Island Life in Moteron Bay

Missing out on having a few days to chill-out immediately after leaving The Boatworks was remedied by a very pleasant stop-over opposite Lucas's Passage in Moreton Bay. By absolute luck we had followed Blue Tango to a very pleasant and sheltered anchorage on the north side of Karragarra Island. We had opportunity to visit 3 islands and 3 coffee shops but in the end only visited 2. Evidently each island has its own community and demographic.  In any instance, their populations are large enough to warrant very regular car and passenger ferries. Although it was suggested that this traffic might make the anchorage unpleasant, we found it no more disturbing than the fishing and other powered craft that zoomed past us in The Broadwater and associated channels further south.

  

Ferry terminals at Macleay and Lamb Islands

 

 

 The general area

 We counted 4 Real Estate offices plus a 'used car' yard 

full of abused rather than pre-loved numbers.

 

 Plenty of vessel movements involving passengers and freight

It's apparent that there is a substantial infrastructure overhead involved with maintaining these island communities. In addition to the ferries and associated ramps and jetties, community centres and so forth, there are the logistics surrounding the maintenance of law and order. We observed a police mooring being visited by a little maintenance barge during the day and being serviced and later in the afternoon the police arrived, at speed, in their custom built vessel carrying a paddy wagon. The ramp had been lowered even before they'd reached the shore and the wagon tore off with the lights flashing. The Police vessel then visited each of the other islands and seemed to be exchanging staff. If our coffee visits ashore were anything to go by, there were definitely some folks on the islands that are hoping to stay well 'below the radar'!

The highlight of our stay was uniting on the water with our friend George. He happened to be in a nearby anchorage aboard his lovely Nordhavn called Venture. We were invited for dinner and he motored around to meet us in his home waters. It's probably 2012 since our two boats were last in the same anchorage and it was Thompsons Bay, Rottnest Island!

 

MV Venture. 

A simply gorgeous 'little ship' belonging to George.

A busy bay settling down for the night

 

Leg 65 - Escape from The Gold Coast Broadwater

All we really wanted was to stop still and get our breath but staying where we were wasn't going to work. Perry's Hole was around the bend and was a charted anchoring area. Perhaps we'd chill out there.

Pre-mixed drinks are unlikely to be an aide to navigation as demonstrated by the raft-up attempts of a couple of big motor cruisers near us. We were luckily insufficiently close to fear for our safety. We did however, fear for the safety of a young man who appeared to be reluctant to hang out with his 'olds'. He hopped into the dinghy, literally, as he was wearing a surgical boot, and set off in the tender but the outboard conked out almost immediately. Half hearted instructions were hurled across the water. The 'olds' seemed amused at first.  The tide was running out and it was windy. Soon, the tender was drifting in our vicinity and the young chap was in something of a panic. We called out if he could throw us the dinghy painter or a rope? No rope. Could he drop an anchor? No anchor. What about oars? Only a single paddle. He wasn't very athletic looking and the leg in the boot was clearly an impediment and should he fall in the water, probably act like a lead boot. By the time he'd drifted towards the last anchored boat, he seemed to have mastered his single canoe paddle and managed to grab onto the boat he'd steered into. The 'olds' reluctantly put down their Beers/Bundy and Coke/Jim Bean and Coke beverages and uncoupled from their raft-up and motored over to collect their son and tender. Another 10 minutes of fun ensued as the the game became one of collecting the tender and son without running into the rescuing boat. A raging tidal stream was having plenty to say with the accuracy of approach.

Broadwater traffic using up ALL the knots from the 40knot limit.

The wake was horrendous!

This entertainment was far superior to any TV series and followed an hour later by a second episode. This time the rescued tender, thought to have been secured, was once again on the loose but this time without a navigator. Powerboat raft up was once again suspended while beverage fueled skipper attempted to retrieve the tender hoping to avoid all the shallow channels and capture it before being sucked out to sea at Jumpinpin.  We speculated at the conversation on board. Moonboot Boy possibly not flavour of the month and invectives flying.

Helpful yacht with deeper keel and local knowledge.

Let him pass, we'll follow.

As entertaining as Perry's Hole was, we determined that leaving on the next day's rising tide was essential and Canaipa Passage undoable. We'd need a decent high tide to get through and the timing for those were now dawn and dusk. Our best option was to retreat back to The Broadwater and use the Main Channel. Our only challenge using that route depthwise would be at Jacobs Well. We ought to fit under the powerlines if we hugged the portside pylon; we'd have to take our chances on the boat traffic. The speed limit through The Broadwater is 40knots and wake from passing vessels could cause a keel boat to bounce off the bottom and the weekend best avoided, however tide dictated a Sunday exit or be trapped for days. No choice. No problem

Helpful channel marker at Jacobs Well.

NO possibility to pass at low tide.

The  notorious 'S's' at Jacobs Well.

We tiptoed through on a rising tide.

What happens when you don't pay attention.

Under the power lines we go.

Blue Tango motored up behind us 

while we were considering anchoring options adjacent to Russell Island.

They yelled out "Follow Us!". So we did.

Doppelgängers

We've met our Doppelgängers. Lyn and Ian aboard Blue Tango, a Jeanneau 42DS of similar vintage to our Jeanneau 42DS Sun Odyssey. We have led parallel lives.

Having followed Blue Tango to the anchorage area on the north side of Karragarra Island in the passage that is bordered to the north by Macleay and Lamb Islands, it was only natural to finish the day with 5ers and an invitation extended for them to call over. Their tender was being trailed and ours was still up, so it made sense for them to come to us.

Blue Tango

Conversation flowed and revealed 2 sons of the same ages of our own.  Similar work background; IT. When it came to how long we were married, 4 jaws dropped when we discovered that we'd married in not only the same month and year but the same day. Now that's plain spooky! 

Wow! What happened to May?

The Bloke here,

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced an increase in the speed that time passes. I know time is supposed to be a constant or at least a constant for those non-theoretical physicists amongst us BUT somehow May 2016 seems to have passed by much faster than usual.

Now, as I am in constant communication with the 'Blog Mistress', giving her a good 'listening to' on a regular basis, I know she is planning to bring you up to speed on what has happened and how I stuffed it up. In the meantime however, here is a quick synopsis of what happened during May.

• Arrived Gold Coast, at night, motoring to Hope Harbour Marina and spent a hectic and entertaining four days preparing Zofia for a rest from our company.

Hope Harbour Ramada Resort

• Traveled to Brizvagas to have a night with the kids, then caught a plane to Perth.

Amy and Lily -Brizvagas sleep-over

• Spent about 2 weeks in Perth catching up with family and friends. Reset the taste buds with some of the best sausage rolls in Australia. Put on 2 Kilos around the middle and discovered that my PSA was still detectable and increasing. Oh shit!

Mum

 

Viv, Hugo (no face tricks), Em and Poppy

Best sausage rolls in Australia, Thanks Mum!

• Flew back to Brizvagas spent the weekend with the kids and then Lucas and Tom dropped us back to Hope Harbour. Woke Zofia up, caught up with our new friends in the marina and then motored around to The Boatworks.

• Spent a week cleaning Zofia up. New make-up on her bottom, some facial work with polish on the hull and deck and a tinkering down under with new engine oil, belts and filters. She is looking pretty and ready to party -Don't be home late dear as Mum and Dad will be waiting up!

• Splashed the girl and then off for another night with the kids in Brizvagas. Early morning appointment in hospital for another scan.  Results good, no sign of Prostate Cancer so will have more blood tests in 3-4 months. Yippeee! Off the the Whitsundays we go.

• Leave The Boatworks to catch up with Marg and Bob on Casablanca. Ran aground, taking off some of the new paintwork on Zofia's bottom, dragged anchor a couple of hours later and then when we'd settled for the night, experienced 'wind over tide' so the chain tried to scratch off the polish!

• Navigated the narrow and shallow channels that the Brizvagas Cruisers call a 'waterway' and now at rest in a lovely place. Where are we? What day is it? How did we get here? What the hell happened to MAY!!!!!

A Very Bad-Hair Day

You'd think we'd know better by now. After a chaotic time ashore rather than casting off in a state of high anxiety and trying to head off, it really would be best to cast off and immediately anchor; chill and basically get ones act together. Did we do this after a week of non-stop action on the hardstand? NO. So the 'Note to self' is a reminder that the tempo must be adjusted and normal breathing re-established before ever again taking off.

We were allowed the extra night in the marina on the proviso we'd leave by 08:00. This created a mad rush to top up the water tanks, have a last shower on shore etc... it was a sprint from the moment we opened our eyes. The arrival the previous day of a particularly wide and handsome new power boat alongside us didn't help The Blokes nerves at all. A cast of fellow jetty-rats helped to walk Zofia out of the pen and release us back into the wild, while the owner of the power boat stood on his foredeck conspicuously clutching a roving fender.

Fellow jetty and hardstand rat - Chris/SV Bilbungara

We had made a small plan to rendezvous with Casablanca at Paradise Point. It was not far from our location and would be sheltered against strongish forecast winds and most importantly had easy access to a Fish and Chip shop. It was Friday and The Bloke likes his Friday treat of Fish and Chips! This is where we envisaged chilling out  for a couple of days. The plan went to custard. The tide was still lowish and the tricky entry had us standing on our keel on a sandbank within 30 minutes of having left the boatyard. Stupid, stupid, stupid. We had no appetite to hang about and try again at high tide and took off through the channels in the Broadwater without any clear objective.

 

Example of some of the water traffic.

 

I had an idea as a back-up plan. We could go up to Tipplers Passage, anchor temporarily and study the charts and cruising guides and regroup. Once there, we found a small patch among several other anchored boats and hoped to find our mojo. So far, not so bad but we'd not taken a lot of care with anchoring, nor had we put out a lot of chain due to the congestion. It was only a temporary measure. It became a more temporary measure very rapidly as the wind picked up and we were suddenly dragging with plenty of targets to smash into. We took off once again and headed north but again without a proper plan. Terrific, we thought - out of the yard for barely 2 hours and we've bogged AND dragged already. This is an episode of Laurel and Hardy and this is NOT our style!

The Bloke trying the "loosen your underpants" approach to relaxation studying the charts.

It's Queensland and meant to be warm but Auntie Al's mohair slippers still needed.

We took off again in a northerly direction and Jumpinpin at the bottom of North Stradbroke Island and traversed more shallow channels looking desperately for somewhere that would provide some shelter from the coming 25-30kn winds. Eventually we found our night anchorage and then focused on The Bloke's medical results. The scan had been done on Tuesday, we received a report on Thursday which was all medico-mumbo-jumbo and had been waiting with increasing frustration and tension for the specialist to phone. At 16:45 on a Friday afternoon and having had the bad-hair day to top all bad-hair days, The Bloke's nerves were shot. A phone call virtually pleading for an 'Opinion' was responded to with a text message. In essence: Scan revealed nothing. PSA level unexpectedly high for someone now without a Prostate. Go sailing and have a blood test in 3-4 months.  We were incapable of digesting this good news.

Anchor watch track off Squire Island.

The orange part was lovely but then we drifted up on the anchor - Lol!

We attempted to think of all the good things and how we were now in a good spot for the week-end. The sun set and the tide changed. The wind chirped up as predicted and suddenly we were sitting in the dark with our anchor chain rubbing against our newly polished hull. Yup:wind against tide.... AGAIN!

Were we in for another episode of keel-wrap and up for a return visit to The Boatworks? We'd been gone just 12 hours!

Lucky to be Spending Money?

It was a condition of our insurance renewal that we supply a riggers report and Cookie, the rigger, on day one at The Boatworks,  confirmed that our rigging was both serviceable and in good condition. TICK! Our insurers would be happy. But he did comment that our lower side stays were only 8mm and not 10mm which would both match our inner stays and his expectation of what is suitable. To hammer home the point, several horror stories were told. We didn't want to be another of them so agreed to replacement with 10mm. Cha-Ching.

As much as it was painful to part with the ca$h, Cookie and his off-sider arrived and made the replacement with great efficiency and sort-of painless. Do we feel safer? Perhaps. Lighter? Definitely. The wallet is getting thinner by the day.

 

With another job ticked off we headed to Brisvegas for an overnighter with the kids and for The Bloke to have a medical scan. One of The Boatworks staff kindly dropped us off at the Coomera train station. By this time we'd pre-purchased our Queensland 'GO' travel cards and travelled for a fraction of the price of our journey the month before. Doh! Slow to catch on. Although there are dollar$ locked into this investment, future visits to Lucas and Amy will see the balance depleted soon enough. How convenient. We now have travel cards for Perth, Sydney AND Brisbane. We are embracing this public transport thing. Our return back to Coomera involved a bus connection from the station and being dropped off just 50m from the entrance to The Boatworks. All of this is duly noted for our next visit here.

By this time, 2 of our 3 day booking of our Marina berth had been used up and our rhythm completely messed up. It was hard to pick up where we'd left off. We had a whole lot of stuff still to do and woke up on the 3rd morning feeling overwhelmed and considering begging an extra day. The 'should we'/'shouldn't we' argument was resolved in the emphatic affirmative by a freaky discovery.

We'd noticed that our battery charger had been running all night. It's located near the battery bank which is under our bunk, so the humming that went on all night was inescapable. The Bloke is pretty sensitive to this stuff and immediately checked the instrument panel in the morning. 14.1 amps input. Hmmm? The regulator will generally hold the batteries at that level of charge for about an hour during the charging process before dropping back and completing the cycle within about 6 hours. End of humming. With a big list to work through, we added this mystery to the bottom and launched into our chores. Time was 'a-wastin' and if we didn't dither, we'd have a better idea by the time the office opened, if we'd be through our tasks sufficiently to be able to leave.  We just needed to get cracking immediately.

In the process of stowing items in seldom used lockers in our cabin, I noticed a smell. There had been some bush fires in earlier days, so I put my head up through the hatch to check for smoke. No smoke today so I went below again to investigate a little further. With the regulator issue still front of mind, I decided to lift our mattress and immediately discovered the source of the smell. Plus heat. Plus steam and condensation! Yikes, it was our motor starter battery. It was cooking and venting gas!

The Bloke, as quickly and carefully as he could, detached the cables from the hot battery. Under no circumstances could the negative and positive terminal touch and cause a spark. We had poisonous and volatile gas in the boat. 'Get this thing out of here' was all we could think! One flash and we'd be ash!

Once on the jetty, we got the battery into a trolly to remove this little incendiary package from the jetty and the vicinity of other boats. Once ashore we marched directly into the office to (1) beg another night; (2) determine where to take the dead and dangerous battery; and (3) get advice on where to locate a replacement. Luckily we could have the berth for 1 more night and one of the many suppliers within The Boatworks complex were able to provide a replacement battery and take the old one. TICK-

And so, dear friends, The Bloke's wallet got thinner yet again to the tune of another night on a jetty plus a new battery. In the scheme of things, we had just dodged a bullet. What if the battery had cooked while we were away? Kaboom!!! What if we had been overcome by the noxious gasses? "Hello St Peter". What if the battery had failed while we were offshore? Instead, the timing was as good as having a coronary in hospital and this episode has a happy ending.

The Big Spash

There's no SPLASH without cash. That's what boat yards say. From our perspective, there's no cash after the splash! Our 5 days out of the water flew by and I'd not yet completed the topsides. Too bad. The Boatworks runs a tight schedule and lift an average of 40 boats per week. Since our time there coincided with the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show their numbers were up on that yet again and if we missed our slot we could be days waiting to be re-scheduled. Expensive! Harry, the 100 ton crane was booked to lift us at 2pm and The Bloke would have just 20-30 minutes to anti-foul the prop points and under the keel after the cradle was removed before we were to be transported in the giant zimmer frame to be re-floated i.e. SPLASHED!

 No one argues with Harry.

Our girl looking sleek and shiny on top.

... and slippery fast below.

 

The slings were put in place but not tensioned until brown paper was inserted to protect our painting and polishing efforts. What a refreshing change to years gone by where we'd rush off to carpet shops to find carpet scraps to protect our hull! We'd heard that the crane actually weighed your boat in the process of properly balancing it. In this moment of truth our notional dry weight of 9 1/2 tons was revealed to have grown like middle age spread to a staggering 12 ton. OMG and this was with a diminished wine, beer and food holding too. The water tanks were empty and the fuel was yet to be topped up! The Bloke was wondering if I'd smuggled extra shoes aboard and gave me 'a look'.

 Sitting high above the ground and being carried back to the water.

A moment of terror for The Bloke...you can 'overthink' these things!

The Boatworks Experience

The claim on the side of one of the sheds, to be 'Australia's Greatest Boat Yard' is a big call but not in the least unfounded. This facility had so many recommendations from cruising friends who'd been before or visited each year that it became a no-brainer to select it for our by now, overdue, annual lift. It works as a 'one-stop pit-stop' for yachts and other watercraft. It's owned by a fellow who was involved in motor-racing and he's transferred much of that sport's maintenance practices into a well-oiled extremely professional operation that's service oriented, punctual, impeccably orderly and clean. It was a dream to be there.

We estimated that 75% of the boat owners up on the hardstand during our visit were living aboard, as we would be. Dedicated ablution suites for the live-aboards (cleaned twice daily) and free use of washing machines and dryers made the 'day-to-day' easier, as did the complimentary use of loan cars. Even though the on-site chandlers and other trades (mechanics, trimmers, sign shops, electricians etc...) simplified the purchase of anti-foul paint, rollers, boat polish, electrical equipment etc..., there were inevitably trips needed to Bunnings, fuel stations and re-provisioning shops.  No problemo. The pirate themed cafe/restaurant became a refuge for reviver coffees and some free wi-fi. The only disappointment was that their sausage rolls were not worth rating. It did however become a great venue for group meals when we were all just too overwhelmed to cook. Tables of 19 exhausted but 'happy campers' assembled a couple of times! 

 

In the midst of a tourist zone, we awoke one morning to the whooshing of propane burners overhead.

Easy Tiger is at present on the dry storage area with a couple of dozen other vessels.

A visit needed to be made to reassure Steve and Leanne all was well in their absence  -even though they knew it would be.

Painted ladies.

   

The Bloke took care of business below the waterline, including a small repair to the epoxy coating to part of the keel as a result of the 'keel wrap' incident. It was my task to polish up top. To enable that, we bought an electric buffer and hired some scaffolding from Kennards at Oxenford. Not realizing that we could have collected the scaffolding ourselves, we had it delivered but saved ourselves the $60 return pick-up fee by borrowing one of the Utes.

L-R -  David/SV Lavinda, Rick/Sailing Cat Swaggy, Brenton/SV Promise II, The Bloke, Chris/ SV Bilbungara and Garry/ Sailing Cat Chances, who gave valuable fishing advice. 

As usual, The Bloke was a ring leader and the planter box of palm behind our bay created a cozy nook for those 'end of day' sundowners to wash down the dust in everyone's throats.

The Boatworks have a terrific deal whereby you can be lifted on a Wednesday or Thursday and stay over the weekend at no charge. Being 'Shaggers' (members of the Shag Islet Cruising Yacht Club in case you think The Bloke is bragging) entitled us to a further 10% discount. For those jobs that don't need to performed 'on land', The Boatworks also have a limited number of pens for half the cost of the hard stand. In the end we spent a whole week with them out of the water and in.

Sun setting after a long day on the tools.

We were almost beyond speech most nights.

Can we recommend The Boatworks?

You bet!

Being Lifted 2016

Having the boat lifted is also code for imminent relief of funds from your wallet. It's about to get a whole lot lighter. We consoled ourselves for 2 nights after our return from our Perth family-a-thon that it would not be too bad. The gang on H jetty at Hope Harbour Marina were happy participants. They needed a good pat on the back for keeping my botanical garden alive too.

John had faithfully kept an eye on Zofia

Our plan was to leave with the high tide and motor up the Coomera River to The Boatworks where we were to be the first ones in the hoist at 07:00. On that basis we could tie up on their jetty after 17:00 for an overnight stay and be in situ for the lifting crane to make the grand reveal of what damage might have been done during our 'anchor wrap' incident at Laurieton. Coincidentally, a catamaran 'Chances' was also being lifted at 07:00 and tied up to the bay allocated for cats. This was a crew we'd last met in Port Stephens. Goody, we'd have play friends after hours and the tools were down.
 

The Coomera River is really a part of the wetlands system around the Gold Coast.

It's all low lying.

We were lifted by 'Harry', the 100 ton crane

We peered anxiously as the keel came into view

 

In a jiff she was clear of the water and sent to the bay for a power wash.

The Bloke - not looking!

OK, she's now in her stand, the steps are in position. The work begins.

Cookie, the rigger opened up the works program before the keel had even stopped dripping.