Living the dream

Leaving Airlie Beach – 04/07/09

Happy Birthday Tady.

The wind has kicked in early this morning it is forecasted for 20 – 25 knot winds easing to 15 – 20 knots this afternoon. We have 22 nms to sail this morning so this wind being behind us will push us along with the genoa. It is 0530 hours and not yet light; we will pull the anchor when the sun comes up and head off.

Yesterday Nancy did the washing whilst I carted water and topped the tanks up; I also filled the three small jerries with ULP for our small generator. Once all done we went ashore and had lunch at Barracudas then went for a walk around town, we then went back on board for a rest before going to dinner at the sailing club. The sailing club was very busy so we were pleased we had booked a table. Had a very nice meal a couple of reds and returned back on board.

Later in the day…..

Well we arrived at Cape Gloucester at 1140 hours after a very steady sail. We lifted the muddy anchor at 0655 hours and motored out dragging the anchor in the water trying to wash the mud off, Nancy ended up scraping it of. As soon as we could we unfurled the genoa and once the batteries were charged I shut down the engines and let the genoa take over.

The wind was right up our backside and it was rather chilly this morning, I had my tracksuit bottoms on over shorts and top over T shirt and a jacket on top of that. Chill factor was around 10̊ C; the sun was warm which warmed everything except my back as the wind was coming straight into the cockpit. The seas were pretty good as we did not get more than 20 knots of wind in places but mainly around 13 to 15 knots of wind from the south. Our sailing speed was anything from 3.7 to 5.8 knots so we averaged around 4.5 knots; this is not bad for a boat that does not perform great with a tail wind with only the genoa. To keep the wind in the sails we kept a little out from the coast , heading passed Grimston Point and then between Armit and Gumbrell Islands, then rounded George Point and took the outside route of Sadleback Island and the into Gloucester Passage which is between Cape Gloucester on the mainland and Gloucester Island. Gloucester Island is a stunning landscape with Mt Bertha being 894 metres above sea level.

  L-R Mainland, Sadleback Island and Gloucester Island.

There was also a smaller island that caught my eye east of Gloucester Island, it is Rattray Island, the shape of the island reminded me of one of my favourite mountains, Mt Sonder in Central Australia, it’s not exactly the same but it did remind me of her.

Once we were through Gloucester Passage we anchored just off the beach near Montes Resort, I had read about this anchorage in Cruising Helmsman magazine and it is a very pretty place.

  Montes Resort, the sign welcomes seafaring visitors ashore.

Once settled we lowered the dinghy and went ashore and had lunch at the resort, it is nice, nothing flash like the big resorts but very nice. It has a great beach and is well protected from the prevailing winds.

We may stay in the area a couple of days and have a look at some anchorages off Gloucester Island.

Cheers.