Mackay to Rosslyn Bay Marina, 6th to 17th August, 2026
After spending two weeks back in WA, checking our house and doing a few odd jobs and catching up with Mum, I arrived back in Mackay Marina to find that Audrey, our long time friend, who helped Peter sail from Airlie Beach to Mackay was in hospital with two fractured ribs and bruising on her lung. She had a fall when Olivia was thrown about in a very boisterous sea some 6nm from Mackay. It took them a while to get into the marina as the wind was on the nose and tacking was required. A taxi came and Aud was taken to the hospital where she spent five days or so under observation and in much pain. After she was able to leave hospital she stayed at a friend's house for a few days and has now made her way back to WA and is sooooo... happy to be home.
Audrey at Brampton Island
We have met up with our friends, Chris and Jodie from Merlot, who accompanied us around the top last year. They sold Merlot and now own a very nice cruising boat called Wiikirri and as they are almost ready to take their yacht to their home port of Rosslyn Bay, we have decided to accompany them south. Donny and Jacquie from Sandra (the other boat who we teamed up with last year) are in 'Rocky' doing major work on Sandra at present, so we will catch up with them briefly and then we'll go with Chris and Jodie to take a look at their farm near Rockhampton. Should be a good day.
In order to make it to Rosslyn Bay before the next blow we decided to do 77nm to Hunter Island in the Duke Group. We left Mackay before daybreak and slowly made our way out of the harbour in the dark. Once out daylight began appearing and the day looked beautiful. We have seen whales... many, many whales. We have seen them lounging, leaping, breaching, tail slapping, fin waving and any other action you can think of that a whale can do. Very impressive! After a very long day, caused by some slow sailing due to adverse tidal conditions, we arrived at Boomerang Shoal, just north west of the Duke islands. There are many shoals, rock outcrops, small islands and narrow channels here. The spring tides are strong as the water streams in and out of nearby Broad Sound and Shoalwater Bay. It was pitch dark by then, no moon, no lights and only the chart plotter to guide us. You soon learn to trust it - what else can you do??
Tide affected stretch of water between Danger Island and Marble Island. Duke Group.
Luckily we finally saw Wiikirri's nav lights and they popped up on our plotter about 4nm in front of us. That helped us decide which was the best channel to take through Boomerang Shoal as we watched them go through with no issues. Then there was the problem of navigating through this island group in the dark. The "tidal ranges are large, up to 5 knots, and the currents strong. Danger Island and Danger Shoal to the west have rocky outcrops." - according to Cruising the Queensland Coast, by Greg Luck. We entered the western bay of Hunter Island and decided to stay there for the night as we had been there once before, about ten years ago. We crashed!! Not literally, but after a quick meal we fell into bed and didn't blink until daylight. Very stressful!!!
Next day we awoke as the light was just appearing in the eastern sky and realised we had anchored in a very good spot in the dark and made a pact that we would 'leave in the dark and arrive in the daylight'. How many times have we said that before?
Hunter Island to Port Clinton, 11th August
Once we could see well enough we pulled up the anchor and motored through a very tide affected area off Marble Island and set out for Port Clinton about 56nm away. Yesterday we motor sailed most of the way, but on this leg we managed to sail for about half of the way without the motor saving us some fuel costs. The day was beautiful and the scenery stunning as we made our way south past Townsend Island and the Military Area around Island Head Creek and Pearl Bay. We decided to anchor behind Perforation Point as a light northerly was expected. As it turned out the anchorage there was perfect along with five other boats whose skippers had made the same decision.
Collisions at Sea...Nearly!
It amazes me how many times two vessels travelling in the opposite directions can be on a collision course on the wide open ocean. The rules dictate that if this happens both should veer to the right to avoid hitting each other. We did that. The other guy kept going left (this is the ocean buddy - not the road). In the end we turned left as well as it was clear he was not going to go right. He was on a course for Pearl Bay anchorage and that was that.
Half an hour later we had a much closer call and that was us in the wrong. I had noticed a fishing boat towing a dinghy a few miles north/west of us, chugging along steadily. We sailed out to sea and when we got abeam of Perforation Point tacked and began the couple of mile journey back in. By now the sun was setting, shining in a brilliant shaft of blinding light from the north/west of us. All of a sudden I noticed what looked like a ghost ship right in this shaft of light. It took a moment to realise it was the towing boat - very close. I yelled to Peter to flick the auto pilot off and I yanked the wheel around and missed him by, maybe, no more than 50m. It was frightening and our fault if we had caused an accident. Our turn to give way!
Moral of the story: Take care when the sun is low and causing a blinding silver light to shine across the water at you.
The final day on our journey to Rosslyn Bay became a sail to Great Keppel Island. We anchored off Second Beach on the north side as although light northerlies were blowing then, the forecast was for a southerly change at midnight. There was about ten boats already anchored there so we thought at least others had the same idea. It was quite lumpy in the bay after two days of light northerlies. As daylight began to fade more boats arrived and by night time about thirty boats were anchored in Svendsen's, Second and Leekes Bays. It looked like a city out there. Luckily we did because at 10.08pm the southerly came in with a bang and for a while the sea was very lumpy. Finally it all settled down and we ended up having a quiet night with everyone else. The reason we did not go straight to Keppel Bay Marina was that the tide was too low for us to get in. Care is needed on a low tide as parts of the marina become very shallow and we would not get in until more than half tide the next day. The entry is the problem.
The fuel jetty in Keppel Bay Marina at low tide
Several miles north of our anchorage we noticed that Olivia seemed to be wandering around more than usual and Peter thought there might have been a strong current here. Not so. After we anchored we heard a clanking noise coming from the stern below the deck. It turned out that the bracket that holds the autopilot hydraulic ram had broken. Luckily we were only 7nm from Rosslyn Bay and we had already booked in for a week. The next morning we hand steered across the bay and once in the marina Peter made some enquiries and found a welder/fabricator, Stuart Barndon, owner of Techweld, who welded the bracket for us the next day. He did a good job. Peter crawled under the cockpit floor, undid the part (with a bit of cursing and swearing) and managed to get the part out. Luckily he is small in stature. There are some large bruises on his arms and ribs in particular.
Broken
Fixed
Now we are enjoying our stay in Keppel Bay Marina and look forward to the next few days exploring the area, seeing Chris and Jodie's farm and catching up with Donny and Jacquie.
Osprey's nest in the Rosslyn Bay Car Park. Sitting on a light pole.
