The Master Baiter

Condition for entry was a bottle of wine and the rules were outlined, Ron from MV Tonic would collect Marina from Jorja and myself in Elvis (the 'Love me Tender' to Tonic) to participate with Christine in a little fishing competition. Ron was to drive the tender, attend to our rods, bait our hooks, take our catch off and at the end of the afternoon, pour us some champagne while he filleted the catch and shared it out in ziploc bags. He would be, for the duration of the fishing competition/expedition our boat's Master and Baiter.

The bottles of wine/prizes would be redistributed with the winner getting 2 bottles and the remaining bottle to be an encouragement award. The biggest fish caught, not the number caught would determine who won.

Done deal! What an afternoon of fun awaited and I needed no encouragement.

Alas 3 hours proved, yet again that I'm a rubbish angler. Although I was the first to bring in a fish it was too small and released. Then my rig was bitten off and after that, all I caught was the bottom. Marina, did particularly well in bringing in not only the biggest fish but also a double-ganger on her double hooked rig. By dusk we'd managed 8 fish, plus had a close encounter with a whale and worn out poor Ron - our wonderful Master Baiter.

A good looker

Southbound

Miraculously our anchor lifted without any drama when leaving Billbob Bay. We were not expecting it to be the case seeing as we'd been hearing and feeling the grinding of chain over rubble down below all the previous day. We weren't entirely pleased with the anchor set when we first arrived but with the expectation of very light northerlies, we dropped 50m of chain in 8m of water and let 120kg of metal do its thing. Despite the wind chirping up and delivering bullets in the 25kn range through the saddle in the hills, we held still. Thank heaven for the Anchor Watch iPad App and our anchor buoy providing reassurance that we were not about to be blown to Mackay.

A beach BBQ had been organised but we backed out of going citing our lack of confidence with the anchor. Friends had come to collect us because we couldn't be bothered dropping the dinghy, lowering the motor etc only to have to reverse the process before we could leave in the morning. It was as Jo and Hans motored away that we noticed that Solitary Light, previously anchored inshore from us, seemed a lot closer. It definitely wasn't us moving and besides, if we were to drag anchor we'd have moved away and out into the bay - just like Solitary Light seemed to be in front if our very eyes. Our yelling at Hans and Jo in an attempt to recall them, must have alerted one of the crew of Solitary Light who had remained aboard with a 'lucky' toothache! Kerry's husband was already ashore and his vessel out of view. The others may have thought us old 'fuddie duddies' to start with but we felt very good about our prudence after watching Solitary Light wiggle past us in the customary wrenching motion boats make when 'dragging'!

Leaving Shaw Island.

So today we are making for Keswick and St Bees and leaving the beautiful Whitsunday area. A northerly should fill soon. We hope to find a mooring in the current-prone channel between the 2 islands and we'll stay until we need to shelter from a southerly at Scawfell or Curlew Islands. With any luck that would place us well to visit the Percy Group which the 'wind lords' denied us northbound.

Keswick and St Bees are not far from Scawfell Island

Billbob Bay, Shaw Island

As much as we'd have preferred to be at Thomas Island, a northerly breeze said NO! If fact, a northerly pattern was predicted for the coming days. Is this the start of the change of season? For months we experienced strong SE winds for a week at a time and a Northerly could barely break in for a few hours to deliver a fine warm respite. It looked like a reverse and perhaps signaling the time to return south of the Cyclone belt.

 

Evening sun captured on the headland

The holding in this bay is a bit precarious. Lots of coral reef downstairs and we were not confident. If the wind were to pick up we'd need to leave pronto. So unsure were we about our holding, that the Bloke turned down an invitation for drinks aboard another boat. Yes, that serious!

New Silver Gull on the left is a fully restored 80 year old beauty.

On the right is a steel version sister ship, Solitary Light.

Morning glass

On the upside, it was very pretty and quiet and we could hear lots of bird calls; from crows, to oyster catchers to something that went "whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop" on a descending scale.

Fishing with Cake

By now we have established that The Bloke and I are generally rubbish when it comes to fishing. One has to allocate suitable time, especially around changes of tide. The rig needs to be suitable for the species of fish, the bait needs to be appropriate and the hooks, sinkers etc appropriate for the depth one might be expecting to catch this fish. What can we expect to be there? How deep? We are absolute clownheads.

Lunch, dinner and lunch again.

We have not given up however and have had a modicum of success with a particular type of bait. A box of cake. It's not isolated success either. We've had sufficient success over the last couple of years to persist with it.

Box of mixed slices retrieved from the freezer and good to go!

Whilst in Macona Inlet recently we observed a prawning boat come in and anchor. The Bloke was immediately dispatched with some Ca$h to see if some prawns could be purchased. Success. However, seeing as the smallest quantity we could buy was 2.5Kg The Bloke had to pop back for some extra money. The prawns would be cooked, frozen and caught only a couple of days earlier. Perfect! How lucky that this guy was having some time off with the Missus and came into our bay. Knowing what a tough life it must be on the ocean in all weathers, The Bloke asked me for a box of cake slices as gift. No problemo. A box was fished out of our freezer. The prawner was so taken aback he insisted on a return gift. It was a small bag of cooked and frozen Moreton Bay Bugs. And that's a recent example of how we fish with cake.

They look a bit prehistoric but big tails are awesome.

PS The bugs were pealed and the tail meat heated in some butter with garlic, chopped chillis, cherry tomatoes, Pernod and cream and served on spaghetti. We declared our bait was the best so far.

Curlew to Scawfell Island

With 45nm to cover, we had factored on our journey from Curlew Island, where we had sheltered from some strong SE weather, to take around 9hours. The wind was still predicted to be in the 18-20 range but less extreme gusts than we'd had on previous passages. We hoped for consistent winds for a downhill ride. The seas were supposedly to be around 1.5m.

Scooting along

 

We departed at 06:30 together with Sans Souci although they were going to break off in the direction of Mackay for the weekend. We left Jorja and Tonic in the bay. It wasn't long before the Bloke's careful passage planning was abandoned in favour of a course that would give us a more tolerable ride passing to the west of one island rather than on the eastern side. At least the tide was being helpful and sucking us along. We felt that we were beginning to get a hang of the 'tidal situation'. Being in the vicinity of Thirsty Sound and Mackay means BIG TIDES (the largest on the East Coast of Australia) and the speed you might gain in the morning of a long passage you can loose in the afternoon.

Despite not taking the rhumb line and being forced to make a couple of tacks, we arrived at the mountainous Scawfell Island 2 hours earlier than expected. This was a relief considering that conditions had freshened considerably to deliver 25-30 knots. An extra metre of fetch accelerated our Speed Over Ground (SOG) at times to 9knots. We had a small opportunity to furl the head sail in the lee of the island and then motor at 2,000+ rpm to barely squeeze out 2knots through the ripping current to swing into the anchorage.

    

The current swirling the water in slabs

A well sheltered anchorage emerging behind the point

We were astonished to find Tonic at anchor when we arrived. We'd not noticed their having passed us en route. 30 minutes after our arrival Jorja completed the hop too having decided against their original St Bee's destination. They reportedly had the same issues fighting the wind and current to eventually arrive in even more 'willing conditions'. We immediately had play-friends nearby, having transposed ourselves from one island to another. Brilliant. More fun to follow.

Tonic silhouetted at sunset

What a Load of Rubbish!

Have you ever stopped to consider just how much rubbish we create in a day? What do you do with it when you live on a boat?

 

A tub or sorted and condensed dry rubbish

'Resources' for us, include water, ULP petrol, diesel, food, alcoholic beverages AND access to waste disposal!

If you drag a wheelie bin out onto the verge each week or fortnight you get a sense of how much waste is generated but when you are on a boat and you have to keep it all with you in a small space for extended periods and the amount of waste generated daily is all too apparent! What do we do to mitigate this problem? To begin with, a lot of packaging gets removed even before items get stowed. Big and bulky items like wine/beer boxes are the first to go. Eggs are transferred to plastic egg cartons. Whatever possible is transferred to a sealed plastic container. Hooray for my Tupperware. Bags and cartons, wherever possible are removed and disposed of ashore. An examination of our daily rubbish will document all the cups of tea we've had because of the tea bags - luckily the Bloke likes his weak and black and I have it stronger and white so we can share one. There will be fruit and vegetable peels, although we attempt to eat whatever skins we can. It makes sense nutritionally as well as from a waste perspective. There will be plastic wrapping/bags from frozen produce, bread bags, cheese wrappers, packaging from our crackers, UHT cartons, empty jam jars, tomato tins, soap wrappers, beer and wine bottles etc. What to do? What to do?

Queensland regulations require the installation of one of

these notices on board vessels over 12m. That includes US!

There is no mention of where to display or what the containers should be?

 

Firstly, waste gets distributed around the boat and it needs sorting. Wine and beer bottles can returned to the locker that they came from. Obviously, beer in cans that could be crushed are a good idea but The Bloke has his favourites and they are not in cans. Cask wine is an option but we've not succumbed! Tonic for my GT is being created with the Soda Stream. Dry rubbish needs separating from wet. This allows for any particular rubbish receptacle to be very condensed. Paper and cardboard is stored flat and not screwed up. PET bottles are cut into strips. Any plastic jar/bottle with a with a wide opening is stuffed with whatever wet and composting stuff that can get jammed in. The screw cap will assist with odour management. Some items can be dried on a tray in the sun to reduce their volume a little and their propensity to breakdown into a sludge. This can be a problem if there are sea gulls or when its super windy! Obviously, attempting to dry out some of the vegetable waste while traveling (on sailing days) is impossible.

Sourced www.safety4sea.com

 

One thing we never do is dump household waste at sea. Maybe the occasional apple core but generally nothing goes over the side. A real cruiser that is heading for port, will even offer to take some rubbish ashore with them. (THANKS Julianna and Hugh!).

And while on the subject of waste and plastics, give that take-away coffee cup, single use plastic shopping bag, balloon, plastic straw etc a second thought. How certain are you it's not going to end up in a storm drain and then out into the waterways or oceans? We can all do better.

Image titled GUT PLASTIC sourced from Euroshore Newsletter, May 2013.

Onboard Resources and the Food Challenge

OK, so we've been off-shore for nearly 3 weeks now. By that, we really mean away from a shop. We've of course been ashore at Island Head Creek, Hunter, Curlew, Scawfell, Thomas and Shaw Islands since our last re-provisioning at Yeppoon but these are all National Parks. Our next scheduled marina stop and re-provisioning opportunity will be at Airlie Beach just 20nm away. The Bloke has thrown out the challenge, our booking is for 15th-16th August. We are to last on the resources on-board until then! This does not sit well with my massive food insecurity but I'm willing to give it a try.

We should be safe from scurvy. The foil balls are all limes.

We should be OK with water due to the recent generosity of 2 lots of friends. 120L all up which is 5-6 days worth. We have learned to be very abstemious. We have about 275L left in the tanks, plus we have bottled water. 200L of the 275 is in the for'ard tank. The gauges are not exactly linear so the remainder is a guesstimate. We do have a birdie wash DAILY as per normal but the laundry is piling up. 2 weeks of laundry is generally 3-4 machine loads. Day one at the marina is going to be a whopper of washing, washing, washing.... Better take a book or two!

Second laundry basket required. This one is overflowing.

Since the fridge is very depleted, we are putting wine, UHT Milk, and water bottles in to help retain the temperature and avoid senseless power consumption. It's very hard to keep 'air' at a temperature. The Bloke is down to his last 6 beers. They are in the fridge too. Luckily for him, there is wine!

Bottled water supplies in the bilge.

 

2 more bread mix packets exist, which is more than we need.

We'll keep this as a rolling food diary.

Day 1 - Saturday 6th Aug
Breakfast - toast (home baked bread) with nutlex margarine spread plus peanut butter, Vegemite and homemade marmalade.
Lunch - ham, salami + coleslaw. Fruit salad of 'fresh' apple, pear and the last of the kiwi fruit topped with Greek yogurt.
Drinks - last of the pumpernickel bread cut in small squares, spread with last of the herbed cream cheese garnished with last of the cods roe caviar, lime slice and dried dill leaves. Half a Bree cheese plus some crackers. Olives. Wine. Shared with guests.
Dinner - home made Sausage Rolls!!! The Bloke was so very happy and adamantly refused to consider offering any to our on-board guests over drinks.

Cooking today - bread, sweet potato soup plus sausage rolls.

Day 2 - Sunday 7th Aug
Breakfast - toast (home baked bread) with nutlex spread(margarine) plus peanut butter, Vegemite and homemade marmalade
Lunch - Sunday Roast. A marinated beef roast (from the freezer), potatoes wrapped in foil, sweet potato wrapped in foil. Last of the brussel sprouts. Fruit salad of 'fresh' apple, pear and tinned peaches topped with Greek yogurt.
Drinks - Tinned Dolmades
Dinner - Cold sausage rolls plus coleslaw for The Bloke, sweet potato soup for me.

Day 3 Monday 8th August
Breakfast - toast (home baked bread) with nutlex spread(margarine) plus peanut butter, Vegemite and homemade marmalade
Lunch - Cold roast beef  plus salad using last of a coz lettuce heart, fresh mandarin segments, walnuts, artichoke hearts and red cabbage in a Dijon mustard dressing. Fruit salad of apple, pear and tinned peaches. Last of the Greek yogurt.
Drinks - Pretzels + olives
Dinner - Cold sausage rolls plus coleslaw

Day 4 Tuesday 9th August
Breakfast - toast (home baked bread) with nutlex spread(margarine) plus peanut butter, Vegemite and homemade marmalade
Lunch - Bread rolls filled with cold roast beef and coleslaw
Drinks - cut pepperoni + cheese
Dinner - Cold Sausage Rolls, coleslaw  plus sweet potato soup.

Day 5 Wednesday 10th August
Breakfast - toast (home baked bread) with nutlex spread(margarine) plus peanut butter, Vegemite and homemade marmalade
Lunch - cold beef sandwiches.
Drinks - olives+ hummus + crackers
Dinner - eggplant, zucchini and cubed ham tomato ragu served with squid ink and regular spaghetti and Parmesan

Baked bread + 3 the usual cake slices (Moomba Fingers, Chocolate Brownies and Cinnamon Squares)

Day 6 Thursday 11th August
Breakfast - toast (home baked bread) with nutlex spread(margarine) plus peanut butter, Vegemite and homemade marmalade
Lunch - last of the roast beef served in bread with coleslaw. Cut fruit using the last half of an apple, a pear, tinned peaches and morrello cherries served with home made Natural Yogurt.
Drinks - cubed cheddar with red cocktail onions, olives and Polish dill cucumbers cut in strips. The bilge stores keep delivering marvels!
Dinner - eggplant, zucchini and cubed ham tomato ragu served with squid ink and regular spaghetti and Parmesan

Day 7 Friday 12th August
Breakfast - toast (home baked bread) with nutlex spread(margarine) plus peanut butter, Vegemite and homemade marmalade
Lunch - sailing and skipped lunch. Ate a mandarin and some cake along the way
Drinks - cheese + crackers + olives +
Dinner -Perri perri chicken strips served with stir fried veggies - Chinese cabbage, carrot, celery, onion, red capsicum and sliced snow peas  - 3 snow peas left for tomorrow :~)

Baked bread (last packet of bread mix)

Day 8 Saturday 13th August
Breakfast - toast (home baked bread) with nutlex spread(margarine) plus peanut butter, Vegemite and homemade marmalade

SO FAR, SO GOOD. Should make it and our 200L water tank is still 75% full!

Laundry situation getting interesting. Digging out the last few sets of undies.

Oh, man... the washing is going to take hours to get done!

Lunch - 
Drinks -
Dinner -

Day 9 Sunday 14th August
Breakfast - 
Lunch - 
Drinks -
Dinner -

Day 10 Monday 15th August - We are booked into the Abel Point Marina and will be ashore
Breakfast -