3 August 2010
We have now left the Whitsundays behind. Two more whale sightings today but none close enough for a photo shoot. It was another sparkling sunny day as we set full sail in a light south easterly wind but it was not long before we were reefing the genoa. The mizzen was shortened shortly after that and with the wind increasing even further, the main now had to come in as well. We do not like to over canvas Voyageur. The wind was now gusting over 22 knots but being on the stern quarter it made for the wonderful sailing that we had promised Peter and which makes a passage up inside the Great Barrier Reef such an exhilarating experience. We kept just on the outer edge of the southbound shipping lane but saw few ships. David tuned in to 4 Bravo at 9am and picked up a few other WARC boats, most of who, like us, are heading north, with an ultimate destination of Cairns.
On this overnight passage we were to round three capes, Cape Upstart, Cape Bowling Green and Cape Cleveland all named by Captain Cook. Cape Upstart, for its rugged dominance in an area where the inland mountains recede and Bowling Green being the flattest cape on the coast. Ariane appeared off to our port and David had a chat with Roland. They were making for the marina on Magnetic Island, a few miles east of our own destination of Townsville. By dusk our lovely steady trade winds had tailed off, enough to prompt us to motor sail. Like Mackay, Townsville is subject to large 6metre tides, and we had to arrive before high water at 7am, in order to enter the marina.
It was during my second watch from 1am to 4am, that the night turned grizzly, the winds increasing from 12 knots to 27 knots in the space of ten minutes. It is at times like this that I begin to feel very lonely and unhappy in the cockpit and it is so tempting to call David up but I stall and stall until at last I become wimpish and succumb. I needed some company. David and Peter both got up. We were now approaching our last cape, Cape Cleveland and there were lights all around. The light on the cape is flashing white, red. The light on Magnetic Island flashing red. There are three ships, two off to starboard and one to port which we eventually establish are at anchor.
I scuttle gratefully below, pitching over the lee boards and try to snatch some sleep. But it does not come easy. Voyageur's motion is halting in the short choppy seas. We are only in 15 metres depth and now the winds are gusting 30 knots. As with all things plans can change and it was at this point that David changed the plan. So instead of turning left towards the harbour of Townsville, directly into the wind and the waves, we carried on, on our west north westerly course to round the north eastern tip of Magnetic Island. And what a good decision that turned out to be. A couple of miles further on we entered the wonderful expanse of Horseshoe Bay and its' equally wonderful shelter. This bay could easily take up to two hundred boats but seemed busy to us with around twenty. We were snug as bugs in here once the anchor was set and the boys immediately ordered breakfast from the galley. Bacon, tomatoes and French toast.
The rest of the morning we spent catching up on lost sleep, the wind gradually abating over the next few hours so that by the early afternoon we were able to launch the dinghy and explore ashore. The village was basically a back packers' holiday resort with lots of accommodation to let, but there was one rather up market restaurant where we booked dinner. Returning to Voyageur we saw our first dugong in the wild. These strange looking creatures, mistaken by mariners of old for mermaids, are variously given the name sea elephant or sea cow. They are very shy so we were all the more delighted to have spotted one. Large numbers of them inhabit the bay which is rich in sea grass, their principal source of food. That evening we enjoyed our own Australian style fare, kangaroo steaks and barramundi at the Barefoot restaurant ashore returning to Voyageur for an early night in anticipation of a dawn departure.....
Susan Mackay