Sailing North: Yeppoon, still.

17^th July

Keppel Marina

Rosslyn Bay

We arrived back at Dreamagic on Friday after an eventful week in Brisbane. Certainly the trip down there reminded both of us why we are up here but life can’t be all smooth sailing.

And speaking of smooth sailing, the weather here was overcast and miserable. The wind was blowing at up to 30 knots and the marina is full of cruising boats waiting for a window to continue north. New boats keep appearing, crews dressed as if they are crossing Bass Straight, topsides and transoms bearing the telltale signs of lunches and dinners that have been donated over the rail and back to the sea.

We went to the Yacht Club. Well, what else would you do? Our plan was to leave on Sunday but that was postponed to Monday. The club was to have a Yacht Race leaving on Saturday and BBQ’ing Saturday night at Keppel before racing back Sunday. That was postponed because of the weather so we cooked our steaks, and drank their wine. Friends Mitch and Meg who we met last time we were here joined us, and another Mitch with his son Simon also joined the ever growing table as we made our plans to depart. Capricornia Cruising Yacht Club is without doubt the friendliest club on the East Coast and a “Must Stop” destination.

Rona spent Saturday working here. I busied myself doing boat maintenance and faffing around until lunchtime. We had booked the courtesy Car for the afternoon so drove to Yeppoon and provisioned. Evening back at CCYC. Of course.

Sunday is not a viable departure for us but Monday is looking good. Our plan is to spend a couple of days anchored at Keppel and then head north. Unfortunately the Army has closed Shoalwater Bay so that they can play soldiers with the Americans. All the bays and rivers we would normally use to anchor on the way up are full of soldiers hiding in bushes and shouting “Bang! You’re Dead!” at each other so we have to go around. This means that we have a very big Tuesday night/Wednesday morning sail to get to the nearest next anchorage which not being used as a Cubby House, nearly 200 kms away. Why the Army do this when everyone is heading north is beyond me. If they did it in February they could nuke the place and no one would be there. I suppose July is a better time for the yanks to take their holidays.