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| Stingray Bay on Goldsmith Island |
13-14
November 2016
After
a couple of fantastic days in Sea Eagle Bay on Thomas Island we raised the
anchor at the extremely civilised hour of 9.15 AM and set sail for our next
stop at Stingray Bay on Goldsmith Island. It was only a short, ten mile hop so,
with a modest northerly pushing us along downwind, we elected to run with just
a poled out genoa and didn’t bother to raise the main or mizzen. We got along very comfortably at a relaxed
four knots until we reached the passage between Goldsmith and Linne Islands.
Here the adverse outgoing current met the northerly wind generating a short,
sharp chop that combined with the tidal flow to bring us almost to a dead stop.
We soon gave up on wind power alone and started the engine to push on through
the overfalls that were developing.
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| Sailing downwind with headsail only. |
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| Battling the currents between Linne and Goldsmith Islands |
Once
out the other side the water was beautifully smooth as we turned into Stingray
Bay. We anchored far into the bay as
close as we felt comfortable to the fringing reef in about five metres of water
over good holding sand. There was only one other boat in the anchorage when we arrived and it
was on the far side of the bay. With miles of swing room around us, we laid out
forty five metres of chain to allow for the rising tide and just to be safe in
case an unexpected south easterly should blow up which would see us on a lee
shore with coral not far behind our keel. We then had a nice lunch on board and
a relaxing afternoon taking in our surroundings.
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Sea Eagle Bay, Thomas Island to Stingray Bay, Goldsmith Island – 9.7 Nautical Miles
Average Speed 3.7 Knots – Max Speed 6.4 Knots |
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| We anchored far into the bay well protected from the northerly wind as close as we felt comfortable to the fringing reef. |
Next
morning Karen spoiled us with pancakes topped with fresh fruit for breakfast.
What an awesome way to start another
fantastic tropical day in paradise.
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| Rob about to tuck into breakfast. |
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| With Karen in the galley, boat food is never boring. |
Stingray
Bay is a ‘Green’ conservation zone so no fishing is permitted at all.
Fortunately that’s not the case just around the point to the west so Rob and
John zoomed around there in the dinghy for Rob to have a go at spearing us some
fresh fish for dinner. John had a boring time sitting in the dinghy keeping an
eye on Rod as he snorkelled back and forwards along the rocky point in a fruitless
search for a suitable target. Much to John’s relief, he eventually decided to
give up the hunt and headed back to the dinghy where unbelievably he discovered
a good sized brown coral trout lurking around a rock right underneath. Thank
you Mr Fish. Dinner was now catered for.
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| The nice coral trout Rob speared for dinner. |
With
the provisioning sorted, the three of us then headed ashore to explore Stingray
Bay. The place lived up to its name extremely well with a number of very large
stingrays spotted as we made our way over the shallows. The beach is split in
two at high tide by a rocky outcrop in its centre but, lower on the tides, the sand stretches all
the way across. At the eastern end of the bay, a small stream emerges from the
rocky slopes behind to empty across
beach.
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| Karen walking the beach in Goldsmith Island's Stingray Bay |
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| John enjoying the shade. |
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| A small stream emerges from the rocky slopes behind to empty across beach. |
This
area around Mackay experiences some of the biggest tidal ranges on the
Queensland coast, and when the water receded as we wandered the beach, it
really receded. We were left with quite a way to haul the dinghy before we
could refloat her and return to the yacht. With the weight of a fifteen
horsepower engine hanging off the stern we are so pleased we fitted a set of
beaching wheels to the new dinghy. If not for them, we may have spent a few
extra hours ashore waiting for the tide to come in.
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| When the tide goes out on Goldsmith Island it really goes way out. |
OK!
Now here’s a question. Why is it that when we’re anchored in a big, wide open
bay with miles of room for everyone, people have to come and anchor right on
top of us? It happens time and time again. We first experienced the phenomenon
in the Mediterranean where we could be the only ones in a two mile wide bay but
any boat appearing around the point could be relied on to come and anchor
within spitting distance of where we lay.
Rob
did eventually develop a defence strategy to ease the problem. On seeing a
yacht approaching, he would get the binoculars and see what flag they were
flying. If it was the Union Jack or Stars and Stripes he’d wait until they were
getting close and then stroll up to the bow naked, ostensibly checking our
anchor. The prudish Brits and Americans would turn tail and anchor as far away
as possible. Unfortunately we discovered most Europeans were immune to this
defence and would be more likely to also appear on deck naked as they shouted
greetings and anchored in our virtual pockets.
When
we returned to Our Dreamtime here at
Goldsmith Island, a catamaran had anchored not far off our stern. Considering
they had the whole bay to anchor in, they were annoyingly nearby but at least
not dangerously close. However, an hour later another catamaran appeared around
the point, appropriately named Bad Cat
as it turned out. Sure enough, it made a bee line for our particular piece of
Stingray Bay and anchored very close to our bow. Rob had no need to drop his pants this time or
even say a word for as soon as he walked forward on deck the solo sailor on the
cat began pulling his chain back up. He apologised and explained he had no
windless and had to pull up the anchor by hand so wanted to anchor as shallow
as possible.
After
moving a few metres further off our starboard he re-dropped his anchor, again
annoyingly near but, in the mild northerly conditions, probably OK. Not wanting
to seem grumps, we let the issue lay. That was a mistake.
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| Storm clouds building in the distance over the mainland. |
After
sunset a pretty impressive lightning show started to develop over the mainland
giving us enough cause for concern to check the weather radar. Sure enough,
there was a pretty nasty storm system heading our way. It looked like it may
slide through a little south of us towards Brampton Island but we took all the usual precautions
anyway. The dinghy was secured up on its davits, we made sure nothing loose was
left on deck and centred our booms. (When at anchor, the main is usually swung
out to one side or the other to avoid shading the solar panels on our cockpit
roof while the mizzen is put to starboard to improve access on the stern.)
Considering how warm it was below decks, we left closing up all the portholes,
hatches and cockpit enclosure until we could hear the rain approaching.
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| Radar image of the approaching storm cell. |
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| Rob's coral trout went onto the BBQ for a very tasty dinner before the weather turned. |
Unfortunately
the storm didn’t miss us and when it hit the wind roared into the bay swinging
all the boats around. Our stern was now facing the reef which was far enough
away not to be a danger as we began to stretch out our chain. Unfortunately the
same could not be said for the cat nearby. It was on a far shorter amount of
chain and we were fast approaching a collision. It only had a masthead light
showing and was also extremely hard to see in the driving rain.
We
started the engine and with John hanging
half out the rear of the cockpit getting drenched while illuminating the bows
of the cat with the spotlight, Rob motored forward and away each time we came
close. Meanwhile Karen was unsuccessfully trying to raise the skipper of the
other boat on the radio to ask him to turn some lights on so we could see him
better. What he needed to do was let some more chain out so we wouldn’t reach
him but with his bridle in place and no windless that would be impossible by
hand even if we could have raised him.
As
the wind gusted up to thirty-five knots and beyond with the rain pelting down
and lightning flashing overhead with booming thunder, we spent the next half an
hour or so repeatedly motoring away from the cat each time we stretched back on
our chain and swung to within metres of it. When the worst had passed, we were
able to call across to the skipper of the cat who was again very apologetic and
quickly agreed to let out more chain as soon as the wind eased.
Fortunately
once the storm was gone the gentle northerly conditions resumed and we were
able to get a reasonable night’s sleep although Rob was up a few times checking
on the still very nearby Bad Cat.
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| When you have this much open bay why do people need to anchor on top of us? |
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| The morning after the storm. |
When
we arose the following morning, our near neighbour was still apologising but
Rob was quick to tell him that shit happens and not to worry about it. It’s all
another deposit in the experience bank. We should have asked him to move
further away originally. We will certainly do so next time. No doubt he will
also be keen to provide more swing room in future as well and turn his radio on
in similar circumstances. We hadn't expected a storm to blow into the bay but after a similar experience with more damaging results in the Med we should have factored in the possibility. (To read what happened to us on Alcheringa CLICK HERE.)
We’ll all be smarter for this latest experience and our guest
crewmember, John, learned about yet another aspect of the cruising life.
Now
it was time to move on to our next tropical island paradise.
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| Good night from Goldsmith Island. |
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