Bundaberg (Bundy) to Darwin Australia Blog (May to July 2013)

Curlew Island (Guardfish Group) – Thursday, May 16 to Saturday, May 18

Woke up and ran the gribs for the weather – all light wind conditions or so we thought.  Based on the gribs and coast guard weather report, we decided to continue on to Curlew Island (33 miles).  About 2 hours before we reached Curlew Island, we got spanked by a nasty squally front that lasted through the night.  The driving rain and wind gusts up to 40 knots blinded our sight.  Visibility was extremely poor in these conditions so we had to rely totally on our navionics.  Lardo handled the conditions well and our navionics were spot on!  

The next day we opted to stay at Curlew Island to allow the weather to settle.  The anchorage was well protected from the southeast trades and we were able to go out for a kayak once the temp’s warmed up and go for a walk along the long stretch beach.  We spotted the bush stone curlew and the beach stone curlew – the island was appropriately named!

Hunter Island (Duke Group) – Wednesday, May 15

Beautiful islands owned by family originally for raising cattle, now for red deer grazing.  Delightful protected anchorage from southeast wind.  Nice beach, sea eagles and even a stag grazing just at sunset.  Kayaked and swam along beach as there were a few sharks in the neighborhood.

Port Clinton – Tuesday, May 14

 
Perfect anchorage for all weather conditions but boy was it buggy!  Because this was military property, we did not go to shore but had a nice kayak along shoreline.  Best to anchor away from creek and mangroves to avoid the sandflies!