“Gentlemen don’t sail to windward”

23 October 2015

The forecast said the wind was going to swing from North in the early hours through North East in the morning  to East by the middle of the day.  We wanted to go a bit North of West so the equation looked quite suitable. We could sail across to the bottom end of Long Island Sound then go up through the passage nicely sheltered from the afternoon Easterlies by the island. A great plan, IF, the forecasters had not got it totally wrong again.

We sailed out from the cover of Lindeman Island into 15 to 20 knots of Northerly giving us a just enough wind angle to sail upwind. We were soon bashing into it in far from comfortable style. We’re cruisers not racers and generally follow the old adage “Gentleman don’t sail to windward” whenever and wherever possible. Although Our Dreamtime was handling the conditions quite well we were not having fun as we not so patiently waited for the promised wind shift to bring us a more comfortable ride. It never did.

Heeling pretty well hard on the wind but getting along OK with Karen's herb garden tucked safely in place.

Karen's childhood friend, Priscilla, had difficulty and went leg up on our bunk in the bumpy conditions.

When we reached the southern end of Long Island Sound and turned northward the wind belted us smack on the nose making sail aloft a total waste of time so the genoa and main were furled and mizzen dropped as we reverted to our good old 80HP Ford Lehman to push us into it. We had timed our passage to traverse the sound with the aid of a 3-4 knot ebb tide current flowing north. With the headwind, if we hadn’t we would have been at a standstill more than likely. As it was, the wind over tide situation in the narrowest and shallowest section of the sound made the seas stand up very sharply but we rode through it all without drama.

The protected waters of Shute Harbour were a very welcome sight.

Easing into the protected waters of Shute Harbour was a very welcome event and not just for the comfort it delivered after four hours of bouncing around. Until Abell Point and the Port of Airlie marinas were built, Shute Harbour was the marine hub of the Whitsunday Islands with all the charter and tourist fleets based here. The anchorage does provide excellent protection from virtually all wind direction but is now quite crowded with boats sitting on moorings making finding a spot to anchor a bit more of a challenge. We did a number of circuits before settling on THE place with adequate swing room.

Lindeman Island to Shute Harbour - 20.8 Nautical Miles - 4 Hours 7 Minutes
Average Speed 5.0 knots Highest Speed 8.3 knots

Where we anchored amongst the myriad of boats on moorings

We always zoom right in on the Google Earth link of where we anchor provided by our Spot Tracker. This image appears to show some sunken hulls on the harbour floor which we are glad we didn't drop our anchor onto.

Our Whitsunday Island stops so far.

 

Shute Harbour was Karen’s home for a number of years when she lived on her parent’s Game Fishing charter boat on a mooring not too far from where we eventually dropped anchor. The place holds many, many childhood and teenage memories for her. To now bring her own boat into Shute Harbour all these years later was quite a thrill.

Homecoming celebration dinner at Shute Harbour

 

Boat made apple pie for desert - YUM!

Naturally we celebrated that evening with Karen producing a amazing roast lamb dinner accompanied by a very nice bottle of champagne good friends, Joel, Susan and Alison had given us back in Brisbane to ‘celebrate something special with.’ It was a very, very enjoyable and satisfying night for us.

What was a bit scary though was being surrounded by 60 to 70 boats on a moonless night with only 11 anchor lights visible in the whole harbour. We’d hate to have to enter the place in the dark and have to find a spot to anchor without running into anything.

 

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Lazing around lovely Lindeman Island

22 October 2015

Our first morning in the Whitsunday Islands dawned calm and clear. The weather forecaster were now all predicting the fabled northerly wind would actually arrive today so we elected to move Plantation Bay on Lindeman Island which would be well sheltered regardless what strength it reached.

There was no point raising sails in these conditions for just a three mile trip.

Karen at the wheel on the way to our anchorage at Plantation Bay on Lindeman Island

It was only three miles across the channel and with almost no wind blowing it didn’t make sense to bother with sails so we just ambled over on the motor and put some charge into our battery bank in the process. We anchored well into the bay in four metres of water. It was almost low tide but we made a point of checking the tide tables and doing our calculations to make sure we’d still be afloat when it did drop the rest of the way down.

Plantation Bay has a nice beach behind the fringing reef.

The dot marks the spot. Where we anchored clear of the reef.

Where Plantation Bay is on Lindeman Island.

For our overseas readers - Where the Whitsunday Islands are in Australia.

The water was extremely inviting and warm but we still donned our light weight wet suits for protection from any brushes with the coral and went for a nice long snorkel right around the bays fringing reef while the tide was low and current at its weakest. The water wasn’t quite as clear as we expected probably due to the strong tidal run between the islands but we were treated to seeing many small fish, some nice clams and plenty of live coral. It was also the first opportunity Karen had had to try out her new dive mask with prescription lenses. She had been struggling with vision issues using a standard mask which was spoiling her experience. The new lenses were a bit expensive but worked so well they have totally rejuvenated her interest in getting under the water so well worth the money.

Karen signals all is good as we make our way along over the fringing reef.

The water wasn't as clear as other places we'd been but it was still a very enjoyable swim.

 

The rest of the day was spent relaxing  on board. Karen had the sketch pad out once more and Rob was able to get on with some blogging.

More of Karen's art can be seen on her Facebook page - Karen Oberg Artist

 

Our Dreamtime guarantee:

No stress of any kind was generated during our diligent pursuit of spending an afternoon doing not a lot at all.

Good night from Lindeman Island

 

 

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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.  We hope you enjoy reading the previous posts to catch up on our story.

 

In the Whitsundays at last – Shaw Island

21 October 2015

After days and days of south easterlies, the wind was finally forecast to swing to a north easterly so it was definitely time to leave our cosy spot on Brampton Island’s northern shore and move on. We decided to sail to an anchorage on the southern side of Thomas Island which looked good on the charts and enjoyed good reviews in both of our cruising guide books we were carrying.

We made an early start to the trip to make the most of the wind before the northerly change came through. As Brampton grew smaller over the stern railing, the breeze persisted from the South East in the 10-12 knot range giving us a fairly gentle downwind sail.

We spotted a catamaran a mile or so east of us sailing south and our AIS revealed it to be friends from our time on the Indonesian Rally in 2011, Colin and his son Alex on Splashdown. We had hoped to catch up with them in Airlie Beach but now they were taking advantage of the predicted break in the ever persistent south-easterlies to run for home on the Gold Coast. We were able to have a good chat on the radio though as we sailed by each other.

By the time we rounded Tinsmith and Linne Islands there was still no sign of the predicted wind shift so we elected to change our destination to Shaw Island further to the north. There are anchorages both sides of its western end in the bay of Burning Point or in Billbob Bay which would provide us safe options whether the wind stayed south easterly or did in fact swing north.

Our intended destination changed to Plan B of Shaw Island when the wind didn't swing as forecast.

It had been quite an uneventful sail on relatively smooth seas. The sail trim needed very little attention and Ben & Gerry (our B&G autopilot) were doing a great job of steering the boat. We were very relaxed in the cockpit watching the world slowly float by when the sound of the ratchet on our fishing rod screamed loudly for a few seconds.

We were both at the stern very quickly peering out towards our trailed lure where a dark shadow in the water appeared to be lazily following behind stalking it. Rob grabbed the fishing rod out of its holder and eased out some line to drop the lure back towards the lurking shape. It also dropped back. He then reeled in some line and as the lure moved forward the shadow kept station about a metre or two behind again. The lure was alternatively eased then retrieved another two or three times as the game continued until suddenly the ratchet screamed as the line ran hard. The fish had taken the lure and was off.

As Rob slowly wound on the resistance a fair bit of line ran out before the reel started to hold it. The moment he tried to wind some back in the previously unidentified fish revealed itself emerging high out of the water and tail walking across the surface ready to fight for its freedom. We’d hooked a good sized sailfish. Ever the game fisherman’s daughter determined to try to land the catch, Karen screamed “How the hell do I back the boat up on the fish under sail?”

The short answer is “You can’t,” but it was all a moot point as our sailfish made short work of our tackle and busted free seconds later. Retrieving the line we found the swivel had broken. Rob suggested that it was probably for the best as trying to land an angry sailfish on our high stern without one of us getting impaled on its bill may have been a risky exercise. Karen would have none of that maintaining if we’d got it to the boat she’d have “landed the bastard.” Knowing her determination she probably would have. Excitement over, we resumed our near horizontal positions in the cockpit and continued our otherwise sedate passage to Shaw Island.

The water shelves very slowly to the beach at Shaw Island so we were anchored well out.

 

Looking across the passage to Lindeman Island Resort - also mothballed at the moment.

 

There was still no sign of any wind shift as we approached the island’s western extremity so we sailed around Burning Point and anchored in very calm waters of its bay. We were now officially in the Whitsunday Islands at last.

Brampton Island to Shaw Island - 24.2 Nautical Miles - 4 Hours 36 Minutes
Average Speed 5.3 knots - High Speed 6.9 knots

Calm conditions in the anchorage at Shaw Island

A number of other boats joined us in the bay through the afternoon.

Good night from Shaw Island.

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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.  We hope you enjoy reading the previous posts to catch up on our story.

Brampton Island – An eerie ghost town in paradise.

17-20 October 2015

The next stop on our way North was to be Brampton Island, a place that generated very different memories for the two of us. Rob spent a considerable amount of time on the island in his days as a floor coverings contractor working on the resort’s major redevelopment 28 years ago and has always spoken of it as one of the great Barrier Reef’s most beautiful places. Karen on the other hand has a very different reason for Brampton Island to be etched in her memory.

Looking across to Pelican Island from Brampton at low tide.

It was here as a nine year old child that her family took to a life raft and abandoned ship when her parent’s game fishing boat, Wahoo, was trapped anchored on a lee shore with broken steering and a cyclone bearing down on them. After three days, the increasing ferocity of the approaching tropical storm made the risk of staying aboard with two small children too great. The life raft was safely blown onto the beach and after a trek over the island’s mountainous interior they were able to shelter at the resort until the cyclone passed. When conditions eased, Wahoo was found still riding on the three anchors her father had set before making the difficult decision to leave her.

This area of Brampton Island held strong memories for Karen.

Our sail from Keswick and St Bees across to Brampton was far less dramatic. The wind was almost directly astern again with a good size swell rolling under us. As we passed the bay where Karen's experience had occurred it stirred many memories.

The South East swell splashes on Brampton's shores.

We rounded the western end of the island and anchored in the bay near the now mothballed resort. It provides excellent protection from South Easterly winds and was to be our home for the next four days.

Keswick/St Bees to Brampton Island - 18.3 Nautical Miles - 4 Hours 0 Minutes
Average Speed 4.6 knots - High Speed 7.7 knots

The anchorage at Brampton provides good protection from the South East trade winds.

Calm water despite 20+ knots of South Easterly wind blowing.

We were now just a day sail away from the Whitsunday Islands.

Brampton Islands super clear water and golden beaches were just as we remembered them.

Most of Brampton Island is National Park with the 220 bed resort and its airstrip occupying a relatively small area adjoining the shallow passage between it and Carlisle Island. It was bought by United Petroleum in 2010 and closed the following year. Since then there has been much talk about an all new, seven star resort being built in its place but not a thing has actually been done. What was once a jewel in the string of Great Barrier Reef Island resorts now resembles the set of some sort of horror movie.

Brampton's neglected accommodation blocks are still fully furnished.

Karen made the comment that it looks like some alien force descended one day and abducted all the occupants leaving the place an instant ghost town totally devoid of all human life. Accommodation blocks sit fully furnished complete with paintings hanging on the walls. Jet skis sit on their trailers under an awning, Hobbie Cats rest on the sand outside the water sports centre,  outdoor pool tables near reception are ready for a game of eight ball while the stage in the bar silently waits for the long gone musicians to strike up their instruments.

Lonely boats with no one to sail them.

Jet skis ready to rock

Sun umbrellas, and beach badminton racquets ready for non-existent holiday makers at the water-sports desk.

Tennis rackets lay on the courts with strings rotting in the tropical sun and the once lush gardens are being reclaimed by nature, now overgrown and covered with fallen palm fronds. The only sign of life on the all par three golf course was a kangaroo bounding down what once a fairway. Rob was extremely sad to see what he remembered as such a vibrant, beautiful resort reduced to this.

Anyone for tennis?



Right down the centre of the fairway.

During our stay at the island, we swam, wandered the golden sand beaches, eat some fantastic food as always and socialised with other cruisers in the anchorage. Karen was thrilled to find Kerri, on the catamaran Quiet Achiever ,was a fellow artist and the two spent time on the beach sketching together.

Karen beach combing.

Karen used a huge cuttlefish skeleton she found as the centre piece for a still life sketch.

You can see a lot more of Karen's art on her Facebook page Karen Oberg Artist

Karen's other creative outlet on Our Dreamtime is coming up with amazing new dishes such as these stuffed squid tubes.

Her sundowner snacks are always popular in the anchorage

Mackerel steak and Karen's hand made salsa

Caprice Salad - Many of Karen's recipes can be found at the Our Galley page of our blog

Rob got a little adventurous and tackled the climb to the top of the island. The various walks through the national park areas of the island are well maintained and take you through a nice range of native vegetation.

The tree canopy is well populated with birds while goannas and kangaroos seem plentiful. Butterflies float in the air all over the island and are found in their hundreds in groves of trees along the trail.

This goanna was well camouflaged in the dry undergrowth.

One of the locals checking out the visitor

Three of these were sighted but all scooted too fast to get a photo.

From the anchorage, the walk to the two lookouts near the summit is almost a ten kilometre round trip and reasonably steep in places. The views from the top make all the effort worthwhile however.

 

Ten kilometres up to the top and back called for a nice refreshing dip to cool off.

Note the butterflies photo bombing this shot.

Our time at Brampton Island passed very quickly. It really is such a nice place it would have been very easy to spend quite a few more days there but the call of the North was still strong.  It was time to keep moving on but we do hope to stop in again on our return trip South.

Two sunset shots for this blog seeing there was none for the last one.

Good night from Brampton Island.

UPDATE - November 2017

Brampton Island Resort has been put back on the market after being closed since it was last bought by United Petroleum for 5.9 Million Dollars (Aud) in 2011. Let's hope something nice is now done there.

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To stay right up to date with what we’re up to  and see lots more photos check out and 'like' our Dreamtime Sail Facebook page at Dreamtime Sail on Facebook

  

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.  We hope you enjoy reading the previous posts to catch up on our story.