Dodging Debbie

LADY MUSGRAVE ISLAND – PANCAKE CREEK – GLADSTONE Sailing boats and cyclones don’t mix. So our bad weather run continued when Tropical Cyclone Debbie started brewing up north. We were never in the danger zone, but her appearance cut short our stay at Lady Musgrave Island and generated plenty of rain. We left Lady Musgrave…

Red sky in the morning…

Bloody weather! It never cooperates. With our new crew on board (my parents Juliene and Allan), our intention was to set sail from Hervey Bay to Lady Musgrave Island to spend a few days anchored in the lagoon. But a low weather system off NSW creating a bit of havoc (and making the weather hard…

I saw a dugong!

I finally saw a freakin’ dugong! Despite being a bit fanatical about marine critters, I had previously never been in the right place and time to see a sea-cow. But my luck finally changed during an early morning paddle across to Round Island. I was paddling back to Urangan when I spotted what I first…

The curious inhabitants of the Great Sandy Straits

In the week since we crossed the “treacherous” Wide Bay Bar, we’ve spent a few days anchored in Tin Can Bay (while I attended my Grandma’s 90th birthday shindig), and cruised through the Great Sandy Straits along the Fraser Coast. With mainly south-easterlies blowing, we were able to take full advantage of some great anchorages:…

Cast off!

4am start. We cast off the lines and motor out of Scarborough in the dark alongside the fishing trawlers. At 5.30am, we are already halfway across Deception Bay, and the sky is once again lit up in pretty shades of orange and pink. It has been a little over a year in the making, but…