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

Cape Capricorn

A good day today for a number of reasons....
- we didn't leave at the crack to dawn (yippee)
- we left the marina calmly and under control (almost looked like we knew what we were doing)
- the weather was gorgeous
- the sea was calm
- we had bottled nosed dolphins riding the bow (albeit briefly)
- and we only travelled for 4 hours instead of the usually 8!

So we were well and truly anchored for lunch and had time to enjoy the anchorage at Cape Capricorn. Cape Capricorn is on the Tropic of Capricorn, so when we leave here tomorrow we leave the Tropics :(
There is a lighthouse on the Cape which is now unmanned and the old lighthouse keeper houses are now rented out for holidays. It's a lovely spot with amazing sand drifts on the hills.

View from the Cape Capricorn anchorage

South Percy to Scawfell Island

Another long day's overall uneventful motorsailing highlighted by another dolphin visit on the bow of the boat. We think these were Common Dolphins which were smaller than the Bottlenose Dolphins we had seen a few days earlier. Delightful as always.

Scawfell was voted the best anchorage so far by skipper and crew despite the cruising guide only listing it as a "stop off" anchorage. It seems to be a favourite anchorage for commercial and recreational fishers. We arrived late in the afternoon so another visit here is on the agenda.

Broughton Islands to Coffs Harbour

Our biggest challenge so far is this leg which was our first night sail 2 handed. Left Broughton Island early with the winds dropping from 10knots to under 5knots so we motored with a headsail most the way. The highlight of the first afternoon was a pod of bottle nosed dolphins that swam several times along side the bow of the boat. They were so close and the water so clear that we had the best view. Can't have enough dolphin photos or dolphin videos. The rest of the afternoon the sea around the yacht was full of dolphins.

The evening and night was mostly fairly uneventful, which is a good thing. We were motoring at 7kts until we hit the Eastern Australian current which knocked the speed back to 4 kts and the seas were just slopping around. We took 2 - 3 hours watches each which became harder as the night wore on. It was terrific to see the sun come up at 5.30 am.

The morning was beautiful, so to order to conserve fuel and enjoy the morning, we pulled out a sail and coasted towards Coffs. You would then think it would be an easy doodle into Coffs harbour, no bar, no drama - no chance! On restarting the engine to enter the Harbour and head to a marina berth (yep you guessed it), after 20 odd hours of motoring the motor wouldn't start. Coupled with this we lost power to the anchor winch and had no confidence in the manual override. Happy days!

After calling Marine Rescue assistance, we then sailed into the harbour on headsail and were then towed by some brave volunteers in a power boat into the marina berth. Good grief, what a way to arrive. 

I was amazed by the generosity of people who helped us out, not only the guys who towed us to the berth (not easy at all), but another yacht heading south into the Harbour offered to help and people on the marina were there to help secure the boat. A lovely retired electrical engineered helped diagnose the problem and the local Volvo diesel mechanic also checked the engine out. With all this help, we now have a grasp on the issues and yes, we will be continuing north on schedule weather permitting.