Friday, May 31, 2013
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!
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Bundaberg (Bundy) to Darwin Australia Blog (May to July 2013)
Great Keppel
Island – Thursday, May 9 and Monday, May 13
Nice swimming beaches and great walking treks. We spotted the pheasant coucal and heard the
laughing kookaburra.
Rosslyn Bay
(Keppel Bay Marina) – Friday, May 10 to Monday, May 13
Marina has great access to public transportation to Yeppoon
for grocery shopping. Lovely walking
paths nearby where we spotted the many butterflies, brush turkey, kookaburra
and a black cockatoo.
Cape Capricorn –
Wednesday, May 8
There was a quaint lighthouse with a family living on top of
the hill next to the lighthouse. The
lighthouse family had to take a tram to get to their home. Unfortunately, in strong winds, the anchorage
was very roily so we opted not to stay!
Bundy to Lady
Musgrave Island (Saturday, May 4 to Wednesday, May 8)
We’re off on Saturday, May 4! After being in the Port Bundaberg Marina for
six months, we finally threw off the dock lines. First stop on our 1800 mile trek to Darwin is
Lady Musgrave Island. Lady Musgrave
Island is about 56 miles from Bundy – very narrow passage into the lagoon but well-marked.
We sailed up to Lady Musgrave in very light wind conditions
hoping to catch a nice big fish – instead all we got was a frustrated booby who
thought our lures were his dinner. We
left at the crack of dawn and arrived about 4:00 p.m. – just enough time for a quick
dip! Our grandson Brenton Millard was
thrilled to see his first reef in the aqua blue tropical water along with a
giant sea turtle that magically popped his head out of the water just as we
were anchoring! Both loggerhead and
green turtles nest on Lady Musgrave Island.
Sunday, May 5, was a picture perfect day for snorkeling in
the glassy 77 F degree water. We joined
Rutea and Galatea for a lovely snorkel on a couple of balmies (coral heads)
filled with tropical fish and sea turtles.
Water clarity was awesome. Later
that afternoon, we did a dinghy float with Galatea (Dan and Hugh), Marieke
(Swedish; Ingvar and Saeya), Rutea (Neil, Ruthie, Corie and friend Mary) and
Lardo – we tied off to each other and floated into the sunset as we shared
appetizers.
That night, the wind picked up. The anchorage was too roily anchorage for a
decent night sleep. The following day, Monday,
May 6, was too choppy to snorkel, but we did take the dinghy for a wet ride onto
the island in about 20 to 25 knots of wind.
This small wooded island with lovely white beach is home to lots of
noddy terns and shear water birds.
We looked at the weather gribs every day hoping for a break
in the weather – it was pretty bleak in that the forecast was for strong winds
all week. So we all decided to remain in
the anchorage on Tuesday. We didn’t even
accept a Mexican train dominoes challenge from Rutea after we witness Ingvar
fall off his dinghy as he was entering from our boat in the choppy
conditions. Galatea took off but Rutea,
Marieke and Lardo decided that we would all set sail to Cape Capricorn, Curtis
Island on Wednesday, May 8.
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