Cruising Log—17...Scawfell Is to Brampton Is

From Scawfell we sailed towards the coast, spending a night a Keswick Island, before sailing in to Mackay Marina.

Here follows Leanne’s favourite extract from the log:

“Went trolling again after lunch, along east side of the reef out to the point and back, no luck, so continued round the head of the reef and into the south-west corner of the bay. Here it is possible to get into the beach, even at low tide, through a gap in the reef. Leanne was in the process of pulling in the line to do just that, so we were in close in shallow water, when she hooked a Talang Queenfish. This we baked whole in the BBQ stuffed with herbs and breadcrumbs, eating one side for dinner. The other side removed for fishcakes tomorrow.”

Leanne’s “Commodore’s Corner”

You may ask what it is like living with someone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Well it has its moments, many good and of course some not so good, after all it is a very small environment 12.65 metres (41.5 feet) x 3.5 metres (11.5 feet). If the weather is such that you cannot get off the boat the only things I enjoy doing are fishing, cooking or reading. I can do navigational activities but they don’t really interest me and I’m not the crafty type so knitting is definitely out! Grant of course has a much wider range of activities with the ever present ships’ maintenance, writing, reading, navigation and photography. So I tend to get a little bored unless we are underway or able to go exploring.

In such close quarters it is only natural to get on each other’s nerves from time to time and yes we have had some explosive moments. These fortunately have always passed and have not weakened our relationship. In fact I think we understand each other better now than ever in the past. On the other hand there have also been some very romantic environments. Isolated beaches with crystal clear water all to ourselves, and there’s nothing nicer than experiencing magnificent sunsets with the one you love.

We have had some great whale sightings but by far the best was on the way in to Island Head Creek. I was on the helm and had just turned towards the entrance when I spotted a mother and calf about 100 meters ahead. At first it was difficult to tell which way they were heading so I stayed on course. Next I know they are getting closer so I turn more sharply towards the coastline. The mother and calf were very content to just laze around on the surface moving very slowly. Unfortunately they kept changing direction and kept closing towards us, land on one side, whales on the other. They weren’t being aggressive so we weren’t scared, just a little nervous. It was like they just wanted to check us out, maybe mum was teaching her calf about boats? Whatever it was they got within 20 metres of us and mum was as big as Masala and a lot heavier. I increased engine throttle and sped into Island Head Creek leaving the curious whales safely behind. It was one of the most exhilarating moments of the trip.

13/10/2006 Fifth Epistle from Masala: Mackay to Whitsundays

Dear Friends,

This epistle covers the period from Monday 28 August to Friday 29 September. You may remember at the end of the last Epistle that we were in Mackay Marina.

After four days we finished all we needed to do, including fresh provisions, which is not that easy here. You have to catch a bus into the city, and the service is pretty poor. On Saturdays there is only one bus in, departing at 11:30am and one bus back, departing at 02:00pm. We took the bus in but bought too much food to carry back on the bus, so returned in a taxi. This adds quite a bit to the cost of groceries. Many of the businesses close at 12:00 on Saturday, so the bus getting you in at around 11:50 is not much use. This is particularly annoying regarding chandleries, as incredibly, despite the huge size of the marina, there is none on site. They are all in the city and, you guessed it, close at 12:00 on Saturdays. On Sundays the bus doesn’t run at all, and all the shops are closed.

We headed north for the 21NM run to Brampton Island. Sadly, no wind. It took six hours to motor the distance because of the strong tide against us.

The anchorage is off the attractive and fairly exclusive resort, which does not welcome yachties. Who cares? We dropped the pick in 10m of water at the western end of Brampton Roads, the shallow, coral-strewn gap between Brampton and Carlisle Islands. Most of Brampton and all of Carlisle are National Park. Carlisle is conical and a very impressive wilderness, tall enough to generate its own weather.