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Moreton Bay Anchorages A Keelboat Guide 2010 Mooloolaba to Southport
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Chapter Twenty Two Moreton Bay Anchorages A Keelboat Guide 2010 Mooloolaba to Southport |
After a fantastic trip to the Keppel Islands in 2004, and a disastrous trip as far as Mackay in 2007 (see Sailing Disaster in the Blog), Eileen and I, aboard our Lexcen 40 sloop "Mieke", set off to sail north along the Queensland coast again in July 2009. Even though this chapter started in 2009, I am continually updating it as a keelboat sailing guide. For anyone using the following as a guide, it should be read in conjunction with the maps and photos in the latest Maritime Safety Queensland's book "Beacon to Beacon". Mieke draws 2 metres, so our courses and anchorages within Moreton Bay are determined by where we can go without running aground. "Beacon to Beacon" does not show depths. The Queensland Transport Department's charts do, but as sandbars are continuously shifting, depending on the height of the tide at the time we will be travelling, we are restricted in where we can safely be. That's just a long way of saying that unless you are 100% sure of the depths where you are going, be careful!
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| Abeam Caloundra |
We left our berth at Moreton Bay Boat Club, Scarborough, on the Redcliffe Peninsula, on a beautiful morning with a weather forecast of 10 - 15 knots south westerly. Perfect --- a gentle breeze behind us to push us along --------- except it blew 10 knots from the north east all day! This meant we were motor sailing. No big deal. Because of fickle winds we often find ourselves with the motor running to help the sails. It just gets frustrating when we are supposed to be a sailboat. Fortunately our 50hp Yanmar diesel averages 3 litres of fuel usage to the hour, so our 200litre tank of fuel lasts a long time.
We rounded the Deception Bay red marker, leaving it to starboard, and headed along the channel at the bottom of Bribie Island. There is a new South Cardinal marker at the entrance to the Bribie Passage. We have been in as far as the bridge between Bribie Island and the mainland, but as our mast is 17metres above the waterline, we can't get under it. There are several places to anchor for a few hours or overnight and the conditions are comfortable in most of them in anything other than a moderate to fresh south easterly.
In June 2010 we spent 4 days anchored in the designated Small Craft Moorings area (SCM) near the SW end of the bridge. We had excellent shelter from everything except a southerly that crept in on the morning of the last day. As many boats permanently moor or anchor on the outside or inside of the passage bend downstream from the bridge, this area must only be untenable in the worst of southerlies.
We used Mieke as our motel and used Greg and Lynn's new runabout to explore and fish upstream of the bridge in Pumicestone Passage. Their previous boat was the same size (5.1m), but had no windscreen or spray dodger. The new boat had both, and kept us all dry and warm as we sourced yabbies for bait, picnic spots for lunch, and fishing spots for fishing. We had to Google the latest size and bag limits for fish as these had all changed a few months ago. Once again, such is the proliferation of fishermen, and the scarcity of legal sized fish, we caught a dozen or more whiting, and a few flathead and bream, but in all of that we only caught one legal fish; a King George whiting.
If we had run out of anything there is a boat ramp just upstream of the bridge, and nearby is a bait and tackle shop and a couple of takeaway food shops. Downstream on the outside of the bend, just near the public pontoons, there are several other shops for most necessities.
For those bypassing Bribie Passage it is a good idea to stay south of the South Cardinal before continuing on towards the SE corner of Bribie Island. We did this, and then motored over the worrysome speed bump of a sand bar between Bribie and what used to be Gilligan's Island. I say used to be because it is now almost permanently below the surface, but you can see the breakers over it in anything but the calmest conditions. The ideal passage is to have about 2/3s distance between the boat and Bribie, and 1/3 between the boat and the red marker on the northern edge of Gilligan's. We did this with about 700mm of water under our 2m keel at the shallowest point of the speed bump. The speed bump itself lasts for about ¾ of a mile. Once the water deepens, and it deepens to between 15 to 20 metres, you should be almost in line with the eastern beach of Bribie. That's a good time to turn north. It's not a bad idea whether travelling north or south through here to try to time the speedbump crossing at the last few hours of a rising tide. If you draw 2m or more, and it is near the bottom of the tide, or the sea is up, take the long way around via the North West Channel, or Main or Pearl Channels.
After negotiating the SE corner of Bribie we motorsailed past the township of Woorim, making sure we didn't get entangled in the shark nets put there to protect the surfers. From there we stayed between the eastern coast of Bribie and the North West Channel which is the shipping channel leading in and out of the Port of Brisbane. To monitor shipping traffic it is best to switch the VHF radio to channel 12. It is a requirement of all ocean trading, commercial, fishing, and private ships 35m or more LOA transiting the Brisbane Pilotage Area, to report to Brisbane Harbour Control (VTS) on VHF Channel 12 on arrival and departure from the Brisbane Pilotage Area, and must maintain a listening watch on that frequency at all times while operating in the area.
We have a GPS waypoint near the NW4 lateral marker which is near the bend in the shipping channel near the northern entrance to the Bribie Passage, and the mainland city of Caloundra. From there we traverse to another waypoint on the eastern side of Bray's Rock. All of this keeps us out of the shipping channel as much as possible. It is not a good idea to take shortcuts too far east as this brings the sandbars very close to the bottom of the boat. There is usually a sloppy sea in this area.
We were intending to sail directly to Double Island Point and anchor behind the headland until a couple of hours before high tide, which is the safest time to cross the notorious Wide Bay bar. Instead, because I was bored and frustrated with our progress, we called in to Mooloolaba for the night with the intention of setting off again at about 3am.
For those sailors that don't like paying a lot of marina fees, there is an anchorage just past the Wharf Marina and fuel dock in the Mooloolah River. It is illegal to anchor in the 'harbour', so we motored close around the western end of Minyama Island for the deepest water, and snugged down in a suitable space south of a line between the middle of the island and a pink house on the western bank of the river. There are supposed to be waterway marks to align, to determine the boundary separating the harbour and the anchorage, but we never saw them. At 2am I woke and checked the weather ---------- 20 - 30 knots SW for the next two days, and then several days of light northerlies.
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I should have realized that my mood about the north easterlies on our first day was a bad sign. I think the thing that affected me most in 2007 was that after all the racing and adventure sailing I had done I just wanted to have a leisurely cruise. I have sailed as sailing master or crew on various vessels at various times from Melbourne to Port Douglas. Eileen and I have sailed our boat to the Keppel Islands twice, and we had lived there for 14 years, and we have cruised through the Great Sandy Strait about half a dozen times. We had twice chartered boats in the Whitsunday Islands where because of Hamilton Island Race Week in August, which is about when we would be there, it is like a shopping centre car park on a Saturday morning. I am not good at doing the same thing more than once. I don't even like return trips by land or sea. I can't read the same book more than once unless it's an information book, and I have difficulty watching the same movie more than once.
Now I've had my whinge, here I was trying to make a decision about when to leave to sail north and I realized I didn't really want to do it ------- either go there or make the decision.
We were going to meet my cousin Lynn and her husband Greg in the Great Sandy Strait where we would use their 5 metre runabout to explore and fish; except the last time Eileen and I had spent 2 weeks in the Sandy Strait we caught nothing of legal size except Toad Fish. We also caught no mud-crabs in October, a month with an "r" in it, which is supposed to be the best time.
I called Greg and Lynn and asked them to bring their boat to Mooloolaba for the weekend. They did, and we had a great time cruising around the canals and fishing further up the Mooloolah River, something none of us had done before despite all of us having lived in the area for a large part of our lives. Lynn wanted to have a close look at Mudjimba Island, often called "Old Woman Island" because of the facial feature on the eastern side. This island is about 3 to 4 miles from the mouth of the Mooloolah River. At 30 knots boat speed we were there in about 10 minutes. Wow - what fun that was, considering Mieke's normal cruising speed is 5 knots!
Mudjimba island is part of the Maroochy River Conservation Park. You may go ashore, but I don't know why anyone would. There is good fishing and surfing around it, but getting ashore would be a 'wet' landing.
On Monday, with a northerly breeze, we headed south for an anchorage on the Moreton Bay side of Moreton Island called The Sand Hills. After rounding Point Cartwright, we sailed outside Bray's Rock off Caloundra. I have seen yachts sail inside Bray's Rock so I know it can be done, but I have never done it yet. From there we paralleled the NW shipping channel, just staying out of it despite it not being busy that day, turned to follow Spitfire Channel, and turned again to parallel the western shore of Moreton Island.
There are six main places around Moreton Island to anchor a boat. The prevailing winds are SE trades in autumn and spring, westerlies in winter, or NE afternoon sea breezes in summer.
If the weather is from the south there is Yellow Patch at the top of the island. It is probably only good as a day anchorage as it would be uncomfortably rolly to try to sleep at night. From there it is only a short sail to Flinder's Reef where there are mooring buoys to use while diving or snorkeling, but it is part of the exclusion zone for fishing.
There is Bulwer, although strong winds from the west make this a surf beach.
There is Cowan Cowan, although the same conditions apply as for Bulwer.
There are the Tangalooma Wrecks. These deliberately sunken vessels form a sort of barrier from westerlies. Any breeze from SSW to NNW can cause rolling, especially as there is usually a strong enough tide flowing north/south to line vessels up with it. This means they lay side on to the waves coming from the west which can induce very annoying rolling. Being behind the wrecks is better than being further south along the beach towards the resort, as the only shelter from the waves there is the sand bar that is never exposed even at low tide. Even with no wind, large ships using the roadstead a mile from the beach can create swells that cause rolling.
Anyone is allowed to visit Tangalooma Resort, with certain restrictions after 6pm unless you are a guest. There are many things to do like sailing small catamarans, pedal boats, water skiing, parasailing, snorkeling and diving trips to the wrecks, boat hire, dolphin feeding, quad bike trips, 4wd hire, 4wd guided tours, helicopter rides, or just walk or swim.
Further south is Lucinda Bay although it suffers from the same conditions as the rest.
Then there are the Sand Hills. The entrance is a wide V and becomes very steep-to as the edges are approached. There is very little tide here so vessels line up with the breeze so there is very little or no rolling. This is where Eileen and I anchored. We have been here before many times, and the weather promised (and kept it) a perfect evening. West Moreton Island coast is perfect in the summer north easterlies and this is what we had in winter. Eileen caught a dozen whiting, six of which were keepers and eaters. We have in the past, but didn't this time, walked the dunes. It is not too difficult a walk to the beach side of the island. We also have in the past, but again didn't this time, use our dinghy to motor a few miles to the town of Kooringal. This is a community of sand streets and no town water, but they do have rain and bore water, electricity and telephones, and a great little pub called The Gutter Bar. Even with our shallow drafted tender this is a trip that can only be done from 1/2 tide up unless we want to row, or have the 3hp outboard motor on 45 degree tilt most of the way. Stay too long at the Gutter Bar, and to get back to the anchorage it could be a trip through the Rous Channel and back around the western side of Crab Island to the Sand Hills; a distance of more than 15 miles.
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| Going back to the boat |
In the cockpit of Mieke, we ate fish, drank sparkling wine, ate strawberries with chocolate dipping sauce, listened to gentle guitar instrumentals by Pavlo, and watched a perfect sunset, all the time confident there was not going to be a change in the weather that could force us to leave in the middle of the night.
Next day was a week from our leaving Scarborough. Time to do the laundry. We don't have the luxury of an electric washing machine on Mieke, but our hand wound machine does an excellent job, and helps keep a certain level of exercise. Hanging the washing from lines on the boat also guarantees an excellent mix of fresh air and sunshine to dry them.
Like our trip from Mooloolaba to the Sand Hills, our trip from the Sand Hills, going on the eastern side of Mud Island, the western side of Peel Island, paralleling the Banana Banks, and travelling ESE across the top of MacLeay Island to the Main Channel between Macleay and Karragarra Islands was done under motor, because again the northerlies were too weak to allow us to sail. With our 2m draft we can cross the shallow sandbar at the top of MacLeay at any time between half tide up and half tide down. If the tide was near the bottom, instead of going past the Banana Banks after leaving Peel Island, we would have taken the slightly longer route around the south of Peel Island across to the shore of North Stradbroke Island, and then used the marked channel. There is a speedbump between the red and green channel markers at the northern end of this channel that must also be treated warily at low tide.
We anchored between Karragarra and MacLeay for one night before motoring down the channel to Jacob's Well. This trip must also be done at about the top of the tide as there are several shallow spots that present a problem. Ideally we leave with about two hours of the run-in tide still to go. I explain more about this when we return and I have asked a few locals about the tidal meeting place at the mouth of the Logan River. There is a shoal area just east of Jacob's Well, which with our two metre draft, we cannot traverse unless the high tide at the Brisbane Bar is about two metres or more above chart datum. The night time high tides in winter are the higher so we waited until about 9pm and motored across before setting the anchor for the night on the other side of the shoals. At Jacob's Well township we had reprovisioned the larder, bought the latest copy of the guide book Beacon to Beacon, and tried some fishing to no avail. There were plenty of yabbies pumped for bait, but no fish.
Anywhere between MacLeay Island and Southport is a safe, set and forget anchorage for Mieke in just about anything but a full blown cyclone. One of my favourite anchorages in the world is off the sand beach on the inside of South Stradbroke Island in Tippler's Passage. Up until recently there was a resort there with accommodation available. It has since been closed to be renovated as an education centre. Still there is an excellent daytime restaurant called McLaren's Landing. Every day a tall ship called the Sir Henry Morgan, and sometimes an additional ferry for extra guests, calls in bringing people for lunch and entertainment. McLaren's landing restaurant can also be booked for evening meals and entertainment. Beside McLaren's Landing is a wedding chapel which was used on the Saturday we were there. Further along the passage is a camp ground managed by park rangers, and several annexes for camping by members of various boat and yacht clubs from Brisbane and Southport.
There is no change of weather that could force us to leave this beautiful spot in the middle of the night or day, so I could totally relax for days. We only had to leave when we wanted to. We read books, fished, dinghied to the 'Bedroom', and went beachcombing. There is barely any tidal flow as the tides in and out of Jumpinpin and the Gold Coast Seaway meet at about the oyster lease less than a mile from where we anchored. Near oyster leases is usually a good place to anchor because of this.
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Eileen and I had never taken Mieke to Southport. Once we had been along the Coomera River to the Sanctuary Cove boat show held in May each year, and I had brought Mieke through the seaway on her voyage up from Sydney when we purchased her. I had also helmed the Broadwater on an Adams 44 called Hi Fidelity during a shakedown sail in preparing for a Southport to Mackay yacht race, and the consequent start of the race.
We motored again to about two miles from the seaway and anchored for the night opposite Currigee Camp.
On a beautiful July morning with a gentle SW breeze we motored out of the seaway to the ocean. The depths are about 10m until just at the entrance when it shallows to about 5m at low tide. Plenty!
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As the day warmed up the breeze went SE and then east. This was one of the few times I can remember sailing where I wanted to go on a reach, and then being able to return to where I wanted to go on the other reach. Beautiful sailing to Burleigh Heads and back! We saw the highrise buildings of the Gold Coast from just outside the breakers with the morning sun shining on them. Much better than being in amongst them in traffic or on foot.
After coming back in through the seaway we anchored south of it almost opposite Southport VMR. This is a secure anchorage but it gets a bit rough and rolly on weekends when there is a lot of on-water traffic. We were getting low on fresh water so we took the opportunity to motor up to Marina Oceanus to top up the water tanks. We looked very small in a 35m berth, with a 30m power yacht in the berth opposite. Then we returned and anchored where we were before.
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For several days we explored in the dinghy and went ashore to catch a bus into town. There is a bay just north of the VMR building called Marine Stadium, where many boats were anchored. We would have had sufficient depth to go in, but not to get to the top end. It didn't matter. We were happy where we were. There is a yellow marker at the entrance to Marine Stadium with a sign saying anchoring permitted for 7 days in 30 only. I don't know if that also meant for where we were too. That didn't matter either. We wouldn't be staying that long anyway.
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If we had used the dinghy to explore the Broadwater more before taking Mieke to top up the fresh water, we would have found a better pontoon at Southport Marina. There are several new fingers aiming SW. The outside one is probably too exposed to be desirable as a permanent berth, as the wash from on-water traffic is horrendous, but for 15 minutes to top up water tanks it is ideal. It's 50m long. Heaps of room for a 12m boat, and easy to motor onto and off.
To go ashore we tied and locked the dinghy to a pontoon just north of the VMR building. It is then a pleasant walk to the Seaworld entrance to catch a 750 bus to Pacific Fair Shopping Centre. A local zone all day ticket is about $5. On returning, taxis are at Seaworld's main gate to get back to the dinghy with too much shopping.
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Then it was back to Tippler's Passage. We actually got to sail for a while before the breeze died out again.
Further NE along Tippler's Passage is an anchorage for shallow drafted vessels. That's not Mieke. It is though for Skinny Girls. That's what we call our dinghy. Actually that's what Eileen called our dinghy. Just as she called the previous one Fat Bottomed Girls. I'm including this in case anyone thinks the names are unsavoury. Yes, Eileen named them.
On the chart this anchorage is called the Bedroom. It is extremely sheltered. There were lots of yabbies along the beach, but we didn't catch any decent fish with them. We walked over the sand dune to the ocean beach for a little beachcombing again, but didn't find anything outstanding. That evening McLaren's Landing hosted a function. We were just far enough away for the band's music to make another beautiful night.
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As the perfect weather continued we dinghied a mile or so SW and into Couran Cove Resort and Couran Point Resort. Couran Point Resort is at the far end of the entrance channel. It is smaller and the staff seemed friendlier, but both offer accommodation, a restaurant/bar, activities, and a marina for shallow drafted boats.
That night McLaren's Landing hosted another function and the entertainment included fire dancing. An amazing spectacle with a full moon just appearing above the trees! We had to cut short this fascinating evening as we wanted to cross the shoals at Jacob's Well at the 2130 high tide to get back to Russell Island. We had no worries crossing the shoals, and instead of dropping the anchor at Jacob's Well we decided to continue on. The worst thing about travelling at night and using lit channel marks as a guide is when one or more are faulty and unlit. We were very familiar with this main channel, and with the full moon we thought if there were any unlit markers we should be ok anyway.
Markers, lit or otherwise, were not the problem. Unlit anchored boats crowding the channel edges were though. We could make out boats soon enough to avoid them, but they impeded our line of sight to the next markers at Jacob's Well and Steiglitz.
I am still not sure about tide times and tidal flows along here. Supposedly the north/south tides meet at the mouth of the Logan River near the overhead power lines. I thought we were too early to get a change in tide before this point, but despite having the rising tide with us to pass Jacob's Well, we were pushing tide soon after, a long time before we reached the Logan River. However as soon as we passed the river mouth we gained a knot of speed which could have only come from being caught by the outgoing northerly tide.
Eventually we made our way into Krummel Passage between Russell and Karragarra islands and dropped the anchor. In daylight we moved closer to the Russell Island shore to get better protection from the strong southerly wind forecast. Lynn & Greg arrived again in their runabout for another weekend, but we spent the entire Saturday rugged up on Mieke because of the cold 20-25knot southerly.
Sunday was Greg's birthday and the weather was perfect again. Eileen and I had never explored Canaipa Passage. We thought it was too shallow for Mieke and too far for Skinny Girls with only a 3hp outboard.
Greg and Lynn's boat with the 100hp outboard was ideal again. Jumpinpin is another beautiful place and this is where we headed. Mieke could have gotten through at around the top of the high tide, but it would be a bit nervy. Our depth alarm would have been sounding most of the way. This alarm sounds when we have less than 1m under our keel. It is a pity there isn't just a little more water along this passage as at Jumpinpin there are plenty of good anchorages for us.
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I doubt if we could make it from Jumpinpin to Tipplers. From the yellow marker at Jumpinpin we would need to steer SE to hug the beach before heading for the next channel marker; a red. From there we might have made it to a south cardinal mark, but after that it was extremely doubtful that we would not have run aground, even at the best of tides. If anyone has successfully done it in a 2m or more drafted vessel recently, please contact me using "Contact Us" on the main website.
We did catch fish in Canaipa Passage, and other groceries can be bought at the Supa IGA on Russell Island, or the shop on MacLeay Island. Greg and Lynn left us after Monday lunch. On Tuesday we motored down the western side of North Stradbroke Island 10miles to Horseshoe Bay at Peel Island. This would be perfect shelter from the forecast northerlies.
All this motoring with no wind and sheltering when the wind blows seems weird. You would think it should be the other way around; and so it should, but the desire to sail somewhere with a following breeze and anchor in calm anchorages, is one of the challenges that rarely has a successful outcome. It does get frustrating.
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I am a criminal! I think?
Horseshoe Bay is a beautiful beach and its anchorage is usually crowded with boats from Manly, Raby Bay, and other nearby boat ramps. There are environmentally friendly toilets ashore. At the back of the toilets, and running almost the full length of the beach, is a vehicle sand track. I decided to go for a walk. Peel Island used to house a leper colony. I thought there might be some ruins to explore.
Near the western end of the beach the track became a 4 way intersection. Left went to the beach. Right went to a metal gate. No fence; just a gate, which had a sign saying "Keep out". I walked around the gate. The road was on a slight slope and the back of the sign read something like, "Drivers please stop your engine and leave your vehicle in gear and apply the handbrake before getting out to open the gate".
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Despite the fact that there had been no rain for weeks to wash away any tracks, there was no sign of a vehicle having used this track recently, but the good condition of the gate and sign said that regular maintenance was being done. The sand track continued until it joined a gravel road. I was intrigued. There was another sign saying, "No Entry", and also "Please don't touch anything". A bit contradictory I thought. Now I was really intrigued.
Sailors are probably amongst the most environmentally conscious people on Earth. We cruise using minimal water, minimal fossil fuel, we recycle what we can, are very conscious of where we dump sewage and garbage, and generally follow the creed, "Take nothing but photographs. Leave nothing but footprints". We are used to exploring wrecks, and going ashore to explore lighthouses and other buildings from a bygone era. I pressed on, with my hands in my pockets so I didn't touch anything.
Ahead I could make out some buildings; and another sign similar to the last one; but this one also said, "Accredited tour groups only". As I continued still with my hands in my pockets, I saw dozens of houses, cottages, sheds, and even a dormitory. The design was all 50 to 100 years ago, all were timber, but some had been obviously fully restored, some partially restored, and others not touched regardless of whether they were standing, or fallen down and decrepit. Still with my hands in my pockets I called out to see if I could attract anyone's attention as some of the houses looked as though they were occupied. I wanted an accredited tour. Alas I found no one, so I walked back to the beach --- still with my hands in my pockets.
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The title of this article is Moreton Bay Anchorages, so even though we didn't stop there this time, I can't ignore telling about another of our favourite stops; the One Mile Anchorage. To the east of Peel Island and part of North Stradbroke Island is Dunwich town and the bay for permanent and visiting boats. There is a speed bump of a sandbar at the entrance of the channel leading to the anchorage which varies in depth with the strength of the north/south tidal current flows throughout the year. Once again we usually have no trouble from half tide up to half tide down.
The permanent moorings and anchorage are to the left of the channel; visitors to the right. This is also often crowded so we never even think about coming here for a weekend. The anchorage shallows to the south, and the few boats that can fit at any one time must make sure no part of their vessel intrudes into the channel which the passenger ferries use regularly during each day. If getting ashore at Dunwich is imperative, and the One Mile is full, there is a shallow marked channel just offshore that leads to Deanbilla Bay. There is plenty of room there. But the easiest place to get ashore from there is close to the southern end of Dunwich, but nowhere near the Little Ship Club.
Ashore from the One Mile is the Little Ship Club with its wonderful views, especially at sunset, and welcoming hospitality. We have always found the food and drink here excellent. We have watched State of Origin Rugby League here on the big screen on many occasions.
Beside the club is a cemetery. This cemetery is one of the most beautiful, sad, and reflective cemeteries we have seen, and we've seen the Kwai River cemetery in Thailand. Many of the early immigrants who died of scrub typhus are buried here. Many of the local aboriginals are buried here. Eileen says she wants to be buried here; just not yet.
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Dunwich has enough shops to purchase any necessities, as well as an amazing retro shop, a unique art gallery, and a museum. From Dunwich it is a must to catch a bus to Point Lookout. Point Lookout is the most easterly part of the island. Take the bus to the end of the road and there is a short nature walk called the Gorge Walk, from which during whale season the whales travel as close to land as they are ever likely to, and the vantage points from the cliff heights often has students and researchers taking up spots with binoculars and notepads.
It is a few kilometers from Point Lookout to the last bus stop back towards Dunwich, but the walk is worth it. The views are spectacular, the souvenir shops interesting, and the cafes and restaurants superb. The Stradbroke Island Beach Hotel and Spa Resort highlights all of this. For those who wish to explore the island further there are several places to hire motor scooters.
Now where were we? Oh yes; Horseshoe Bay. From here we motored (again) to Raby Bay Marina. Bookings are essential here, as is a copy of your boat insurance documents, which I had to organize with our insurers (thanks Club Marine) to fax, as I don't carry them on the boat. If the boat sinks or burns to the waterline, what's the good of having all the insurance papers on the boat?
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Raby Bay boasts not only a marina, but canal waterfront living. It is part of Cleveland suburb and has several excellent restaurants. This and the Sunday morning markets is what Eileen wanted to be here for. We also walked past, and stopped at, several galleries on our way to Cleveland Point where there is another brilliant café and restaurant, The Lighthouse.
At the time a huge dragon ship was under construction on the point. It was part of the movie set for the upcoming third episode of the Chronicles of Narnia. They had even constructed a viewing platform from scaffolding so visitors could watch it all. As a bonus for Cleveland the engineers had also agreed to restore the old lighthouse on Cleveland Point.
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"$415 for return airfares to Christchurch NZ including 7 days car hire". I couldn't believe it, but there it was in black and white; red and white actually; in the newspaper. We interrupted our sailing for a small detour here. That story is in the next chapter of "Life and Travels of a Non-Famous Person".
We had to get home straight away to take advantage of this. We left Raby Bay with a 20 knot southerly. At last a sailing wind. With the main sail out one side of the boat, and the head sail out the other, we goosewinged it back to Scarborough in about 3 or 4 hours.
After our detour to New Zealand we hopped back on the boat again. We still had a week and a half of our 3 month time off to enjoy. We decided to have another go at going north; this time just to the Sandy Strait. We left at about 5pm one afternoon. As the tide would be close to the bottom we headed out to the Pearl Channel before making our way parallel to the NW channel again --- motorsailing again!
At about 2am we were still motorsailing, and just near where the former HMAS Brisbane had been sunk to create an artificial reef for divers. The main sail was flapping in next to no breeze and I thought, "We've got another 9 hours of this". Eileen doesn't usually get seasick, and if she does it's only at night when she can't get a good fix on a horizon. This was one of those times, so once again we aborted our northern trip and headed in to the anchorage at Mooloolaba. We slept all next day. Then the northerlies were back at next to no strength. We headed south again, but this time because there was no breeze at all we headed straight out to Yellow Patch at the top of Moreton Island.
As we rounded Point Cartwright this time, we were swallowed up by smoke coming from a bushfire. This reduced visibility in an area where large ships congregate to meet escort pilots to guide them along the NW passage to the Port of Brisbane. A good test of our RADAR. It cleared after an hour or so and we continued motoring south. As we came to the start of the now disused by large ships NE channel, I decided that as the weather was so calm we would take a detour out to Flinder's Reef. I had only raced around it, and those times were at night. This was a good chance to explore it in daylight.
As we headed towards it we were entertained by a mother whale and calf doing the most amazing acrobatics. This was only the second time Eileen has seen whales close up from a boat, but we were both enthralled.
We had our trolling line trailing behind us all the way from Mooloolaba with no luck, and as we approached Flinder's I wondered if we would get luckier. Alas the only hook up we got was on the anchor rope of one of the mooring buoys that run along the western edge of the reef. Goodbye lure! All the buoys are blue, which according to Marine Safety Queensland's website means they are suitable to moor a 25m monohull or 22m multihull vessel to withstand winds of 34knots.
After a couple of circumnavigations of the reef we headed into Yellow Patch with a vague intention of anchoring under the lee for the night. As we got closer we noticed the rolling by an already anchored trawler and decided to move on across the top of Moreton to around the NW tip to anchor at Bulwer. We had not been there before and it was unlikely we would get better conditions than now.
To get there we had to negotiate Kianga Channel. Well we didn't have to. We could have chosen the Inner Freeman Channel or the NE Channel, but Kianga was closer and a much shorter route.
It was almost the top of the tide but we still had to make several twists and turns while using the depth sounder as a walking cane along one side of the sandbar. We noticed a sailing vessel much larger than us taking a more direct route, but I decided not to follow him. I learnt years ago that just because another keelboat is larger, it doesn't mean it doesn't have a shallower draft or a lifting keel. Mieke and Albatross anchored off Bulwer together. The beach here is fairly steep-to, so despite being only about 50m from the low tide line we were in about 12m of water.
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I have a habit/liking to open a stubbie of beer or pour myself a glass of rum and ginger beer soon after anchoring, just to check things out, and to see if we are securely anchored, and so is anyone around us. While I was performing this chore I noticed a large float buoy drifting past about 30m out from us. Every now and again I thought I saw what looked like a large turtle with an orange rope around it tangled up with the buoy. Skinny Girls was still rolled up in her bag below deck. By the time I got her out, inflated her, put her in the water and attached the outboard motor, I could see from the speed of the tidal flow that I would not catch this ensemble before dark, by which time it would all be out to sea.
The only person that seemed to be aboard Albatross then hopped in his already launched dinghy and went and released what was indeed a turtle. I eventually had Skinny Girls ready and motored over to talk with him. He introduced himself as Jeff and I learnt that he had a permanent mooring in the City Reach of the Brisbane River that he would not be using for the next few weeks. Albatross weighed 40 tonne. A big danger of using a spare mooring is that you never know how old it is, what is the bottom anchoring device, and in what condition are the ropes or chains. When Jeff offered us use of his mooring I had no doubt that it would be adequate for our 10 tonne Mieke.
Next day we walked around Bulwer town, met the owner of the hardware/fishing tackle/camping goods shop, and had an ice cream at the general store. However there is no longer as of 2009 any fuel available at Bulwer. This means there is no fuel available anywhere on Moreton Island anymore. So 4wd visitors beware. Bring enough with you! If you want to buy a house at Bulwer bring a million dollars with you.
We decided to cruise down the coast of Moreton Island to Tangalooma Resort. Once again using the depth sounder as a walking cane we looked for any other suitable anchorages. Anywhere with sufficient depth would be fine as long as there was no west in the wind. The closest we could have anchored to the beach between Bulwer and Cowan Cowan is about half way between them. At Cowan Cowan it is opposite the distinctive tall timber building on the foreshore.
If anyone is wondering what the yellow floating buoys are that line the shore along Moreton Island's west coast, have a read of the tag on them. You will find it says you will be fined if you plane your tender inside the five metre contour line. The buoys are placed at or about the five metre contour line.
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At half tide rising we snuck across the sandbar at the northern end of the Tangalooma wrecks and once again anchored near Albatross. We had about 500mm under our keel at the deepest part of the sandbar crossing, which is the entrance between two yellow buoys to the beach for the MyCat vehicular ferry. Jeff said we would enjoy going ashore at Mud Island before heading up the Brisbane River to his mooring.
We didn't leave next morning before we did a little fishing. Eileen caught two eaters, but Jeff had caught some biggies and with our thanks he gave us a very nice Squire. We motored between the wrecks and the shore and out through the channel to Moreton Bay. The weather forecast was for a NE. Over on Australia we could see bushfire smoke pluming south. Leaving Moreton Island we had a westerly. Half way between us and Mud Island an anchored ship was facing SE. We motored again anyway.
Dispelling my beliefs, Jeff had told us that very little of Mud Island was mud. In fact he told us most of it was shale and coral, albeit mostly destroyed before regulations saw the end of limestone mining for a cement works up the river. He also said there was good anchor holding, which was true when we dropped ours on the NW corner of the island inside a west cardinal mark and an isolated danger mark. When we tried to go ashore though we were thwarted by the fact that Skinny Girls is made of hyperlon, which to all intents and purposes here is plastic, and we were trying to land it on shale and coral. We abandoned our attempts and motored up the Brisbane River.
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It was after dark as we approached Jeff's mooring. It was far enough out of the way of ferry traffic that they were not an issue, and there was enough light from the city to see the mooring. As Eileen approached it I reached down with the boathook and hooked the line attached between the main mooring buoy and the floating mooring. However I couldn't get it aboard. In fact I couldn't raise it any higher than just below the gunwales. We gave up and as there was plenty of room between Jeff's mooring and the next moored boat upstream we anchored for the night.
On a morning inspection I discovered that the float mooring line had wrapped itself twice around the main buoy's anchoring line, probably during several tide changes that would have occurred while Jeff was away. Two runs around the main buoy with the floating buoy in Skinny Girls and we were back in business. We settled in on the mooring intending to stay for a week and explore the city. To get ashore we dinghied upstream and across the river to a public pontoon near the entrance to Brisbane's Botanical Gardens. It is a good idea to chain and padlock your dinghy and outboard to the dock here, especially if you intend to come back after dark or leave it overnight.
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One day I realized that the cliff face at Kangaroo Point, the other end of the City Reach, was getting harder to see. It was very hazy. We thought it must have been fog or smog. Then we smelt and felt dust. There was a huge dust storm out west which was blowing millions of tons of dust over the east coast of Australia. It got into everything. It took about 50 buckets of river water and a scrubbing brush to clean the deck next day. While I was doing this Eileen was trying to clean down below deck. Finally cleaning was over. Jeff had returned early because of the dust storm and 30 knots of wind out on the bay so we had to move. We motored over near the public pontoon and anchored. Two days later the dust storm was back again.
Despite this nuisance we thoroughly enjoyed the rest of our time in Brisbane. All things, good or bad, come to an end however. With the advantage of an early morning outgoing tide we motored downstream. Unless you are a masochist, don't take a displacement hulled boat up or down the Brisbane River against the tide.
The forecast was for 25knot westerlies. When we exited the mouth of the river we got it. It was a reach for us so Mieke loved it. It seems very strange that the two best sails we had were those taking us home to Scarborough both times. I wonder if there is a message there?
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On to Chapter Twenty Three- Eileen sees Snow 
