Wednesday 23 November 2016

Living the cruiser's life at Sea Eagle Bay, Thomas Island

9-11 November 2016

According to latest forecasts, the best chance of us finding a sailing breeze was earlier in the day so we upped anchor and said farewell to the delights of Turtle Bay on Whitsunday Island and set a course for Sea Eagle Bay on the southern side of Thomas Island. We had spent five fantastic days anchored on the northern side of Thomas Island back in July (READ THE STORY HERE) but this was to be our first visit to the other side of the island.

In his excellent cruising guide ‘ 100 Magic Miles of the Great Barrier Reef’ David Colfelt describes Sea Eagle Bay thus, ‘”This is a lovely anchorage with a beautiful sand beach that is readily accessible at all tides through the break in the reef. It has a truly ‘South Pacific’ atmosphere.” That was easily enough to gain our attention and we were all very keen to see if the reality lived up to the hype.

John's photo of Sea Eagle Beach on the southern side of Thomas Island is spectacular.
On our way to Thomas Island.

Passing Pentecost Island.

Our guest crew, John, doing it tough on Our Dreamtime.

One of the Whitsunday Islands along the way.
Unfortunately the morning breeze was weaker than we would have liked and we had to resort to motor-sailing against the flooding tide past Pentecost Island to round Jesuit Point on Maher Island.  Once we had cleared the point and turned southward we were able to shut the motor off and enjoy a very pleasant sail along Shaw Island with good views of the cliff lined islands laying off its eastern side. We soon rounded Fairlight Rock and turned to wind to furl our head and mainsail and drop our mizzen. We were then free to motor into our anchorage on Thomas Island.

Turtle Bay, Whitsunday Island to Sea Eagle Bay, Thomas Island
18.8 Nautical Miles - 4Hours 11 Minutes
Average Speed 4.5 Nautical Miles - Max Speed 6.6 Knots
Full track details can be seen here -NAVIONICS
Sea Eagle Bay proved to be every bit as attractive as Colfelt had reported, although John felt it lacked the one element needed to make it ‘truly South Pacific’, palm trees. Surprisingly there was not one coconut palm to be seen in the entire bay. We suggested he may have been a little picky as the bay and beach certainly delivered in every other way.

We were able to anchor in five metres over good holding sand again with the water clear enough for us to see the set of our anchor clearly from the deck. We had more than adequate swing room to the coral reef lining both sides while the head of the bay was clear all the way up to the tree lined, golden sand beach waiting to be explored.

Rob snorkelling the reef at Thomas Island

A nice coral trout on the reef in Sea Eagle Bay.

The level of coral bleaching we saw at Thomas Island was sobering.
 
First though, the fringing reefs were calling. We were all in snorkelling gear within minutes of securing the boat and swimming across the clear water to check out the coral. Disappointingly, we discovered the most wide spread coral bleaching we’ve seen anywhere on the Great Barrier Reef this year. There were a few colourful patches but most was quite bland. Fortunately the fish life was quite abundant though including  good numbers of sizable parrot fish and coral trout. More than enough in fact for Rob to resolve to have a crack at a bit of spear-fishing on the next morning’s low tide.

Despite the clear water, Rob dove down the five metres to check the set of our Sarca Excel anchor. No problem there.

Our Dreamtime is still looking good after her six plus months roaming the Great Barrier Reef.

After six months underway we're very pleased with her anti-foul but the Prop Speed is already gone on the blade tips.
We then all headed for the beach with some  Sushi Rolls Karen whipped up for lunch and a bottle of bubbles to wash them down with. As beautiful as the bay appeared from the boat, it looked even better sitting in the shade of the trees behind this wonderful stretch of sand.  After devouring our delicious snacks, the boys climbed the rise through the bush behind the beach to get some photos while Karen was content to laze in the shallows enjoying surroundings. The rest of the afternoon was spent alternating between submersing ourselves in the crystal clear waters and lazing about the beach - all achieved quite effortlessly really.

Karen dishing out her delicious Sushi Rolls on Sea Eagle Beach.
John, Karen and Rob celebrating the cruiser's life on Sea Eagle Beach with Our Dreamtime in the background.
John looking for the perfect spot to take a photo on Thomas Island.
Glorious Sea Eagle Bay.

Our Dreamtime awaiting her shore party's return.

Looking north to Mansell Island from Thomas Island.

John taking in the view.
 
Later back on board, Karen spoiled us all with sundowners of her special Pina Coladas in fresh coconuts accompanied with some  great cheeses  and crackers.  

Pina Colada time

Karen and Rob enjoying the cruiser's life.
It was very easy obvious that Sea Eagle Bay was well worthy of a longer stay than simply overnight so in true cruiser tradition we elected to remain here the following day and maybe longer. The following morning, we again migrated to the beach where we set up camp amongst the trees with our hammocks. Karen and John were soon suspended above the grass engrossed in their books while Rob donned his snorkelling gear, gathered up his spear gun and assumed the role of hunter/gatherer,

If this isn't paradise we don't know what is.
Karen alternated her time between the hammock and water. Cruising's such a tough life.

Rob with the parrot fish he got.

This sweetlip was chosen for our BBQ dinner.
Before long he had bagged a collection parrot fish, sweetlip and a  fish we originally miss-identified as a spangled emporer. Further investigation revealed it was in fact a juvenile chinaman fish which are known to be full of ciguatera poison so, needless to say, it went over the side pretty quickly. This experience did reinforce the need to properly identify any fish caught before turning it into dinner. We may have all become extremely sick if we had eaten this one.  


The juvenile chinaman fish - full of ciguatera poison
Beside our campsite under the trees someone had built a fire pit in the sand which had clearly been the location of many campfires since.  Karen’s suggestion we that make use of it to have a beach barbie for dinner that night and roast the sweetlip in the coals of the fire was well supported by the rest of the crew who were quick to gather more than enough kindling and larger dry driftwood to achieve the goal.

A quick trip back to the boat saw the fish prepared along with vegetables. foil wrapped and ready for roasting. The cooler bags were loaded with drinks and snacks  plus our ready to cook feast and off we went to the beach. Rob put his long dormant boy scout skills to work and we were soon enjoying our sundowner drinks and snacks with an excellent fire burning as a backdrop.

Karen was lazing in one of the hammocks enjoying her wine when she spied an uninvited guest making its way along the beach towards our campsite. ‘There’s a snake over there,’ she commented rather off hand idly and was met with a two voice alarmed chorus of ‘Where?’ from Rob and John.

Sure enough there was a rather large, brownish snake approaching the far side of our fire. It was about a metre and a half long with a bulge in its belly which we guessed was an unlucky, small ex-resident of the island that the snake had recently feasted on. Karen thought it was an Eastern Brown while Rob suggested it could be a Taipan. John was soon Googling snakes on his phone looking for the answer. Regardless, we were fairly certain it was highly venomous and not to be taken lightly. (More detailed investigation later revealed it was most probably a taipan)

Terry Taipan had no dinner invite but crashed our party.
With a full belly, the snake unfortunately took a liking to the heat from our fire and seemed very content lazing on the sand beside it. Despite our willing it to move on it showed no desire to go anywhere. This was clearly not compatible with  our cooking our feast in the coals. Rob decided to try to encourage it back into the bush by lobbing pieces of pumice stone close to it – from a very safe distance of course. Terry Taipan (as we christened him/her) took absolutely no notice and the Cruisers versus Viper Mexican standoff continued.

After twenty minutes or so of staring at each other at thirty paces we decided to capitulate. Our problem was that sunset was almost upon us and even if Terry Taipan slithered away before then we didn’t fancy the idea of cooking and eating our dinner wondering if he was about to reappear out of the darkness. However, we also couldn’t just leave with  the fire still burning. We had a large bucket of water ready to douse it but couldn’t safely get close enough.

We carefully packed up all our goodies and circled around well clear of our unwanted guest to load the dinghy and then resumed our wait. Fortunately Terry Taipan grew tired of the game and finally slithered oh so painfully slowly into the bush behind the tree line. We then wasted no time putting out the fire and making sure there was no chance of re-ignition before scooting back to the boat to cook our, by now, well marinated fish on the BBQ.

Our sweetlip was still beautiful eating despite not being cooked in the coals.
The following morning the weather was again glorious sunshine with a northerly wind still blowing so we pretty much just repeated the previous day’s activities, without the attempted beach barbie and snake encounter of course.

Karen and John hamming it up for the camera while lunching on Sea Eagle Beach.

Karen's Vietnamese Rolls with Satay Sauce were spectacular.
This time when Rob went off spear fishing on the reef he had direct orders from Karen for coral trout or crayfish. No sign of crayfish was seen but he did manage to bag a good sized coral trout much to the Admiral’s delight.

Karen cooling off, again, at Sea Eagle Beach on Thomas Island.
Like many of the awesome anchorages we have experienced on the Great Barrier Reef, we could have stayed much, much longer at Thomas Island but we limited ourselves to just three nights as a south easterly change was approaching and we wanted to check out the southern side of Goldsmith Island just to our south before it arrived and we would need to shelter at Brampton Island.

Previously in his weekend sailing and seven day chartering, John had never spent more than a single night in one anchorage as there was always the desire to keep moving  to ‘make the most’ of the limited sailing time available. The secret to cruising is to be able to stop and truly enjoy the places you sail to without having to rush off.  We’re pleased to say John was leaning well and managed to SLOW DOWN enough to get a taste of the cruising life.

Lesson two was coming up.


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Tuesday 22 November 2016

Turtle Bay, Whitsunday Island

8 November 2016

Karen put our stamp on Turtle Bay.

Rob arrived back in Abell Point Marina from his few days away in the deep south with our friend John in tow to sail with us southwards for a couple of weeks. He met John sailing in Moreton Bay on a RYA Skipper’s course back in 2011 and have been friends ever since. John has been onboard day sailing with us many times but this was to be his first extended trip on Our Dreamtime. We planned to give him a taste of what the cruising life is like compared to his usual weekend outings or occasional week chartering.
 
Despite enjoying the Airlie Beach Music Festival to the fullest, Karen had done a fantastic job of provisioning and preparing the boat for sea so with nothing left to be done on board we headed for our favourite haunt of Sorrento’s for a great pre-passage meal and drinks.
 
John  and Rob enjoying a welcome aboard white before heading to Sorrento's for dinner.


Motor-sailing in the Mole Channel towards the tip of South Mole Island.
 
We got underway in light conditions next morning and motor-sailed around Pioneer Rocks and south through the Mole Channel between Shute Harbour and Daydream Island. We gained workable wind strength and angle when we rounded the bottom of South Mole Island and were able to sail nicely across the Whitsunday Passage to the northern end  Fitzalen Passage .
Calm water sailing in the Whitsunday Passage with fish jumping of the starboard bow.
 
The wind then disappeared in the lee of the high peaks of Whitsunday Island and we had to resort to the motor again for the run south and through the overfalls at Fitzalan Island to the northern side of Hamilton Island where we turned into Turtle Bay where we were able to anchor up in 7 metres of water over a good holding sand bottom.
Abell Point to Turtle Bay, Whitsunday Island 20.5 Nautical Miles – 4 Hours 20 Minutes
Average Speed 4.7 Knots – Max Speed 6.9 Knots
 
John was all smiles as we headed for the beach.

Turtle Bay on the southern shores of Whitsunday Island is an excellent anchorage in any northerly wind.
 
It was our first visit to this very attractive bay and it didn’t take long for us to have the dinghy down and be on our way into the nice sand beach for a swim. We were soon snorkelling over to the rocks at the point . On the way across the sand, Rob swam straight over the top of the biggest Shovelnose Shark he’d ever seen. It appeared to be sleeping and took no notice of him at all. We discovered plenty of fish around the oyster covered rocks and also spotted a good size crayfish hiding under a rock but, despite Rob's best bare handed effort, he wasn’t able to extract it from its lair. Pity. Crayfish with sundowners would have been a great start to John’s time with us.
Karen couldn't wait to cool off in Turtle Bay

Rob getting ready to snorkel the rocky point.

Rob didn't spot this Shovelnose Shark until he was directly over it in only about a metre of water.

This crayfish retreated too far back into its lair to be extracted by hand.

There was no shortage of fish to be seen in Turtle Bay.
 
We certainly did enjoy our afternoon in the sun and warm, clear water here and yes, there are plenty of turtles to be found in Turtle Bay, along with big stingrays and plentiful fish. On our way back to the boat, we took a detour and briefly explored the inlet on the western side of the bay in the dinghy. Even though it was high tide at the time, we could see it would be a very good snorkelling site with lots of coral bombies and fish life. We decided to snorkel there the following morning when the tide would be lower. We would then head south to our next anchorage at Thomas Island later in the day.
We anchored near the bays two beaches. The inlet on the western side looked an excellent snorkelling site.
 
The superbly calm conditions at anchor for sundowners compensated for the fact we saw no sunset due to the high rocky shoreline of the bay. It was a small price to pay for the excellent protection mountainous Whitsunday Island provides. Turtle Bay is a perfect anchorage in any northerly wind and a place we will definitely keep on the list of places we’d be happy to spend a few days at in the future should the opportunity arise.
Unfortunately we didn’t get to snorkel that western inlet this time as the updated forecast the following morning indicated the best chance of finding a sailing breeze was earlier in the day so we decided to forego our planned expedition and set sail while the wind blew.

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Monday 21 November 2016

Dreamtime Sail blog hits 150,000 page views!!!!!


WOW!!!!!!!! Our little cruising blog from Downunder has just clicked past 150,000 page views. We know there are blogs out there that probably attract that much traffic a month but for us reaching the 150k mark is a significant milestone, particularly as we have also recently topped the 10,000 per month on a regular basis.
It's official - we've clicked past 150,000 page views.
 
In January 2013 we posted ‘A blog about sailing blogs’ which told the story of how our Dreamtime Sail blog was born in early 2011. It referred to how for the first six months the blog gained all of 20 to 30 readers a month and that we’d considered giving up and deleting it. Then we realised how good a record it was becoming of our sailing travels and adventures. We were crewing and didn’t have our own boat at that time and the blog was virtually our own ship’s log which would be of great personal value in years to come.
Over time the readership began to grow, slowly at first, then a little more quickly. By that January of 2013 we were marvelling that it had exploded to ‘almost 2,500 per month’ as we sailed Alcheringa around the Mediterranean Sea.
Fast forward to May 2015 when we were preparing Our Dreamtime for our her first extended passage through Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and our all time readership cracked 80,000 after a little over four years of blogging with over 4,000 a month keeping the total ticking over.
Well today we reached another milestone by passing the 150,000 mark. Our monthly readership now tops 10,000 and is continuing to climb.
We’d like to say a huge thank you to our readers from all over the world who continue to log in and ride along with us onboard Our Dreamtime. It makes all the countless hours spent on the blog seem worthwhile. Thank you. Thank you.
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We love to receive comments on our blog from readers. If you do leave a comment and you also have a blog, please leave a link as well. We'd like to click over for a visit and leave you a comment too.
If you like our photos and would like to see more follow us on Instagram
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If you have only recently discovered our blog and would like to read how it all started, or work through our previous adventures, click the link to go back to our first blog entry. Stuff it. Let's just go sailing anyway.