Deja Vu Rosslyn Bay

Chris writing the Blog

Thursday 9th August and we potter around at the marina until midday.  Andrew changes the fuel filters on the motor as we are now at 52 hours and we have had a couple of times where the motor has just stopped dead in its tracks over the last week as we have been motoring along.  We think that we may have picked some water up in the fuel on our fill in Gladstone.  So filters now changed and we are ready to head off again.  The wind is slightly stronger than what we have been motoring in since we left, but nothing we are worried about, so we head off to our next stop of Port Clinton.  This is our really long stretch of about 320km until there is a fuel stop again which is in Mackay.   With the boat usually only going 240km using both tanks full and all Jerry cans full we are loaded more than we have been yet.  There is a service station on the way where we can fill the Jerry cans again, so that is the plan.

Mingo going well out at sea

When we first head out, the water is fairly calm with a northerly wind blowing at about 15 knots, meaning we were ploughing into the waves, which also means we are getting through our limit of fuel faster than we had worked out.  We kept going for 2 hours and the wind started picking up and there were a lot of white cap waves around.  It was getting a bit uncomfortable out there so we sat back for a couple of minutes and checked the weather forecast again.  The winds are now blowing up to 20 knots and there is a severe wind warning for the following day.  So we made the decision to head back to the marina.  Gave Keppel Bay marina a call only to be told that there was a fishing competition on this weekend and they were limited on berths.  Thankfully they managed to fit us in so we turned the boat around and headed the two hours back to Rosslyn Bay.  This wasted trip of four hours just cost us $250, but sometimes its better to be out of pocket than have the unexpected happen.

The trip on the way back was really rocky and it was nice to finally be able to see the marina in the distance.  We are chatting away and just about to head into the marina, that is known for its narrow entrance between to rock walls, when the boat sways to the left so much that the 50kg fuel container we have under the steering wheel slid from one side of the boat to the other.  OK, things are not good. We had taken the entrance from the wrong side and instead of coming in with the waves we were coming in through the waves, meaning we were in the trough of the wave and being thrown from side to side, time and time again, we couldn’t get out of it.  Andrew never really swears, but a few swear words were being shouted out as he was trying to control the boat from heading into the rock walls that were now 8 meters in front of us.   Andrew motored full throttle in through the rocks and straight into calm water of the marina.  That was a pretty hair raising incident for us both and as we motored over to the fuel depot again both our hearts were racing and Christie was shaking and in a state of shock.  Being up on the fly bridge motoring the boat, it really did feel as though the boat was going to capsize.  Andrew assures Christie there was no chance of capsizing, but because of the swearing going on Christie new we were in  abit of trouble.  Anyway we finally motor back into a new pen for a couple of nights here until the wind dies down.  Phew, Phew, Phew.

Our Paper navigation - Really our life savers.

Some friendly friends

The next morning we get up and decide to get the 09.12 bus into town again, as we are waiting we meet another couple of guys who are motoring their boat down to Hobart.  We are chatting away and a lady pulls up her car in front of us all and asks where we are going and then offers us all a ride into town.  It was a lovely gesture and we were all a bit taken aback.  We spent a couple of hours in town and then headed back on the bus with three other couples who are sailing up to the Whitsundays.  Two of these boats one called “Verve” and the other called “Third Wish”, have stopped at a lot of the places we have anchored at, so we have all been bumping into each other from time to time at these anchorages.  Its nice to be making some new friends on the water. 

Andrew at Mt Bluff with Capricorn Coast.

Chris at Mt Bluff with Marina in background

That afternoon we go for a bit of a hike up the mountain that backs onto the marina called Bluff Point.  What great views of The Keppels, The Capricorn Coast and The marina from up there.

Back to the boat and Andrew does some handwork on the door and batteries whilst Christie goes upstairs and using fishing line sews up the clears that have split in spots.

Later in the evening we head out for a few drinks with a couple of other boaties for an enjoyable evening at the marina.  The weather is still pretty windy until Sunday, so think we will be here another night.

A baby snake, who we didn't really need to meet.