Sandy Strait to Bundaberg

We've been on the move for the last week, going North to seek warmer weather. We are just now getting internet access again, so we are able to catch everyone up on what's been happening.

As explained in the last post, we got turned back on our first approach to the Great Sandy Strait due to strong head winds. Back on shore, repairs continued, here with Dave stitching up the jib sail. Our second attempt was hurried along by forecast swell coming that threatened to close out the entrance for a few days to come. It is important to arrive at the entrance during a flooding tide, which meant that we had to leave at night again to make it in time.

This time we were able to sail through the night in much calmer seas, and arrived near our destination as the sun rose. Dave, Evvy and Craig stood watch in turns through the night, and with more favorable winds we had a much better time on our second night out. It was still quite cold, though, a theme you will see somewhat constantly lately for us. The winds turned against us as we arrived, contrary to the forecast. After some motoring to get up wind, we arrived at the right spot and crossed over the sand bar. There were some waves around us, but we managed to come through safely, following the GPS coordinates and the navigation marks.

Once inside the Strait, we headed for the small town of Tin Can Bay, which has a small marina a couple kilometers from town. The sky stayed rather Wintery, and we pulled out the dinghy to go into the marina and have a look around. We found that were was a tourist dolphin feed, where tame dolphins come in to shore every day to be fed fish by tourists. We met a cruising neighbor who gave us good tips on how to proceed North, crossing the Sandy Strait to Hervey Bay. The tide window was coming later in the day, requiring us to leave the next morning to have a comfortable margin to cross over these shallow waters in high tide during daylight hours, so we headed out again the next morning.

This Sandy Strait route is well traveled by sail boats, but it is nevertheless quite shallow. We kept a close watch on the chart marks and the depth meter as we traversed an area that narrowed to just a few hundred feet across, and sometimes just a foot or two of water under our keel. As we made it completely through, smiles were all around. Another step North behind us.

Our next anchorage was near the Kingfisher Bay Resort on Fraser Island. The island is the place were a dingo famously attacked a baby, causing the mother to cry "a dingo ate my baby!" Although the mother was not at first believed since dingos are similar to coyotes, the lesson is well taken now as there were many signs about the danger of dingos and keeping tabs on your children. We had no dingo trouble, but did enjoy hearing their coyote like howls at night. We thought we may have remained on Fraser Island to explore and "bush walk", but Craig took a quick dip in the water and his chilly reception convinced us that it was best to keep sailing North.

Our next leg was 50 miles, quite a bit to make in one crossing, but winds were now blowing their (supposedly) typical Southern direction. An early morning departure was on order to make sure we would arrive at our destination before dark. The sailing was good, a great day going down wind. We were able to sail "wing on wing" for the first time in the trip, making an easy down wind run. We have now arrived at the mouth of the Bundaberg River, coming into a marina again to get in touch with people, in particular our first visitor, Evvy's Mom Marguerite is due to join us in just one week's time. We're off again tomorrow to make some more Northing before she arrives. We'll probably be out another week, finding our next connection with the internet at Keppel Bay. Fair winds - meaning down wind.