=20 Having left Tin can Bay yesterday with the outgoing tide, we anchored in Pelican Bay ,ready for an early morning departure today. The Wide Bay Bar was as calm as it gets, and despite it being spring low tide , we never saw less than 1.9mts below the keel, when we crossed at 6.00am. We motor sailed the remaining 55nm to Mooloolaba with a 1kn favourable current and calm seas, crossing the Mooloolaba bar at 14.30, 2hrs before low tide. We had a whole 0.4 mt under the keel as we made our way past the marina to the jetty we had earmarked for the night! The only real challenge of trip was whale dodging , with migrating Humpbacks and offspring, popping up way too close for comfort! We're on a public pontoon for tonight and, hopefully, tomorrow we'll go into the marina.

=20 We had quite an eventful morning at Pelican Bay yesterday morning. First an uncrewed fishing boat washed up on the sandspit and sank in the strong winds and waves. Then a yacht anchored way too close to us and, we think, must have tripped our anchor! In 20-30kt of wind we landed up with our rudder stuck in a sandbank having dragged quite a way. Fortunately, by winching in the chain and anchor and using all the engine power we had, we managed to get off the bank unscathed except for our frayed nerves! We decided to move to Tin Can Bay which had much more room and was way more sheltered. So here we are, with lots of space around us, awaited the next big winds predicted for about 3 days! Never a dull moment!!

=20 Safely at anchor in Pelican Bay, just short of the Wide Bay bar that we have to get over to get out to the open sea for the leg to Mooloolaba. We have just done the torturous route through the shallows to get here. We hope to stay here and relax for a few days until the high tide is early in the morning in order to get over the bar.

=20 Anchored at White Cliffs, very tranquil at the moment (long may that last). Bad night last night......wind changed and blew strongly. We hopped and bopped and at one point thought we were dragging. Eventually we ascertained that we weren't in peril and managed to get some sleep! Today is more like I'd imagined the Great Sandy Straits would be....blue water, sunshine and good visibility. We are in the middle of mangroves (we passed the white cliffs earlier) so hope we don't get too bitten by sandflies. We both react quite badly to them and itch for days. Tomorrow we'll do the "shallow" leg which we must do at high tide.

=20 Arrived at our anchorage behind Big Woody Island in the Great Sandy Straits. Left Bundaberg at 7.00h this morning. More wind than we expected and again directly behind us which is Sheer's worst point of sail. Cloudy dull day and very lumpy sea. Not a pleasant day and once in the Straits navigation is very demanding as there are sand banks everywhere, but they are marked. A heavy squall waited for us to get the anchor down before arriving, for a change!

=20 Safely moored in Bundaberg Port Marina. Arrived this morning at about 9.30h. Very difficult night, strong wind directly astern and fairly big sea which created a very uncomfortable situation. However, we made good time and here we are......back in Bundy!!

=20 At anchor off the south side of Keppell. Leaving today for an overnighter to Bundaberg. At the moment there is precious little wind from the south, which is not what we want. We will wait for the forecast northerly to fill in and then leave. We have plenty of time on this leg so we don't have to push!

At anchor off Long Beach, Great Keppell Island. Left Port Clinton at low tide this morning and although concerned about one section of our exit depthwise, we had no problems. Wasn't a pleasant anchorage though.....very safe, but swampy and thousands of bitey things arrived at dusk. And most of them travelled with us today!!

Safely at anchor after a 179nm overnighter from the Whitsundays. We're in Port Clinton on the mainland. It has a tricky entry through mudbanks into the mangroves where we are anchored with one other yacht. That's a third of the trip to Mooloolaba completed. Tomorrow, we'll depart early and hope to be anchored at Great Keppell later on in the day. The northerly breeze should still be holding.

Left Whitsunday Island 06.15h this morning. Motor sailed all day with some current assist. Decided to do an overnighter to Island Head Creek. The weather is very benign and is predicted to stay this way for the next 2 days, but we want to be in safe anchorage if conditions should change.

At anchor in Chance Bay, Whitsundays Island. Last day of our Whitsundays cruise. Very good day......Hook Island Passage in very hectic conditions......Tongue Bay, picked up a mooring and walked up to the lookout over Whitehaven Beach. Spectacular! Then we anchored off the beach for lunch. caught the right tide and went through Solway Passage to our present anchorage.

We have a favourable north wind for the next 3 days, so tomorrow we will start our southerly journey. Hopefully, Brampton Island tomorrow evening.

Safely anchored at Airlie Beach. The wind unexpectedly changed back to south in the night and so we were able to come here to do some things.

It's noisy and busy with jetskis and power boats creating an uncomfortable chop. Maybe tomorrow we'll return to peaceful Nara.

Anchored in beautiful Nara Inlet on Hook Island. Think we'll stay a few days before going to Airlie Beach for garbage removal and provisioning. Also will get some internet there!

Wind is turning to northeasterly so we had to forego our plan to visit Whitehaven Beach today and are peacefully anchored in CID Harbour. Will probably stay here until the wind resumes its usual easterlies in a few days.

Just dropped anchor in Burning Point anchorage on Shaw Island. Lovely calm spot. Spent 2 night at Goldsmith....it was too peaceful to leave!! We may stay here another day or push on to the iconic Whitehaven Beach tomorrow. Its good to be "on the road again"!

Finally left Mackay Marina after more than 2 months! Not enough wind too sail but we weren't going too far and the pleasure of being out of the marina outweighed the irritation of the engine noise. So we are at anchor at Goldsmith Island in the Whitsundays and we'll be bumbling around the area for the next week or so. It is a lovely anchorage!

We are in Mackay Harbour Marina today......a long story!!

We left South Percy before daybreak, intending to do a couple of overnighters to break the back of the passage to Cairns while the weather was still gentle.Well gentle it was, so we motorsailed most of the day until BANG at 16.00h ........the engine waterpump seized. We were at that stage about 24nm from MacKay, so we changed course, popped the genaker up as the wind was very gentle and from the stern. We ghosted along very slowly feeling very glum! To cut a long story short, it took us 10 hours to do the 24 miles, arriving outside the harbour at 2.00h powered by the dinghy lashed to the side of Sheer. Last night a ship had to take evasive action has we had no means of moving out of its path. This morning we were towed out of the path of a huge bulk carrier by the Pilot boat and later were towed into the Marina by Rescue 5. Our pump should be replaced on Friday (Thursday is a public holiday of course). Weather permitting we'll continue the journey on Saturday. Who said that cruising was fun?? It certainly isn't for sissies!

Left Island Head Creek at 8.00h this morning on an incoming tide. Had a really good fast sail to South Percy 46nm. We are anchored with one other yacht rocking gently at this time. That could change when the tide comes in, but we are hopeful that we'll have a peaceful night.

Had a really early start this morning, before daybreak, from Great Keppel Island. On a scale of 1-10, maybe 3!! Very rolly, shallow and not particularly attractive. However, it beat being at sea. Today was easy. We motored the whole way.....sea was relatively flat....but we had a 2.5kt counter current! The entry into Island Head Creek was interesting at low tide. However, the most shallow we got was 1m under the keel. So here we are, in a lovely lagoon anchorage, sheltered from the northerly winds predicted for tomorrow.

At anchor in very rolly Great Keppell Bay in the Great Barrier Reef. Had a rough and uncomfortable night at sea, a good shake down for boat and body after nearly 7 months on land!

Left Bundaberg this morning at 7.00h. We are en route Cairns to join the Sail2Indonesia Rally. Hoping to make Island Head Creek tomorrow for our first stop. Uncomfortable sea and rain on its way.