Coffs Harbour to Home

A very overdue post on our last leg home.....

After our "eventful" trip from Southport, we were grateful for a relaxing break at Coffs Harbour. A few days we were kindly joined by Able Crewman "Dangerous Cargo" for our last leg home. We left Saturday (in August) morning for the trip south.

Apart from a very cold night, we mostly motored due to lack of wind. We made great time and by early morning we had to slow down to co-incide with the favourable tide across Swansea bar.

On passing off Stockton Beach, we celebrated with a breakfast of bacon (locally smoked in Belligen) and eggs (free range from The Pinnacles) and were joined by whales, dolphins and (of all things) seals. The sea was teaming with wildlife. Yippee!

We had an easy bar crossing, timed nicely with the opening of Swansea bridge. Then the passage through Swansea channel and the obligatory "touch" just before the drop over, taken mush more calmly by the crew than in the past. After entering the Lake a comment was made that the Lake appeared "small" by comparison to the ocean. And it did but comfortingly so...

It was lovely to be home but we enjoyed the wonderful challenge of finally fulfilling a life plan. Thank you to all our friends and family who helped and supported us during this trip. A special thanks to Able Crewman Bosma who saved the sanity of the navigator by joining us on the last leg home.

Stay tuned for our next sailing trip...yes...we're planning it already...Europe anyone?

Southport to Coffs

Ok - this leg was not the best time we've had on this trip. After a terrific few days in Southport, including side trips Kingscliff, Byron Bay (great), Mt Tamborine (underwhelming) and a Sea World visit (terrific) , we headed out through the Gold Coast Seaway. Having checked the weather obsessively prior to leaving, everything looked in our favour ie. winds and seas dropping.

Sea World

Sea World - how great are dolphins?

Well, the seas didn't drop and after a really uncomfortable day heading into a southerly wind and swell, we headed into our night sail. Around midnight and off Yamba a squall came up with winds around 25kts. It was pitch black and raining. We sat in this for 3 - 4 hours despite our best efforts to move out of the squall using the radar. It was freezing. We had blankets and doonas on deck which were now all wet. So any exhausted sleep had to be found on wet pillows, cushions and under wet doonas. What fun!

We briefly discussed turning back and heading into Yamba but with the bad weather heading into an unfamiliar river was not the safest option. So we kept going and I counted down the hours until daylight. Sunrise found us wet and cold off the Solitary Islands north of Coffs Harbour. Under good conditions  this part of the trip would usually take 2 hours to arrive in Coffs Harbour. Our trip took 6 hours. The good news was we did eventually arrive - hooray!

Coffs Harbour from Mutton Bird Island

Islands of Coffs Harbour from Mutton Bird Island

What's in a name...

Choosing the name for our yacht seem to take forever and with some negotiation required. We didn't want....

• a combination of our names (al la grey nomads) eg Suelott or Scottlen. We've seen plenty...
• a "clever" play on words such as "Profit of Boom" - yes that's been suggested for another boat back in the day
• a name that seems reserved for power boats or racers eg. Assassin, Renegade or our favourite to date Naughty Boy (overhead on a radio call) - "Marine Rescue, this is Naughty Boy, Naughty Boy, Naughty Boy - Naughty Boy, Naughty Boy, Naughty Boy this is Marine Rescue" did sound funny at the time. 

So we chose a Tibetan Buddhist word, samaya, following a trip to Bali. It has several meanings, one relates to the bond or teachings between guru and disciple, and the realisation of enlightenment but my favourite is the more poetic "living in the heart".

  Southport

For practical purposes, we thought it would be an easy radio call sign and even easier phonetically - sierra, alpha, mike, alpha, yankee, alpha. Simple right?

Well, no. All along the coast the Marine Radio operators (bless their hearts, they do an absolutely brilliant job) have had trouble. We often get "The Mayor", Maya, recently we had "Sami-aya" but mostly we get asked to spell it. Waiting to hear more versions...always good for a smile.

A whale of a day

3,000 Humpback whales migrate between Antarctica and the Great Barrier Reef at this time of year. On the way to the Whitsunday's we were lucky enough to see a breaching whale (one of the early starters). Sailing from Mooloolaba last week, we spotted a blow in the distance during the day. Then nothing until sunset when we saw 2 pods of about 4 whales (with calves) travelling north about 100 meters away.

We figured we were lucky enough to see those and started getting organised for the night sail, when out of no where an adult whale surfaced next to the yacht in the dark. Amazing and scary at the same time as we guessed that he/she may have crossed in front of the boat without us being aware of it.

These sightings were around North Stradbroke Island where they travel closest to the coast.

We then put a call into the Dept of Sustainability, Environment, Water etc and suggested they organise the whales with navigation lights as they were a shipping hazard. Good grief two more night sails to go, let's hope we don't bump into anything.

Dolphins of Tin Can Bay

An unexpected extra couple of days in the Great Sandy Straits (due to weather) gave us time to visit and hand feed the dolphins in Tin Can Bay. These are wild Indo-Pacific Humpback dolphins who visit a jetty in Snapper Creek to be hand fed most days (when it suits them I guess). Usually it's one or two. A 20 year old male dolphin called Mystique and a younger female, Harmony. Mystique learn this behaviour of visiting and getting fed from his mother, Scarry. It started in the 1950's when "Old Scarry" beached himself when injured and was then cared for by the locals. He was then followed by Scarry who hasn't been seen since 2004.

We climbed in the dingy in the cold, early hours of the morning to head over to the jetty. Shortly after we arrived, a bow wave in the water singled the arrival of the dolphins around 7am. They patiently waited in the shallow water until 8am to be hand fed by visitors like us. It was a great privilege to be so close and to be able to hand feed these amazing animals.

A few interesting facts on the Indo-Pacific Humpback dolphin:-

• they are classified as rare
• the get their name from their elongated dorsal fin and humped back appearance from accumulated fat deposits as they age (some of us can relate, you know who you are)
• they grow to a length of just under 3 meters and will live for about 40 years
• they eat about 30kg a day and are only fed 3kg at the jetty (equivalent to an early morning snack)
• they are covered in scars, teeth marks from other dolphins and shark attacks. 
• you can read more here.

This a lovely low key activity in an unspoiled area which is under threat from significant proposed marina development. The area is home to the dugong, Indo-Pacific Humpback dolphins, 5 species of marine turtles and significant bird life. The proposed development will put pressure on the environment and wildlife. If you're interested in supporting the local campaign to address this, you 

can do so at http://marina.tincanbaydolphins.com.au/marina.html or click here.

The Great Sandy Straits - Fraser Island

Between the mainland and Fraser Island lies the Great Sandy Straits. It's a smooth, relatively shallow waterway that's a popular spot for fishing, house boats and yachts heading north (or south). It's very pretty but requires a little navigation through the channels especially for deep keeled yachts like us. So using the high tide becomes important for crossing the shallowest part of the Straits and exiting Wide Bay Bar.

Heading south, the Straits are entered from Hervey Bay and the first night's anchorage is usually off Kingfisher Resort, as it was for us.

Anchorage north of Kingfisher Resort

The second nights anchorage is at the popular, snug and shallow Garry's Anchorage.  Choosing the right spot so we had water under the keel at low tide was important - we ended up have 25cm! At least we were floating - happy days. Getting out through the channel "bar" the next morning was interesting - some minor keel dredging was required.

Garry's Anchorage

We were delayed heading out of Wide Bay Bar (the "Mad Mile") due to a high wind warning, that gave us a chance to visit Tin Can Inlet and also hand feed the dolphins at Tin Can Bay (more about that later).

Tin Can Inlet near Snapper Creek

Hand feeding the IndoPacific Humpback Dolphins

Anniversary at Alain's

We celebrated our second wedding anniversary at Airlie Beach. The challenge was finding a great place to have dinner in backpacker city but we did! A wonderful little restaurant called Alain's by the beach about 30 minutes walk from the Marina. An unassuming French restaurant you'd almost miss if you were walking by.

Oooo which entree do I eat first

Chef and his dessert specialities

Alain's specialises in a 6 course menu cooked with loving care by Alain himself. The restaurant only seats around 25 people so dining there is a very personal experience. Alain's background includes being a pastry chef and his brioche at the beginning of the meal was to die for. The whole restaurant is full of personally collected items from the wine decanters to the 1920's Citroen in the dining room (which doubles as a  wedding car). Good food and great fun - we left at around midnight. Highly recommended if you're ever in the area.

The Citroen

Alain and Scott