelling.

We had our choice of anchorages to protect us from the southeast winds - we couldn't hook the anchor in the first one (sand, coral, and gravel on the bottom) but anchored successfully in the second one. It had been a very short day of travelling and an early anchorage. The weather was wonderful and Paul had lots of time to go fishing before dinner. He fished along the rock shore, up to and a little beyond the point of land that separates the western and southern bays. No luck fishing but then who cares when the sky and water are both so blue and there are plenty of sea turtles around to keep you company. We never realized how plentiful sea turtles are.

In the morning, after a nice, non-rolly night at anchor, we noticed that a chop had developed in the little bay as the winds were now out of the northeast. We knew that it would be uncomfortable to stay there so we hauled up anchor and moved around to the western side of the island. We managed to set the anchor again and were quite comfortable in our new spot.

Lunch was left-over spotted mackerel on toast. Mmmmm! Shortly after lunch, Paul spotted a dark object in the water about a mile to the south. It soon disappeared and then reappeared. It was definitely a whale and he/she seemed to be lingering. Not one to miss an opportunity, Paul jumped into the dinghy complete with binoculars and camera (a real tourist). Mary was in the middle of making bread and couldn't leave.

So, off Paul went, roaring in the dinghy, like a "rubber dinghy cowboy" - binoculars and camera around his neck, speeding off in the last seen direction of the whale. In a few minutes Paul was about a half mile away from Bella Via, in the vicinity of where the whale was last seen, still looking out to sea for the critter that he thinks is still farther out.

In the meantime, the whale has swum under and passed Paul and is now frolicking in the water not more than 200 metres away from Bella Via. Mary is now enjoying the performance and shouting at Paul to come back, but to no avail. Paul finally looks back and sees the whale splashing away at the point where he had been fishing the previous night.
Seeing the whale, he gunned the engine once again and raced back to the frolicking whale, shouting at the top of his lungs to Mary to look at the whale so close to her - not knowing that she was already enjoying the performance.

Paul got back in time to not only see this critter up close but to take pictures for he/she lingered in the area for about half an hour while Paul came within 100 feet of it. We think that it was a small humpback. Paul saw it do its flipper thing, where it seems to lay on its side and wave this long black and white flipper back and forth in the air. Paul also got to see a graceful dive with the tail fin coming out of the water, but was unable to capture that on camera.

After about 30 minutes of this, like the moose in Algonquin Park years ago, his shift for the tourists was over and he quietly slipped beneath the water and away from the crazy tourist with the camera.

For us it was a banner day aboard Bella Via where we lay at anchor just south of the famous Whitsunday Islands. Especially as, later that evening, we could clearly hear the sounds of the whales calling to each other through the hulls of the boat. Such a magical, musical time.

Humpback doing his flipper waving trick.

September 7, 2005

We left Brampton Island after breakfast and traveled only 10 miles to Goldsmith Island. Later, when Mary was reading in the cockpit and Paul was at the computer sending emails, we were delighted when a dinghy came alongside and we learned that our new friends David and Heather from The Catch were anchored nearby. We'll stay here for a day or two while we catch up with what is going on in their lives.