Going Pineapples!

Filling in time at Rosslyn Bay (Kepple Bay Marina) is no hardship. Although the weather system that kept us in the marina again from our intended 4-5 days to 8 days was not of the same magnitude as in our Northward journey, we were more than happy to extend another day, then yet another while 35knots piped through. We managed to get through our boat jobs and even find some new ones and in between catch the Youngs #20 into Yeppoon per chance for The Bloke to sample another sausage roll, to buy a paper, a coffee, and generally act like normal folk. As the saying goes, time and tide wait for no man. In this instance, no woman either. The clock has ticked over to make me eligible for a seniors fare on Young's buses!

We like Yeppoon and this dynamic town has some fun. Distinctly Queensland style fun. What about a Pineapple Festival?

This is the stuff street parades, themed balls etc are made for! In preparation, the burgers of Yeppoon had embraced the local Lions club initiative and promoted the event by including pineapples in their shop windows. Who could have ever have imagined that the humble pineapple could be the inspiration for so many objects? Here is a sample.

The best in Qld kitsch!

Sadly, there would be no possibility of attending the parade as we were going bananas, or should that be pineapples, over a newly arisen boat related issue and didn't want to extend our stay yet another day. Stand by.

A Cruisers Pilgrimage

Every cruiser you speak with who has sailed up the Queensland coast toward 'The Whitsundays' talks about visiting Middle Percy Island and in particular dropping off a little memento of their boat in the 'A Frame'. It's almost a pilgrimage so we thought we should check it out. Luckily, after a 'permission denied' situation only the day before, a day of very light winds was forecast and West Bay became 'doable' at last. What a lucky break because it's untenable in anything over 15 knots and what wind there is, needs to be an Easterly!

Looks idyllic

A lovely beach that provided a welcome dip when we returned

  Heading for the A Frame
When we reached West Bay, effectively completing a circumnavigation of Middle Percy, it was barely recognizable from the day before. Conditions were so light that The Bloke even agreed to go ashore to visit the A Frame AND walk up to the Homestead (about a 5.5km round trip).

Among the memorabilia in the A Frame

Messages

It was clear that many cruisers had gone to some trouble when selecting or creating an item to mark their visit. Poems and specially carved items were nailed, hung and attached from every surface. We left a very modest anchor buoy.

The European story of Middle Percy is that it was visited by Matthew Flinders and settled by only a handful of people and used principally for sheep grazing. This was the case for many surrounding islands with the wool clip collected by barge once a year. Since the pastoral activity was accompanied by a lot of ringbarking of trees and the even earlier introduction of goats, coconut palms and other vegetation by the Royal Navy to provide sustenance for passing sailors, the current vegetation is not really 100% 'authentic' but is lovely none the less. The current custodians and National Parks are attempting to 'restore' the Island, but eliminating introduced species such as weeds, cane toads and grey kangaroos is a task as unrealistic as unscrambling eggs. The matter arouses great passion and attracts some volunteers who wish to enjoy a simple life for a while.

For more info check www.percyisland.com.au

Our trek was rewarded with fabulous vistas, walking through glades full of fluttering Blue Tiger butterflies and a short visit to The Homestead. Oh, and something we'd missed for a week ... A brief phone signal! A sure sign of how pathetically dependent we have become on our electronic communications. We naively expected the signal to be accessible from more than a single location and failed to get a weather update - doh!

The Homestead

Goat kids

Decorated coconuts add a bit of whimsy and provide assurance you are on the correct track

A lagoon can be entered at high tide by shallow keeled vessels.

Sunset over Piney Islet

A Day in The Percy's

We were anchored for a NW at Whites Bay, Middle Percy but knew that a southerly change was predicted at 'something stupid o'clock'. When it arrived, we'd be on a lee shore in a falling tide and as a result of the late (sunset) entry of a few catamarans who'd claimed the beachfront as their own, we'd have a crowded and diminishing anchorage to contend with too. The Bloke who is generally very nervy about such situations was conveniently anesthetized by the evening's libations and had a great night of sleep, if snoring intensity is a measure. Luckily captain has a handy First Mate and night time checks showed that despite an extended swing to the west, all was well.. at least until it wasn't.

Dawn view across to NE Percy

 

At 04:30 a new story announced itself. The southerly was IN and building. Our anchorwatch track indicated a few wiggles as the chain and anchor repositioned but we decided to leave ahead of drama. At this stage we were the only ones up. On the back of the coming SE change we had planned to visit West Bay and the famous Middle Percy 'A Frame' and trying to calculate the tides and guess which was the shortest and best way, we chose the northern route. This was very attractive and provided a lovely view of the sunrise over North East Percy as well as a sheltered run along the northern cliffs.



Rounding Howards Headland however revealed the full ferocity of the Southerly and the tide which switched direction half way down the channel. We kept going in case there was any shelter at all behind the small headland at West Bay. This anchorage looked like it might elude us again.

West Bay looking very unprotected. In a word - "rubbish".

Deciding to turn about found us in 25-30kn following seas + current as it switched from slack to full-on, propelling us back in our track at 8-9kn! And that was despite towing our dinghy which was custodian to many litres of rain water courtesy of a thunderstorm the previous evening. By the time we were 3/4 the way back and headed for Blunt Bay on NE Percy, the rest of the Whites Bay anchorage had emptied with 50% heading to where we'd just rejected! What surprised us greatly is that none turned about. But that's catamarans for you, they probably put themselves on the beach to get out of the wind and chop.

 

For our part, we finished up in Blunt Bay with the rest of the boats. We could have been there in 30 minutes instead of 2 hours and 30 minutes. Lesson for the day:- If you anticipate being blown out of an anchorage by a night wind shift, have a plan to pop to the very NEAREST viable alternative!


On the upside, we did our tour in daylight and were in another splendid bay with an interesting pebble, pumice and coral rubble beach.

Tiers of pebbles, then pumice balls which rolled like ball bearings underfoot!

Giving in to a Rainman

Owning Zofia for nearly 8 years and having lived aboard full time for close to 3 of those years, one could easily think that we'd got most things sorted out and everything we need aboard. Wrong. Just when we think we've pretty well 'nailed it', something else comes into focus. There is probably a hierarchy of needs and the list so long that you don't see items well down the list until they suddenly emerge as the next big thing. Take for instance, the matter of a desalinator. We have managed our water consumption thus far, and half way around the continent too!

 

The installer  

 

We are pretty abstemious with water consumption averaging about 20-25L per day. The salt water tap helps too with rinsing dishes, cleaning the sink and so on. 20 minute showers under streaming hot water are not the rage aboard Zofia. The sump in the bathroom signals that 9L has been used. Electricity has been used to pump it out the tap and more pumping will occur to remove it from the sump. The Bloke (AKA the 'Amp Nazi') has a thing or two to say about that and showering will generally occur while the motor or generator are operating to save the batteries. We've acquired stingy habits when it comes to water use.

   

The Rainman de-desal unpacked.

Membrane unit + filters + the pressure unit.

So, why a desalinator now? There were 2 triggers. Firstly, we'd been given water while out in the islands en route to The Whitsundays and it enabled us to stay 'out', i.e. off-shore for a whole month and still arrive at Abell Point Marina with 100L in the tanks. This was really a game changer. We'd normally be looking for water after 2 weeks with a margin of 1 week to 10 days to achieve it. Ambitions to attempt a trip to Lizard Island next season require capacity to be self sufficient for 6 weeks. Tradewinds, which are typically in the 30knot range might be blowing the wrong way and prevent trips for resupply. A desalinator could also reduce our dependence on marinas.

    

Installation progress.

The Bloke partially installed the system by fixing the membrane unit with the supplied brackets inside our stern lazarette.

Our other motivation was visitors. In particular, the kids were coming and we didn't want to be standing over them every time they were near a tap. It would be a tension that would simply spoil the visit.

Coil hose bringing in the seawater.

Green hose returning the brine.

We chose a Rainman Desalination system because it made sense as well as dollars and cents. We already had a Honda 2Kv generator (power supply). The system is portable and manual. Being less automated, there is less to go wrong. One thing we have learned is that the more 'seemingly sophisticated' a boat's systems, the more agonizing the failures, with accompanying cost and disruption. From the various options, we selected one with a 50-70L capacity which meant that running it every 2-3days would replace our usage. A higher capacity unit would not only cost more but 150-170L per hour would over-fill our tanks or if used less frequently result in extra maintenance of the membrane. Rather than select the membrane in 2peices we chose the single 40" unit which saved quite a bit on price too.

Hey presto - here is the fresh water ready to be fed into our water tanks!

Our timetable is now driven less by the requirement to top up our water tanks. We sacrificed a 20L diesel Gerry can and replaced it with a 20L ULP Gerry to fuel the generator. The outcome has been very liberating.

Eternal Vigilance

Marilyn, our dinghy is a very naughty girl. In fact it is because she's naughty that we were able to acquire her. That is another whole story, so on with the story of why it pays to to be always on 'the look out'.

We'd been out to visit Rom and Basia on Sandsara, a Polish couple we'd met in Iluka and kept in touch with since. A lovely catch up after 6 months and impossible in the anchorage the previous night at Keswick Is, where we could only look across at one another and 'hang on' while anchored in a lively anchorage, in deep water with all our chain out. On return to Zofia we decided to enjoy the balmy glomming with an extra drink. A blissful counterpoint to the previous night of being on anchor watch and with little sleep.

The Bloke is very sensitive to our surroundings. He sees the fish, the turtles, the whales and dugongs and I'm just left blabbering "Where? Where?". He notices noises too, except when I'm talking to him. On this occasion he'd noticed that the schlip schlop sound of Marilyn seemed a bit further away. Turning to look, the Bloke noticed that Marilyn was a lot further away than she should be and receding with the current. Faaaaar out!ACTION STATIONS!!!!!

A cruiser's dinghy/tender is critical. It's your car: how you get ashore and how you can socialize as well useful for checking things around the boat... the hull, the anchor etc... Additionally they represent a 5-10,000AUD investment, little of which would be covered by insurance when factoring a $5,000 excess, reduction for depreciation, wear and tear plus the inconvenience of going to the nearest port (paying marina fees because you can't otherwise get ashore) and attempting to buy a replacement. Friends have just recently gone through the exercise after their dinghy was stolen from the beach.

Lots of thoughts surge to the front of mind. The Bloke - "It's not far, I can swim and fetch it". Me - "The Bloke could dive in and swim after it. I don't like getting wet, and am not much of a swimmer. Why is he delaying? The longer he delays, the further he'll need to swim! GO! Where's the good torch? I need to keep the dinghy illuminated so he can see it and so that I can see him".
Next; reason kicks in. Swimming? How stupid would that be? That would turn a disaster into a "Cluster f@@k"! Try getting into a dinghy from the water. Super, super hard. What else is in the water? Too spooky to contemplate. (By now is black dark and everyone on nearby boats have gone below). Tweetie Pie (the kayak), yes the kayak was the answer!

The Bloke went forward to unleash our last resort. I scrambled below to turn on the VHF radio, deck light and cockpit auxiliary strip lights, grab 2 torches and head torch. By the time the Bloke had delivered Tweetie Pie to the transom, my PFD (life jacket) was on (a PLB -personal locator beacon is permanently attached), the portable VHF was stuffed in my bra, waterproof torch stuffed in a pocket, head torch strapped on thus completing the appearance of a cyclops. I was ready to chase Marilyn down.

Safety First: Torches, VHF, Life jacket

The Bloke is generally critical of my obsession with torches and I've not yet managed to smuggle one of those megamillion lumen spotlights on board. I won't need to now because The Bloke just got first-hand experience why a comparatively small investment in such a thing would have enhanced his feeble attempts to focus the lens of his hand held torch on the receding silhouette of Marilyn. It's now on the top if HIS shopping list. Fortunately, I managed a glimpse of the target during a sweeping gesture and succeeded in paddling up along side Marilyn about 250m away.

I tied Tweetie Pie off on a handle with my best bowline first time and didn't muff it. Now would be the time for the glue to fail but Mr Murphy let that opportunity pass. Getting from a semi-recumbent position off the Kayak and into the dinghy was a interesting head and shoulders scramble. Thank goodness for 'winch wench' workouts and having the strength.

The Bloke's view of things was to see my red head-torch light bobbling about in the darkness. He must have been so relieved to have heard the outboard motor kick over on the first pull. Motoring back to Zofia and holding on to Tweetie Pie's painter as an extra precaution that the pressure didn't rip off the dinghy handle, I suddenly remembered that I hadn't found the dinghy painter. It's a floating rope but perhaps it would trail under the dinghy and foul the propeller. Oh, Lordy me! So I just went as slowly as possible - just in case. Once I was in the light streaming from Zofia's transom, there was the dinghy painter. What? How was it there?

In my absence, The Bloke had worked out what had happened. It wasn't a case of drunken sailors failing to secure the tender. No, the painter was still attached to Zofia it was just that the tender was no longer attached to the painter. The shackle had worked loose and fallen off. Lucky, lucky us that this had occurred while we were topside and in a position to notice.

The real moral of the story is that my Bloke is a champ for being so vigilant but tomorrow a new shackle will be fitted WITH a cable tie and or some seizing wire. To be sure, to be sure!
With the situation now under control, it was time for another drink; calm down and review the shopping list.

Marilyn, reattached for now, with 2 emergency lines.

Escape from Rosslyn Bay

Days in a marina can quickly be consumed with laundry, re-provisioning and boat maintenance. Our engine hours indicated that an oil service was due and seeing as a significant birthday was to be acknowledged too, a one week check-in was a starting point. In the end the weather cycle turned and we needed a few more days to yet again hide from inclement weather.

One of our jetty rats on board another Jeanneau -SV Isabella, was a quad-copter pilot and photographer and he kindly sent us these shots to share. Truly, if we had to be trapped in a marina, we could hardly complain. Yeppoon and Rosslyn Bay in particular, is lovely.

The Keppel Bay Marina nestles behind an old volcanic plug.

Images courtesy of Mike Middleton spikeymikey@gmail.com

We enjoyed lots of hospitality at the yacht club and wanting to check if we were still there, Spikey Mikey flew his drone past to check on us.

     

Screenshots from Marine Traffic demonstrate we were not the only ones with southward travel on our minds

Navigating through the 'parked' vessels off Gladstone, all waiting to take away our coal. Other counties like it a lot. Australians seem to be bucking the trend.