Captain’s Log: Fraser Island, Mooloolaba, Brisbane

Hi All,

We made it to Brisbane safe and sound. Brisbane is our final destination for this cruising season….yes, a bit sad for it to end, but somewhat relieved these El Nino headwind passages are over!!! We got here a week earlier than planned thanks to Mr Weather (got in on some north winds before a big southerly blow) so we will take our time over the next 2 weeks shutting the boat down and hopefully do some exploring in Brisbane!!

We actually had really nice, trawler like conditions since we left Bundaberg almost 1.5 weeks ago except for one day. We very much enjoyed our stay at Platypus Bay, although the weather didn’t really cooperate and we never got off the boat, which is too bad because the beach looked wonderful. The winds were predicted to be SE, giving us great protection, but instead at night/morning turned SW which blew right into the anchorage. We had 2-3′ wind chop which Mystic handled ok, but it was the noise of the waves slapping the hull that made sleeping challenging.

But, we had great whale sightings from the anchorage. Most of the viewings were with binoculars, but on several occasions we had a mom and calf come right into the anchorage and put on a 10am show….sweet as!!!

The day we left Platypus we wanted to go a few miles and join all the other whale watch boats, which we did, but unfortunately the winds stayed SW so we had to beat into it for about 20 nm before we could turn south into the Great Sandy Strait. And, a voice out of the past calls on the VHF….Mystic Moon this is Orca…..who….Orca….oh, really, well hi Peter, what has it been…..about a year I guess since Fulaga Fiji…..wow…..small world. Orca was one of 3 Dashew FPB’s that were in Fulaga while we were there. We had not seen them since and we will see them one more time on this trip in Mooloolaba!!!

The GSS is a narrow channel between the mainland and Fraser Island, we think one of the world’s largest sand islands!! It’s about 50nm long and has some great anchorages along the way. We stayed a few nights at Kingfisher Resort, and were able to go in and have a nice lunch and walk the beach. There is a 6-8′ tide in the area and in the GSS the currents can reach up to 4 knots. So Mystic would turn 180 deg every 6+ hours or so with the tide change. Always a little disconcerting to think your anchor is “hopefully” resetting every 6+ hours but Mystic did great and we had no issues!!!

When we left Kingfisher we had to get up early, engine on @ 6:15am, in order to cross the shallow areas around Sheridan Flats at high tide. We saw about 2′ under the keel so about 8′ at high tide….our timing was spot on thankfully!!! We then anchored off Pelican Bay near the Wide Bay Bar. We stayed a few nights and enjoyed the scenery, and went to explore the beach and a giant sinkhole that occurred the day before we arrived. You can read more at:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-27/queensland-sinkhole-unrelated-to-earthquake-activity-expert-says/6808294

And, what did we see at Pelican Island….well, Australian pelicans, of course. These are black and white and a bit different than the brown ones we have in the USA. These do not evidently dive for their food, so no dive bombs liked we witnessed before, but they are beautiful birds and lovely to watch!

The notorious Wide Bay Bar sandbank must be crossed when entering or exiting the Sandy Strait at its southernmost extent. A rising tide is necessary to transit the bar, which has a formidable reputation for rogue waves. Any bar crossing with a section nicknamed “the mad mile” deserves respect, hence we duly plotted the waypoints which we got from the Volunteer Coastguard at Tin Can Bay. We left at 6:45 am….we were the last of the herd…..about 15 boats ahead of us….mostly sailboats but there were also 2 other trawlers. Our crossing was very benign…yeah….just the way you want it…..but we did see about 12′ feet of water at the shallowest, so you can see in some big winds how this bar can be nasty, particularly if wind is blowing against tide!!!!

The day started off very nice….forecast was for calm winds then 10-15 in the afternoon….but all from the north or behind us. So, of course, the winds started at 5-10, then 10-15, then 15-20, then 20-25G28…..whoa. By the time we got to the entrance to the Mooloolaba marina we were a bit concerned as we had to go beam to the 6-8′ waves….joy, NOT…..but, we made it through the entrance…..give me more power Scottie and Mystic jumped to the entrance….sweet as!!

Here’s how Kathy described the day: We did indeed have some rain, thunder and lightning like we haven’t seen since Panama! Wow, but we are now salt-free. 🙂 Fortunately, we made it in before the storms started, but it was interesting coming in the river to the marina as the winds were gusting 28kts out of the NNE and the seas were up accordingly AND it was low tide. Thankfully, they weren’t breaking across the entrance, but it made for interesting pilotage….we had to go beam to the big waves! Anyhoo, all good and Whale Season is definitely on! Saw 20 whales (YB kept count) on our passage here….They were everywhere and were extremely active with lots of rolling, breaching, and fin and tail slapping. What a terrific and fun show!! Just love these guys! Actually had to do sharp turn to starboard to avoid running into a mom and little tike who could just not stop breaching! Think they all must be pretty excited about heading south for eats!! :))

So…..no tequila shots on the dock like we had from Jo on Wandering Star after crossing the Ixtapa entrance…..drats….. but we were greeted by our Aussie friends on Seawhiskers….I think they do worry about us Yanks:))))

Mooloolaba is on the Sunshine Coast and has lots of beach resorts….we felt like we were in Florida!!! And, we had been told the shrimp might be better than what we had in Bundaberg…..so, after we got checked in and I bought now my 2nd new shorepower connector:)))), I made it to the seafood market before it closed. A kilo (2 lbs) of fresh cooked Kings please…..that will be US$22 please…..whoa….these were just about as big as the prawns we were catching in Alaska….and wow, they were excellent!!! Our freezer is now well stocked with uncooked shrimp for future shrimp boils:)))

On our final run to Bundaberg we saw 12 whales….another unbelievable whale sighting day….there were breaches, fin rolls, tail slapping…..just amazing watching these guys!!!

So that’s it for the 2015 cruising season. We leave to go back to California on 10/15 and will return on 12/2. We will make our way to Sydney Harbor (about 400nm) for the Holidays….Jim and Caz come for a visit on Christmas Day, then the next day is the start of the Hobart Race, then we will stick around for the NYE festivities in the harbor!! Before we get to Sydney, we plan to stop in Bobbin Head to hopefully meet several other Selene owners and meet with all the technicians who will be working on Mystic in Jan-Mar.

We plan to haul Mystic on 1/11 in Bobbin Head for new bottom paint, then sometime late January start our 6-8 week roadtrip….just looked up wine regions in Australia….OMG…there are 60 regions….that’s a lot of wine to taste:))))

Final 2015 stats:

Total Miles: 3212nm
Total Engine hours: 437 hours
Total GEN hours: 434 hours
Total Fuel: 1959 gallons
Fish Caught: 1 huge yellow fin tuna caught by David!!
Nights at anchor: 109
Total nights: 146, 5/8-10/1….about 5 months so a bit short for us this season; it was that 2 month road trip in South Island that took up our time!!
Moments of sheer terror: 1….losing the rudder in the middle of the frickin ocean between New Caledonia and Australia!!
Emergency phone call: 1 @ 3am….my brother calling to tell me our mom had passed!!
Countries: Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Australia

Hope all is well…..I will pick the blog back up in December when we return!!

John
Mystic Moon

Sunset from Platypus Bay: note the smoke in the air from burning all the sugar cane fields; we are about 40 mile away!!

Sunset off Kingfisher Resort

On Kingfisher Beach; our first warning of dangers in Australia; one of many we fear!!!

Sunset off Kingfisher Resort

Bundaberg Prawns….LIG!! Craig and Jeanette, note the sweatshirt….brrr, it was cold, in the high 50’s deg F:)))

Note the wine…2004 Cakebread Rubaiyat….yummers!

An army of sand crabs off Pelican Island….there were a gazillion of these guys!!!

Blood Moon….whoa!!

The herd leaving the anchorage for Wide Bay Bar

We were last to begin, but caught up with most after the bar as the winds were too light for our sailboat buddies!! Note how calm the bar is….now that is trawler like conditions we so luv!!!

Mooloolaba Beach….yep, back in civilization!!!!

The black and white Australian Pelican; love to watch these guys glide!!

Double rainbow off Mooloolaba marina; note the houses, reminded Kathy of Fort Lauderdale!