Here's a log of the dates and locations of our Australian
anchorages and travel since arriving in
December 15, 2005 – Arrived in
Dec 15 through 21 – No travel days. We played tourists in Sydney, returning each night to Estrela, at anchor in Blackwattle Bay.
Dec 16 – Happy Birthday, Eliza!
Dec 21 – Motorsailed through Sydney Harbour from Blackwattle Bay, into Middle Harbour, under the Spit Bridge and finally to Cammeray Marina where we picked up a mooring around dusk, Estrela’s new home for the next month (33°49.09’S / 151°13.27’E).
Dec 31 – Very short travel day. Motored in the morning
from Cammeray to
January 1, 2006 – Very short travel day. Motored back to Cammeray Marina in the late morning and picked up our mooring again.
Jan 19 – Travel day. Started day at mooring in Cammeray Marina. Motored short distance, passing
through the
Jan 20 – Travel day. Started day anchored in Spring
Cove. Ended it anchored in
Jan 21 – No travel day. All day anchored in American Bay. Dinghied to beautiful waterfall and went swimming.
Jan 22 – Travel day. Started day anchored in American Bay. Ended day moored in Newcastle Harbour (32°55.34’S / 151°45.71’E).
Jan 23 – Travel Day. Started day moored in Newcastle Harbour. Ended day moored in Fame Cove, Port Stephens (32°41’S / 152°03’E).
Jan 24 – No travel day. All day moored in well-protected Fame Cove waiting out bad weather.
Jan 25 – Very short travel day. Started day moored in Fame Cove. Ended it moored in Nelson Bay, Port Stephens (32°42.97’S / 152°08.94’E).
Jan 26 – Australia Day! No travel day. All day moored in Nelson Bay, Port Stephens waiting for favorable winds and enjoying the town’s Australia Day festivities.
Jan 27 – Short travel day. Started day moored in Nelson Bay. Ended day anchored in Coal Shaft Cove, Broughton Island (32°37’S / 152°18’E).
Jan 28 – Travel day. Started day (shortly after midnight) in Coal Shaft Cove. Ended day anchored in Tuncurry anchorage, Forster/Tuncurry (32°10’S / 152°30’E).
Jan 29 – Travel day. Started day (0500) in Tuncurry anchorage and began overnight sail. Ended day still at sea, traveling north.
Jan 30 – Travel day. Started day at sea. Ended day anchored in Coffs Harbour (30°18.258’S / 153°08.655’E).
Jan 31 – No travel day. All day at anchor in Coff’s Harbour.
Feb 1 – Travel day. Started day (shortly after midnight) anchored in Coffs Harbour. Ended day snug in slip B11 at the Yamba Boat Harbour Marina, Yamba, NSW (29°26.144’S / 153°20.864’E).
Feb 1 through Apr 14 – No travel days for Estrela. But lots of travel for her crew.
Holt-Hopkins Australia Trip Feb 8 to March 2 (see
Feb 7 – Estrela’s crew traveled by bus (Greyhound) to Tweed Heads, NSW to spend night in Fingal Head with friends Fran and Bunny Rabbitts (for real!), owners of the Cammeray Marina.
Feb 8 – Rode bus from Tweed Heads to Brisbane. Checked
into hotel room in the
Feb 9 to 16 – Tourists in and around Brisbane.
Feb 16 – Flew Qantas from Brisbane to Sydney with Kyle’s family – all nine of us. Colin’s and Kyle’s birthday!!
Feb 16 to 22 – Tourists in Sydney. Kay and Tony bid us goodbye Feb 21 and flew home to Mansfield Center, Connecticut.
Feb 22 to 24 – Estrela crew plus George, Debbie and Colin left Sydney in rental Toyota van and drove to Yamba, stopping two nights in a cottage near beach in Tiona, NSW.
Feb 24 to Mar 2 –All seven of us stayed in tiny cottage at the Blue Dolphin Holiday Resort in Yamba and went surfing and boogie-boarding every day.
Mar 2 -- George, Debbie and Colin departed early am to drive to Brisbane and catch plane back home to New Hampshire. Estrela’s crew moved back onto Estrela at the Yamba Boat Harbour Marina.
Mar 2 through March 10 – No travel days. Estrela boat school in full swing, unpacking and packing our travel kits, practicing surfing and boogie-boarding (thank you for getting us started, George!), and socializing with some new friends in Yamba.
Mooney-Hopkins Australia Road Trip Mar 12 to Apr 2 (see Abigail and Eliza’s photo journal)
Mar 11 – Estrela’s crew drove a rental car from Yamba to Brisbane, staying in a hotel near the airport.
Mar 12 to Apr 2 – Met Laurin Mooney and her daughters, Emily and Katie, at the Brisbane airport, picked up a Maui motorhome/campervan and made a 4900 km road trip crisscrossing southern Queensland, New South Wales and eastern Victoria.
Mar 26 – Happy Birthday, Abigail!!
Apr 3 – No travel day. Crew back aboard Estrela.
Apr 4 through 14 – No travel days. Getting back to full time boat school, learning to Skype (thank you George!), making wonderful new Aussie friends, and even doing some late afternoon surfing and boogie-boarding. Preparing Estrela to leave Yamba and begin heading north again.
-----Original Message-----
From: S/V Estrela
Sent: Friday, April 28, 2006
4:00 PM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Friday April 28, 2006
2300 local time (Australia
Eastern Standard) (1300 GMT) Friday, April 28, 2006; Lat/Lon 28 deg 14.6' S,
153 deg 38.9' E; Location: 7 NM SE of Point Danger, NSW and 57 NM (as the booby
flies) SSE of Brisbane; Wind: W <5 kts; Sea:
diminishing SE swell approx 1.5 meters; Sky: 50% cloud cover with excellent
visibility; Air temp: 75 deg F; Water temp: warm (thermometer broken);
Course/speed: 10 deg T at 5.5 kts; Sail combination:
iron genny (engine) with full main and staysail;
Tack/apparent wind angle: port/beam reach.
Estrela went back to sea
today, picking up where we left off in January in our trek up the east coast
and over the top of Australia to Darwin.
We left Yamba with much sadness, saying
farewell to our cozy home for the last three months and to many new
friends. "The part I really don't
like about this trip, Dad, is always having to leave and say goodbye,"
Eliza told me, with a very long face.
The Iluka/Yamba
bar, formed by sediment dropped by the Clarence River where it empties into the
Coral Sea, was supposed to have been quiet when we approached from upriver at
about 8:30 AM. It was almost high tide
and the last of the flood current was running in the same direction as the
swell, textbook ideal conditions, in theory.
But we could see steep and occasionally breaking waves ahead. A low pressure system west of New Zealand has
generated a big, long swell that is sloshing up the Aussie east coast, setting
up some fine surfing conditions.
Estrela's hull design is based on that of a North Sea lifeboat -- ideal
for crossing ocean river mouth bars; or so I reminded Kyle to ease her (and my)
anxiety as we watched a medium sized freighter exit the river about a half mile
in front of us. Disconcertingly, the big
boat was pitching and rolling dramatically as it crossed the bar. At that moment a pair of dolphins appeared
just in front of our bow and we knew we'd be fine. Dolphins always seem to show up when we
really need them. We made it through
without even taking serious saltwater onto the deck. We turned to starboard out of the roughest water
after passing the end of the southern jetty.
Now we're en route to the
Gold Coast Seaway, less than 20 miles away.
This is an entrance from sea into an extensive network of protected
channels past coastal development reminiscent of Ft Lauderdale, Florida and
among uninhabited mangrove islands. This
waterway will bring us into Moreton Bay, Brisbane's
backyard. Our immediate travel plans are
to get north as fast as we can, subject to weather delays, and then to leave
Estrela in a marina, probably in Gladstone, so we can travel inland to Emerald
for maybe a week to visit our South African friends, the Kinnears. They were formerly fellow cruisers aboard Alii Nui, and are now new Australian immigrants, with a
house and job and no boat. Abigail and
Eliza can't wait to play with their buddies Dylan and Jared, whom they haven't
seen since we were together in New Zealand almost a year ago.
--
Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006
4:22 PM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Tuesday May 2, 2006
2200 local time (Australia
Eastern Standard) (1200 GMT) Tuesday, May 2, 2006; Lat/Lon 26 deg 25' S, 153
deg 09' E; Location: 2.5 NM SE of Noosa Head, Queensland (QLD) and 60 NM north
of the Brisane River mouth; Wind: W 15-18 kts; Sea: very slight SE swell and small wind waves; Sky:
cloudless with excellent visibility; Air temp: 76 deg F; Water temp: warm;
Course/speed: 0 deg T at 5.8 kts; Sail combination:
single reefed main, full genoa/yankee and staysail;
Tack/apparent wind angle: port/beam reach.
Estrela's flying along on a
beam reach a couple miles from the shore.
We have an offshore breeze from the west. This means the wind has very little
"fetch" across open water and so the wind waves are small. The prevailing SE swell that normally comes up
the Tasman Sea is also small because the nearest low pressure system is far
away to the south and a high pressure ridge has kept the winds blowing from the
west along most of the Australian east coast for the last few days. These conditions are very comfortable for the
four humans aboard. They also make
Estrela sail fast because she isn't slowed by chop and swell. These are nearly ideal conditions and very
different from those we have faced much of the way north from Sydney. We have had to do way too much motorsailing because the wind has been either on our nose
or non-existent.
The run from Yamba was a case in point -- hardly a breath of wind. We arrived off the Gold Coast Seaway about
dawn on Saturday the 29th of April and crossed the bar uneventfully to enter
the inland waterway that would carry us north into Moreton
Bay. We (and many fishermen heading to
sea in motorboats) had to dodge more than a dozen wetsuited
and madly paddling surfers who were swimming on surf boards northward across
the seaway, from one rock jetty to the other, I suppose to access a primo surf
spot.
From the seaway entrance we
rode the flood tide just about perfectly, getting half way up the intricate
maze of shallow channels and then catching the outgoing ebb tide to carry us
out into Moreton Bay.
We had a couple close calls with the depth, one where the sounder read
as low as 5.8 ft!! Eliza and Abigail
took turns monitoring the gauge and calling out changes. And we never touched bottom. This was a day with lots of great teamwork.
We finally anchored at 1:30
in the afternoon off a lovely beach on the south side of Peel Island, at the
southern end of Moreton Bay. We squared away the boat and jumped in for swimming
within a half hour -- then salt water baths and shampoos and fresh water rinses
with the sunshower.
I did a quick check of the propeller and shaft and discovered that the
main sacrificial zinc anode collar around the shaft had come loose. It was still there, but dangling.
I couldn't believe we hadn't felt or heard the vibration. The zinc may have come loose because there
were no lock-washes on the two bolts clamping it to the shaft. Anyway, once I had donned full wetsuit,
weight belt, mask and snorkel and pulled out tools to check over and then
replace the collar zinc I figured I should replace the other zinc as well,
which was badly eaten away. This was a
pointed cap that screws onto the trailing end of the feathering Max-Prop
propeller. Finally, I took wire brushes
and sandpaper down and managed to make the propeller look shiny again. It started out covered with hard, mineralized
worm tubes, a lot of determined barnacles and mossy seaweed. The water was cold enough that I was pretty
hypothermic by the time I had finished.
But three mugs of beef bouillon and some chocolate later (plus two warm
cuddly girls) and I was back to normal.
The next morning, Sunday, we
rose early and had a fantastic sail diagonally across Moreton
Bay to the northwest, arriving at the Scarborough Marina moments before a
rainy, windy front arrived. Our dear
friends Dick and Pam on Aliesha caught our
lines. The marina manager had kindly
berthed us right across a finger from them.
The girls are very fond of Dick and Pam, who have their own brand new
granddaughter back in Britain and have always made Eliza and Abigail feel very
welcome in their "home."
Abigail even asked Kyle earnestly as we were sailing to Scarborough,
"Aliesha counts as a "kid boat"
doesn't it, Mom?"
After two nights at the
Scarborough Marina, filling water and diesel tanks and doing a load of laundry,
and catching up with Aliesha and several other boats
we haven't seen in months, it was time to head north again. We have a remarkable weather window and want
to use it to get as close to Gladstone as we can before the weather turns sour
and pins us down for a few days. We left
Scarborough a little after 1:00 PM today.
We'll see how it goes.
The next big excitement for
Estrela will be crossing the Wide Bay Bar into the Great Sandy Strait. We hope to accomplish this tomorrow morning
with the flood tide. We hadn't planned
to cross this bar, but the conditions and timing look very good. By taking the Great Sandy Strait to Hervey
Bay, instead of sailing out around Fraser Island, we will cut our total
distance considerably and have interesting motoring through mangrove lined
tidal rivers. With any luck we should
see turtles and plenty of interesting birds.
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, May 03,
2006 4:35 PM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- May 4, 2006
0130 local time (Australia
Eastern Standard) Thursday, May 4, 2006 (1530 GMT Weds, May 3, 2006); Lat/Lon
24 deg 29.6' S, 152 deg 35.6' E; Location: 37 NM SSE of Lady Musgrave Island
and 19 NM NE of the Bundaberg river mouth; Wind: E <5 kts;
Sea: almost calm; Sky: cloudless with excellent visibility; Air temp: 76 deg F;
Water temp: warmer; Course/speed: 343 deg T at 5.4 kts;
Sail combination: motorsailing with single reefed
main and staysail and engine at 1100 RPM; Tack/apparent wind angle: stbd/close reach.
It's a beautiful night. The new moon has set so the sky is
illuminated with just the brilliant and endless stars. The sea is calm. There is not a breath of wind, so I doused both
the staysail and the main--all by myself(!!)--and now we are just motoring
offshore to Lady Musgrave, an atoll 50 miles north of Bundaberg. One freighter just passed 2 nm behind us,
otherwise the horizon and the radar are clear.
Armed with my usual Earl Grey tea and peanut butter and crackers, I am
ready for a nice quiet watch. Maybe I'll
bake some bread or just read a book while I keep Estrela on course and safe
from boat traffic. This is a far cry
from last night's watch.....
When I awoke at 0130 Estrela
was flying up the coast, hugging the shore line, with dozens of fishing boat
and freighter lights brightening up the horizon. Now that is a wake up call! Believe me there is nothing more stressful
than to trying to identify, decipher and track navigation lights through the
binoculars on a moving and swaying boat.
They may appear as tiny specks of white light with either red(port) or
green(starboard) running lights which show the boat's direction, but they feel
like The Enemy, potential killers, just waiting to ram into my sleeping
family. Now I know that I can be a
Nervous Nelda when it comes to nighttime navigation lights. I have been known to track The Enemy only to discover
it was a rising star! But last night was
especially tense because: 1) We didn't have much maneuvering room, the coast
being 1-3 nm off our port side 2) The
sheer number of these vessels ahead and to starboard was staggering 3) The movement of the various vessels was
erratic 4) THE ROCK (more on that later). I wouldn't let Doug go to sleep until we had
figured out that two of the four freighters were anchored offshore, one other
was arriving at the anchorage and the last was just traveling down the
coast. Once that was concluded, Doug
crashed into the sack and I went to face the remaining Enemy all by myself: 7
fishing boats and one sailboat.
Now fishing boats are a
different breed of boat. They are not about moving cargo, be it human or
other. They are not about getting to a
destination. They exist for one thing only,
getting fish. And when the fish move, so
do they. When is the best time to
fish? At night. And they are working boats, so their decks
are brightly lit so that the fishers can do all that hard work at night and not
be in the dark. All those flood lights
make it hard for a little ole sailor, like me, to distinguish its navigation
lights. You might as well throw out all
those illustrations of different lighting configurations for different types of
boats in the Nighttime Navigation chapter of any boating guide. So it's just me, the binos
and the radar against The Enemy. Let's
lock and load.
It took me quite a while to
figure out who I was up against. But
finally I had all the fishing boats identified and I kept a close watch on each
one's movements. I noticed a pattern to
their movement. Each boat stayed put in
one place for a long time. I presume
that that is when they haul fish? Not
sure. Last night their sterns were
facing me so that all I could see were the white deck lights. Then when one started to move, I could detect
a very faint green splash of color. The
boat was showing me its starboard side which meant that it could be traveling
either east or south. I would then go to
the radar and tract its movement, confirming what I saw in the binos. I noticed that each boat went east for a bit (I
presume to stay away from me?) and then headed south. Great, I've got The Enemies' strategy. Four boats down. Three to go.
As I got closer to these three sitting boats I looked at my chart and saw
something unnerving.....THE ROCK.
Oh yes, remember THE
ROCK? Well, it just so happens that the
remaining fishing fleet was working right next to the area where my chart had a
big X: Wolf Rock. I was traveling about 1.2-1.5 nm off the
coastline. The fishing fleet was about
1.5 to 2.0 nm off the coastline. Wolf
Rock is 1.12 nm from the coastline at Double Island Point. You do the math. When I was about 1/2 mile from the fleet and
the rock I woke up Doug. I'm not a big
seamstress and this was definitely going to be like threading a needle. Doug tweaked the autohelm
to starboard, towards the fishing boat, "better to see what you're going
to hit than to be surprised by what you can't". Good point.
Thankfully the fishing boat stayed put and we passed between him and the
rock with less than a 1/4 mile to starboard and more than a 1/2 mile to
port. Phew. Doug went back to sleep and I made myself a
cup of tea. Just another night on
Estrela!
---Kyle
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Hopkins
Sent: Wednesday, May 03,
2006 1:06 PM
Subject: tsunami
A magnitude 8.0 earthquake
struck early Thursday near the South Pacific nation of Tonga,
the U.S. Geological Survey
said. A tsunami warning predicted a giant wave could hit Fiji and New Zealand
within minutes.
A Tongan police officer in
the capital, Nuku'alofa, said there were no immediate reports of damage or a
tsunami. The temblor, classified by the
USGS as a "great" quake, struck 95 miles south of Neiafu,
Tonga, and 1,340 miles north-northeast of
Auckland, New Zealand. It
occurred 20 miles beneath the sea floor.
The U.S. National Weather Service warned that a tsunami could strike
Fiji as soon as 1:13 p.m. EDT and New Zealand by 2:21 p.m.EDT.
The U.S. Pacific Tsunami
Warning Center issued the tsunami warning but said it was not known whether the
quake generated a potentially deadly giant wave.
-----Original Message-----
From: George Holt
Sent: Wednesday, May 03,
2006 2:33 PM
To: 'Peter Hopkins'
Subject: RE: tsunami
Looks like Estrela escaped
this one! Thanks for the info.
George
--------
TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 003
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING
CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 1736Z 03 MAY 2006
THIS BULLETIN IS FOR ALL
AREAS OF THE PACIFIC BASIN EXCEPT ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - WASHINGTON - OREGON
- CALIFORNIA.
... TSUNAMI WARNING
CANCELLATION ...
THE TSUNAMI WARNING IS
CANCELLED FOR ALL COASTAL AREAS AND ISLANDS IN THE PACIFIC OUTSIDE OF ALASKA -
BRITISH COLOMBIA - WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA. THOSE AREAS SHOULD REFER
TO MESSAGES FROM THE WEST COAST AND ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER.
AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED
WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS
ORIGIN TIME -
1527Z 03 MAY 2006
COORDINATES -
19.9 SOUTH 174.2 WEST
LOCATION
- TONGA ISLANDS
MAGNITUDE
- 7.8
MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF
TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY
GAUGE LOCATION LAT
LON TIME AMPL
PER
------------------- ----- ------
----- ------ -----
TIME - TIME OF THE MEASUREMENT
AMPL - AMPLITUDE IN METERS FROM MIDDLE TO
CREST OR MIDDLE
TO TROUGH OR HALF OF THE CREST TO
TROUGH
PER -
PERIOD OF TIME FROM ONE WAVE CREST TO THE NEXT
EVALUATION
SEA LEVEL READINGS INDICATE A TSUNAMI WAS
GENERATED. IT MAY HAVE
BEEN DESTRUCTIVE ALONG COASTS NEAR THE
EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER. FOR
THOSE AREAS - WHEN NO MAJOR WAVES ARE OBSERVED
FOR TWO HOURS
AFTER THE ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL OR
DAMAGING WAVES HAVE NOT
OCCURRED FOR AT LEAST TWO HOURS THEN LOCAL
AUTHORITIES CAN ASSUME
THE THREAT IS PASSED. DANGER TO BOATS AND
COASTAL STRUCTURES CAN
CONTINUE FOR SEVERAL HOURS DUE TO RAPID
CURRENTS. AS LOCAL
CONDITIONS CAN CAUSE A WIDE VARIATION IN TSUNAMI
WAVE ACTION THE
ALL CLEAR DETERMINATION MUST BE MADE BY LOCAL
AUTHORITIES.
NO TSUNAMI THREAT EXISTS FOR OTHER COASTAL
AREAS IN THE PACIFIC
ALTHOUGH SOME OTHER AREAS MAY EXPERIENCE SMALL
SEA LEVEL CHANGES.
THE TSUNAMI WARNING IS CANCELLED.
THIS WILL BE THE FINAL
BULLETIN ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.
THE WEST COAST/ALASKA
TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL ISSUE BULLETINS FOR ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA -
WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA.
-----Original Message-----
From: S/V Estrela
Sent: Wednesday, May 03,
2006 7:28 PM
To: George
Subject: Re: FW: tsunami
Wow! Thanks so much for sending us this, Peter and
George. We spent about a month in and
around Neiafu, Tonga.
It's a volcanically very active area.
We saw at least one smoking active volcano. We have a NZ HF radio news broadcast on now;
I turned on the radio and started hunting for anything I could tune in as soon
as I read your email a few minutes ago.
We missed the beginning of the news broadcast but now have on a talk
show discussion about the tsunami warning.
It's point seems to be that though no tsunami hit NZ, people there are
upset that almost no one heard about the warning until well after the tsunami
would have hit the NZ shores. If you
learn about any trouble in Fiji or elsewhere from this tsunami please email us
on sailmail.
We're hove to waiting for good light to enter the lagoon of an island
and coral atoll at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, Lady Musgrave,
about 60 miles offshore. Can't get any
regular AM or FM radio broadcasts here and no cell phone coverage. Thanks again. -- Doug
-----Original Message-----
From: S/V Estrela
Sent: Saturday, May 06, 2006
6:11 AM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Friday, May 5, 2006 (Lady Musgrave Island)
2300 local time (Australia
Eastern Standard) Friday, May 5, 2006 (1300 GMT); Lat/Lon 23 deg 54.18' S, 152
deg 24.31' E; Location: Lagoon of Lady Musgrave Island, Bunker Group,
southernmost end of the Great Barrier Reef, 70 NM east of Gladstone, QLD; Wind: E 17 to 20 kts;
Sea: some wind chop, but not uncomfortable; Sky: mostly clear; Air temp: 76 deg
F; Water temp: warm; At anchor: 29' depth with 150' chain out and 35lb Bruce
anchor on sandy bottom -- excellent holding.
Estrela arrived here at Lady
Musgrave late yesterday morning. We
enjoyed a varied and exciting two day and two night passage from Scarborough
Marina, Moreton Bay, about 220 NM south. Today we homeschooled, rigged the wind
generator and rewired new-used solar panels, rested, pumped up the inflatable
dinghy, and went for the shortest snorkeling trip ever, about 4:00 PM We'll write more tomorrow about Lady
Musgrave. We plan to go exploring in the
dinghy with good light in the middle of the day.
Conditions for crossing the
Wide Bay Bar into the Great Sandy Strait west of Fraser Island and on into
Hervey (pronounced "Harvey") Bay couldn't have been better. We hove to in Wide Bay (just north of Double
Island Point and Kyle's scene of nighttime battle with the fishing boats) for
several hours to have a delicious fried egg and English muffin breakfast and to
let the tidal current change directions.
Once it had turned to flood (running in the same direction as the modest
ocean swell) we headed in, aligning ourselves using waypoints, the GPS and a
very bright directional light on shore.
The light shines so brightly it's visible in broad daylight, showing red
if one is off course to port, green if off course to starboard and white if on
course. Crossing bars is always
disconcerting, even with benign conditions.
Every so often a larger swell or wave (sometimes known as a
"rogue") comes along that may break when it reaches the shallow
waters of a bar at the mouth of a freshwater or tidal river. If one's luck is wrong a breaker may arrive
just in time for one's crossing. It was
a boring ho-hum ride through for Estrela this morning, however.
Once across we realized the
incoming flow might just be fast enough to carry us to and over the shallowest
section of the Great Sandy Strait about 20 NM north. Keel boats like Estrela can only cross this
part of the waterway near the top of the tide.
We made it through -- brilliant conditions. Out we came at the northern end into Hervey
Bay about dusk and figured we could keep on going through the night to Lady
Musgrave Island. The steady east wind
let us sail fast until almost midnight when it died and sadly I cranked up the
engine again, though the wind returned about 0700. Kyle took us through the night, coming on
watch at 0100.
We hove to for another
relaxing breakfast just outside the pass into Lady Musgrave Island's coral reef
rimmed lagoon. Then with good light
around 10 AM -- the sun high enough to let us spot coral head "bommies" -- we entered the lagoon via the narrow pass
through the fringing reef. Eliza and
Abby scrambled up the mast and sat on the spreaders. They called down to us, pointing out a safe
route among the coral heads. Three
quarters of a mile from the pass and toward the sandy, wooded island we finally
dropped anchor in about 30' of classic blue-green water over a sandy bottom.
Lady Musgrave is the only
coral island of its kind in the whole Great Barrier Reef, having a navigable
lagoon and pass. It is typical of island
groups in parts of Polynesia, however, including the Tuamotus
and Cooks. It also reminds one of
Minerva Reef, the obvious difference being the beautiful island here. The cruising guides do warn that Lady
Musgrave, like Minerva, can become a dangerous trap in a gale. The fringing reef is insufficient to block
stormy seas, particularly at high tide, and the lagoon can become extremely
rough. Last June, during the northward
migration of yachts from New Zealand to Fiji, Tonga and New Caledonia, a severe
gale drove a number of boats into the North and South Minerva Reef lagoons
seeking shelter. Three were wrecked,
although all aboard were rescued by other yachts.
There are a few other
reef-encircled lagoons with navigable passes in the Great Barrier Reef but none
other with an island. It makes us
realize the best way to experience the Great Barrier Reef may not be in a slow sailboat
like ours. Some resorts on offshore
islands have small airstrips or are serviced by fast powerboats, typically
catamarans, functioning as private ferries.
There are also dive-boat operations, but we're not yet a scuba-ready
crew. In settled, calm conditions,
anchoring in the lee of islands or reefs might be possible. The problem, of course, would be that when
weather changes suddenly one would have to up anchor and move on to avoid lying
to a rough lee shore. This would
normally be more than a little dangerous at night if other reefs and islands
are nearby.
Considering all this we've
figured that experiencing much of the Great Barrier Reef may be an elusive goal
on our budget. So we've decided to spend
a few days here at Lady Musgrave while the weather is reasonably good and
before we park the boat at a marina in Gladstone or Rosslyn Bay and travel
inland to visit the Alii Nuis,
aka the Kinnears.
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
From: S/V Estrela
Sent: Sunday, May 07, 2006
6:50 AM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Saturday, May 6, 2006 (Abigail and Eliza at Lady Musgrave Island)
1745 local time (Australia
Eastern Standard) Saturday, May 6, 2006 (0630 GMT); Lat/Lon 23 deg 54.18' S,
152 deg 24.31' E; Location: Lagoon of Lady Musgrave Island, Great Barrier
Reef; Wind: SE 10 to 15 kts; Sea: very slight wind chop; Sky: about 3/4 cloud cover
and brilliant orange sunset band in the west; Air temp: 77 deg F; Water temp:
warmer when the sun was out; At anchor: 29' depth on sandy bottom -- excellent
holding.
Eliza: Today I saw some beautiful coral. When we started out this morning in the
dinghy, first we went as close as we could to the edge of the reef inside the
lagoon. The snorkeling there wasn't very
good, because most of the coral looked dead and there weren't many fish. We did see a stingray. It reminded me of feeding the stingrays at
the Florida Oceanographic Institute in Stewart, Florida, where they were so
friendly and gentle. This one scooted
along the bottom ahead of the boat, though.
It seemed frightened by the motor.
Next we went around to the other side of Lady Musgrave Island to snorkel
at the supposed "best" place.
It was so shallow in some areas on the way over that Dad had to pull the
dinghy so we wouldn't run aground. The
snorkeling spot was on the outside edge of the reef where the water was crystal
blue. I saw the greenest staghorn coral ever.
There was one big, big fish swimming along the bottom. It looked like a grouper. I couldn't tell its color very well because
it was down too deep, about 30 feet. I
had to swim in my cheap, clunky imitation "Tevas"
from The Warehouse (sort of like Wal-Mart in New Zealand) because I've outgrown
my old flippers. Without flippers I have
to use my arms instead of just gently kicking my legs. We were about ready to go back to Estrela
when Dad spotted a pod of dolphins near the reef. Dad motored the dinghy slowly toward them
while Mom, Abby and I got ready to jump in.
When we got close Dad stopped the engine and started rowing and we
slipped into the water silently so the dolphins wouldn't be scared. However the dolphins had not signed up for a
human swim today, so we never got close enough to see or hear them under the
water. I wanted to go back to Estrela
then, but Dad kept motoring around the reef to the pass.
Abigail: In the pass at Lady
Musgrave I saw the biggest turtle I have ever seen in my whole entire
life. The turtle was about five feet
long. I almost swam right over it. We drove the dinghy to the pass and snorkeled
and that's where we saw the turtle. I
snorkeled in my new wetsuit that was passed down by Eliza. I really like it because it fits.
Eliza: By the time we got to the pass I was really
cold. I'm glad I got in the water,
though, because I saw a crown-of-thorns starfish, a gigantic fish like another
grouper and a huge turtle. It looked
like a large version of Crush in Finding Nemo. I've seen that movie about seven times. Finally we went back to Estrela for cold
pizza and hot drinks and showers. Abby
and I played and read. Today was a great
snorkeling expedition but I don't like getting that cold.
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 1:30
AM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry -- Thursday, May 11, 2006 (Emerald, NSW)
1200 Thursday, May 11, 2006 (0200 GMT) 5 Reo Drive, Emerald, QLD 4720. 23 deg 31’36.53” S, 148 deg 09’ 17.57”. Cloudless, 75 deg F, light breeze.
We’ve tied up Estrela at the Keppel Bay Marina in Rosslyn Bay, where we arrived Monday May 8 after an easy 100 NM overnight sail. Shortly after leaving Lady Musgrave we landed a fat skipjack tuna. It made a big fish stew (a bouillabaisse minus the saffron) that lasted two dinners and a lunch. We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn just before dawn. That’s the line of latitude where the sun is directly overhead at noon on the summer solstice.
Our view of Lady Musgrave across the fringing reef as we headed out the pass:
As soon as we turned off the engine we wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. Instead, following the mantra of our cruising gurus, Lyn and Larry Pardey, we brewed some strong Aussie tea, cranked up the tunes and went to work – to do the “turn around.” That meant doing laundry (this time in a machine!), drying out bunk cushions, swabbing salt from decks and hardware, topping off water tanks, pushing a cart to the nearby servo (gas station) to fill diesel and petrol jugs and the empty propane cannister, restowing ditch bags and lee cloths and washing the cabin interior. We finally collapsed into our bunks, excited for another inland adventure.
A successful foray to the Rosslyn Bay servo:
The crew of
Estrela are now spread out and relaxing in a house in Emerald,
Today’s comfy classroom:
Emerald is a city unlike any place we’ve visited. On the edge of outback Queensland, it’s the flat, dry center of Australia’s vast coal mining industry. Driving here yesterday we passed four coal freight trains, each of 60 to 80 cars and all headed for export – a clue to why Australia’s enthusiasm for the Kyoto climate change treaty is as tepid as that of the United States.
We found this billboard at a servo just before arriving in Emerald:
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2006
4:06 PM
Subject: Estrela [mini] log
entry -- 0600 May 25, 2006
(22 deg 33.395'S, 150 deg
46.321'E) We're on the move again.
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Saturday, May 27, 2006 8:02 AM
Subject: Estrela [mini] log entry --
2100 May 27, 2006
(At anchor in Bauer Bay, South Molle Island, Whitsunday Island Group,
---Kyle
Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 3:32 AM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry -- Dental care at sea
Wednesday
May 31, 2006 (1100 local – 0100 GMT) 
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Saturday, June 03, 2006 4:33
PM
Subject: Estrela [mini] log entry --
0620 June 4, 2006
(At anchor in
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2006 4:45 PM
Subject: Estrela [mini] log entry --
0615 Wednesday, June 7, 2006
(At anchor in Hinchinbrook Channel,
off
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 7:24
AM
Subject: Estrela log entry -- 8:30
PM June 21, 2006
(At anchor in the lee of Lizard
Island, 2 1/2 days sail NNE of Cairns, in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef,
Queensland, Australia; 14 deg 36.609'S/145 deg 27.021'E) Yesterday, snorkeling,
we discovered GIGANTIC giant clams, and I mean GIGANTIC, the kind someone got
stuck in and had to be rescued from by Lloyd Bridges in about every fourth
episode of Sea Hunt. The biggest of
these creatures, which look like pumped up versions of the smaller giant clams
we've been seeing across the Pacific, are about three feet long and two feet
wide. Their deeply scalloped hinged
shells form a patient gaping maw, fringed by an exotic smooth mantel that comes
in irridescent blue, green, purple, turquoise or
chartreuse. Each seems to know how
spectacular it looks and to be trying to outdo the next behemoth. Most were growing in clusters among tiers of
healthy, widely varied, and also colorful hard and soft coral. Occasionally we'd find one all alone on a
sand flat 15 to 20 feet down. Though I
was awfully curious to know whether one of these big bivalves would be quick
enough to actually trap my arm or leg if I reached inside, I was smart enough
not to try. We have anchored here at
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 10:32
AM
Subject: Estrela log entry -- 11:15
PM Tuesday, June 27, 2006 --- We're over the top!!
(At anchor in the lee of Possession
Island, 9 miles WSW of Cape York, Queensland, Australia; 10 deg 43.9'S/142 deg
23.2'E)
We passed through Albany Passage at 10 AM
today with a 2-3 kt favorable flooding tidal current
and rounded Cape York, the northernmost point in continental
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Saturday, July 01, 2006 12:16
PM
Subject: Estrela log entry -- 8:30
PM Saturday, July 1, 2006 -- nearly across the
2000 local time (Australia Central
Standard) Saturday, July 1, 2006 (1030 GMT); Lat/Lon 11 deg 52.9' S, 138 deg
02.6' E; Location: 85 NM ENE of Gove, Northern Territories (NT); Wind: ESE
20-23 kts; Sea: awkward, confused wind waves and
swell; Sky: cloudless with brilliant stars and moon; Air temp: 78 deg F; Water
temp: 79 deg F; Course/speed: 256 deg T at 5.4 kts;
Sail combination: double reefed main and staysail; Tack/apparent wind angle: stbd/broad reach (120 deg off wind).
This is the third night of our
passage across the Gulf of Carpentaria from the Torres Strait to
This has been a remarkable passage
for Estrela. Our first night, at about
3:45 AM, we responded to a distress call Kyle heard over VHF Ch 16, the main
hailing and safety channel, which all vessels above a minimum length are
required to monitor when underway. The
calling vessel, another cruising sailboat, was only 11 NM away and had been
trying for hours to raise someone over the SSB and VHF radios. VHF has a fairly short range, essentially
line of sight between antennas. There is
not a lot of other vessel traffic out here and both of us had deliberately
headed south before altering course to the southwest for Gove, so as to get far
away from the main commercial shipping lanes.
We had not met them before and neither of us knew the other boat was
nearby.
Since our first contact we have
spoken regularly by VHF radio with the other vessel, first hourly and now every
three hours. Their problem is a medical
emergency which remains serious but has been stabilized. We are making our way in tandem to
The symptoms, including acute,
localized abdominal pain, fever, vomiting and diarrhea, were worrying and
required a doctor's knowledge to diagnose.
Most critically, the sick crewmember was clearly dehydrated and unable
to drink and retain fluids. The skipper
of the boat, himself healthy, was nevertheless suffering from
sleep-deprivation, exacerbated by the fact his autopilot had broken and he had
to hand steer, all alone now because his partner was too sick to spell him at
the wheel.
Coincidentally, we have had a SSB
talk scheduled twice a day during this passage with a family with three kids on
another boat. They too are traveling to
A little before noon Estrela and the
other boat managed to rendezvous.
Estrela stood hove-to, Kyle on our tiller with engine idling. The skipper of the other yacht maneuvered as
close as he could safely get, approaching from aft and downwind. He was sailing to avoid the risk of fouling
his prop with a line. Abby held our drybag with the meds (and a couple cookies and the girls'
get well card) inside. I tossed a line
to the other skipper, our end tied to the bag.
When he had the line Abby and I tossed the bag overboard as he hauled it
in and the boats quickly separated. It
had been a tricky maneuver because of strong wind and confused, steep
seas. Eliza filmed it with the video
camera. In these typical winter
conditions when well-developed SE tradewinds prevail
the
This has been a good example of how
the cruising community has the capacity to help each other out in
emergencies. The practice of scheduling
regular radio contact with other boats, especially during longer passages, is
always fun and we all look forward to the chances to talk with friends and acquaintances
every day. Some of these radio
"nets" are more formal; some just include two or three boats. We typically have a regular schedule with one
or two other boats and also call in irregularly to one of the larger nets while
on passage. Something like this medical
emergency drives home how radio schedules provide a real safety edge for
cruisers on ocean passages or coastal cruising in remote areas like the top of
Australia, in addition providing social glue and fostering an extraordinary
sense of community.
We feel very fortunate to be able to
help out another cruising boat who's really needed our
help.
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 4:10 AM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry.....0900
July 11, 2006
0900 local time (Australia Central
Standard) Tuesday, July 11, 2006 (2330 GMT 07/10/06); Lat/Lon 11 deg 06.6' S,
131 deg 55.4' E; Location: 125 NM NE of Darwin, Northern Territories (NT);
Wind: SE 10-15 kts; Sea: flat; Sky: clear with few
clouds--sunny and hot; Air temp: 80 deg F; Water temp: 76 deg F; Course/speed:
243 deg T at 5.5 kts; Engine/Sail combination: full
sails: genoa, staysail, and main with engine at 1400
RPM; Tack/apparent wind angle: port/beam reach (90 deg off wind) and bucking a
1 1/2 to 2 kt current.
We are almost to
This is really remote country,
desolate, flat and dry with wind-swept, scrubby trees. Virtually all is Aboriginal land. We are forbidden to land without permits and
obtaining these is difficult. The fine
if caught landing without a permit is $2,000.
The water over the top, since Gove, has been a bright green, but
murky--almost a milky green. We know
that this is saltwater crocodile country, so no swimming off the boat. Even the idea of landing a dinghy on the
beach is a little off-putting, as one has to leap into the murky water and
carry the dinghy up the beach. Hey, we
went to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. We
attended the croc show at his huge "crocoseum". We watched these monster ambush killers lurk
at the water's edge, just below the surface, and then erupt for the kill. They love opaque, muddy water -- don't even
need to see their prey. The crocs use
their victim's vibrations to aim their attack.
We've been lucky enough to see one croc in the wild, just sunning itself
malevolently on a mud bank. We'll just
stay on little ole Estrela. That suits
me fine!
We caught a beautiful bluefin tuna on Friday, the 7th. The rod went ZING and Doug played this strong
creature for 35 minutes before he could bring it close to the boat! We even had to reduce sail to slow down. Doug flung the tuna into the cockpit, I
covered its eyes with a rag, Abby poured rubbing alcohol down its throat (to
kill it quickly and humanely) and Eliza took the requisite picture once our
quarry was dead. It measured 36"
and we figure it weighed about 20 lbs.
Doug bled and filleted the fish right away. Thankfully we had loaded our fridge with ice
in Gove, so we could keep the cut meat cold.
Talk about FRESH!! How am I ever
going to buy fish at a grocery store ever again? Sashimi and pan-fried tuna medallions with
garlic have topped Estrela's menu for days now. The girls actually are enjoying
it (at least the medallions)--a minor miracle.
With all these day hops up and
across the coast, we've fallen into a natural rhythm of leaving our anchorage
early, usually in the dark, and arriving at the next anchorage in the late
afternoon, with plenty of time to put the boat to bed, have a cup of tea and
start dinner prep. The girls have been
able to keep up with school and Doug and I are really enjoying each other's
company as we day-sail the Australian coast.
In contrast, during long ocean passages one of us adults is usually
trying to catch up on sleep, so we don't see nearly as much of each other. The trade winds have blown steadily and very
strongly since we left
We love
---Kyle
Copyright © 2003-2009 Doug and Kyle Hopkins. All rights reserved.