Cruising Log—5...Pancake Creek

We had a great sail to Pancake Creek. As we approached Bustard Head we almost went straight over the top of a very large sea snake. It was loosely coiled around a paralyzed or dead fish it had just bitten, and wasn’t moving despite being inches from a 14 ton 41.5 foot blue monster traveling at speed. A most impressive but scary sight as it didn’t appear to be afraid of anything.

Pancake Creek forms an extensive estuary of golden sand flats and mangroves. The highest point around the shore is Bustard Head, on which there is a picturesque lighthouse. There are blue ranges in the distance and some good eucalypt forests and heathlands within easy walk. The waters are abundant in large stingrays and many fish, about a dozen of which have ended up on our plate.

Leanne has proved to be quite the fisherperson, having caught eight Spinefoot (like a bream, and very tasty) and a salmon. Her weapon of choice is a small hook with a little bit of pepperoni salami as bait. True! But the funniest thing was the salmon that took the hook when she was packing up, without there even being any bait on it. Talk about dumb.

Actually Leanne’s latest weapon of choice is the skewer. We have lost dozens of hooks, lines and sinkers to giant toad fish that have sticky out front chompers that would put Bucky Beaver to shame. They sheer anything off, including body parts of the fisherperson if you are not careful. One got mad at me when I pulled it in and bit the HOOK in half, I kid you not. There is now a whole generation of punk toad fish swimming around with lip rings, but still they keep coming. And they are so hard to get off the hook as their skin and faces are as tough as old boots. So, enter the skewer. In frustration Leanne got one of our large stainless spikes and discovered that it was capable of piercing the toughest toady, repeatedly, including the eyeballs. Gosh, I hope she never gets that mad at me.

We have explored some of the interesting offshoot creeks and done a couple of great walks, while waiting for the weather to improve. We have also been socialising with three other yachts anchored nearby. Funny thing is, two of them were on the same row as us at Scarborough Marina and all three are New Zealand boats.

A few days ago we had a big blow and 8 inches of rain. We have an awning over the front of the boat at anchor that is a great water catcher. We refilled our water tanks completely, plus two large plastic barrels lashed in the cockpit, plus two crates, and a collapsible 25 litre water container, giving us an additional 135 litres on top of the 638 in tanks. We could have plugged the dinghy and the cockpit and filled them too, but enough is enough!

In the meantime we will have to find other things to amuse ourselves as the forecast is for strong winds for the foreseeable future. Maybe we’ll spend the whole of our cruise north in Pancake Creek??? At least it won’t be far to sail back at the end of the season….

Leanne has been making pizza, yoghurt, bread and date scones, so we’ve been eating well. I haven’t done anything much at all – it has been too nice not having to do any maintenance work on the boat.