When I last updated we were 100 nautical miles South of wherever we are now.
Our journey haz taken us through some of the most famous and picturesque places on the Eastern side of Australia.
We've visited The Palm Islands, The Hinchinbrook Channel, Cardwell, Dunk Island, Normanby Island, The Great Barrier Reef, Sandy Cay, Fitzroy Island, Turtle Bay, and Missionary Bay and Very veree shortlyWe'll be tied up safely in Cairns...
OUR DESTINATION.
I have SO much to write and hundreds of fotoz, that it'll take about 3 days of constant updates to allow me just to "ketchup".
I'll begin with the basic statement
WOW!!!
We have been blessed with calm seas and good conditionz for the entire trip with only the last few days bringing the occasional shower and windy squalls.
The conditions on board have far exceeded my Xpectations (wkoa).Mum and Dad have adjusted to life aboard a Yot with relative ease. With plenty of Nap thymez and an excessive amount of food.
Bloggus Interuptus!
As we sail into Cairns, I've thrown Captain Felix off the Blog to put in a few comments of my own We've had the most amazing week, seeing sights one only dreams about, eaten meals you'd pay a fortune for in the best of restaurants and had a truly memorable time. My admiration for Stewart as a sea skipper cannot be put into words. He has guided us safely through quite a trip, dealt with problems and generally managed to do it without killing his VERY inexperienced crew. If any friends(or Freinds) want an experience of lifetime, I'd recommend a cruise on Galleycat. Thanks, Stewart it's been great Mum.
More 2 Follow itz thyme to tie up in Cairns..We are now tied up securely in Marlin Marina Cairns, stage 1 of the journey is complete, and aside from very basic teething problems Galleycat has passed the test with flying colors.
Most of the journey was motor or motor/sail with only 2 days allowing for perfect sailing conditions.
The journey North from Rattlesnake Island to Northeast bay in the palm Island group was one of these such days and we arrived in glorious sunshine to park up just off a "perfect tropical beach".After a special lunch of Mushroom pizza's, we took a swim and a dive over the coral beds.Even scored a crayfish!
After a nap it was decided to push on, up to the next anchorage about 6 miles further North.
Destination reached in near record thyme and with near perfect sailing conditions, again we pushed further arriving at Pelourus Island right on dusk.
Squiding and fishing was on the agenda with both being a success and the GT's showing up in the bait schoolz behind the Yot.In the distance our feature attraction!
THE HINCHINBROOK CHANNEL..
Prehistoric rainforest and mountain ranges stretch as far as the eye can see. Miles and Miles of rainforest and mangroves.I even managed to stop off at a very special location that got me limited Tv reception- just as the V8 race kicked off!
We met Carlo around Haycock Island and exchanged hello's and photo's of each others vessels respectively (isn't the internet amazing).
The temperature was a little warm so we stopped around the entrance to one of the many thousand creeks and set off in search of mudcrabs.
More success, crabs and even a couple of cod found their way back to the Yot.
I sense a special feed on the horizon.
Around nitefell!, we found ourselves just near the Northern end of this very special piece of Australia.
Anchoring around 1.5 miles South of the town of Cardwell.
(The radar worx good!)
This town is in severe recovery mode!
If you remember cyclone Yasi (who doesn't)
This was the township that "kopt a floggin!"
Hundreds of yachts and pleasure boats were spread throughout the Township and foreshore area's.We refueled, grabbed some ice and just a few provisions B4 heading bak out 2 the Yot.
Destination unplanned!
Wherever the wind took us!
It blew us to PARADISE!
DUNK ISLAND .
FUKKIN WOW! Like WoW!
Most of the last few foto'z are of this little piece of heaven.
After all the whole point of this journey, was the journey- not the destination! (wkoa)
Well this was just what we were looking 4!
Anuther recovering piece of heaven. But paradise nun the less!
This is a pretty good place 2 drop an anchor!
Lotz of foto's then a special dinner was on the menu.
Spaghetti Marinara ala' Galleycat
(Mum's Favourite) only this version was a little special."We had collected the ingredients along the way", and after making the fresh pasta, harvesting the herbs and preparing the seafood. We had a fantastic dinner in the most special anchorage I've visited yet, All made possible by the two people I shared this meal with.
There is much more to this story but that will do 4 now.
Remember:
"Life is a work in progress!"
Itz changeover day and Brother Andrew's plane will land shortly.
Bak 2 the Journey so far...
Dunk Island proved to be just one of the very special places Galleycat visited
After hearty Yot style breakfast we set off again another long trip planned after passing 2 separate Island groups we arrived just behind Normanby Island .
Another stunning coral bay all to ourselves!
We settled down for another evening of Food and fishing, I caught a few fish on the journey up but no trophy fish so I figured tonight was as good a thyme as any. Biggest thing sited between the turtles and squidz was a very large grey shadow that took a liking to my live bait.
That was a very short tussle indeed.
With a trip out to The Great Barrier on for tomorrow it was thyme for an early night.
We had a lazy sleep in before setting sail towards Sandy Cay on the Great Barrier. The wind was up so, so were the Wft's. Between the rain showers we had some lovely actual sailing and even score a fish or two once we got past the ever present "green zone" These off limit area's mean zero fishing and must be tracked with onboard gps equipment so you don't end up with a serious case of officialdom! aka a fine to pay.I vowed not to lose any lures today, how wrong I was with my Rapala, Yozuri and jetheads all disappearing for ever.
After a course change we headed with the breeze and soon arrived at our little piece of tropical reef.Once Anchored we noticed the dinghy had more water in it than it should have.A clogged bilge pump waz the problem a small piece of cardboard had fallen into the bilge water and broken into hundreds of tiny little bilge pump "cloggers".
The ploblum was rectified and we soon set off for a lazy swim in the shallows of our own little coral island.
Lovely and very hard 2 take, once again the peasants were high in my thorts.
The wind was still up around the 20 knot area and with nite thyme comfort in mind we set sail once again for the shelter of Fitzroy Island (another tropical paradise).
We arrived just after sundown and selected an anchorage, we were now just 12 miles from our final destination Cairns.
A very uncomfortable nite followed with a solid swell rolling through the anchorage. We even tried moving the boat several thymes. But no luck.
Morning saw us decide on a very quite day in a bay somewhere near by, we tried to get into little turtle bay but the bottom looked very nasty so we set off around the corner to Turtle Bay proper.HOLY CRAP LIKE WOW!- AGAIN!
This was truly paradise, almost rivaling Whitehaven or Chalkies beaches in the Whitsunday's.
Here I drove the Yot onto the crystal white sand, mum decided a sit under the coconut palm was in order while Dad took off down the beach in search of whatever. I decided after a swim to investigate a gouge in the beach near the middle of the bay. what I found was a natural spring with Billabong and waterfall.
Very Tropical indeed.
This bay is definately worth anuther visit next week.
A really relaxing day was had by all, refilling a couple of the water drums for the plants and generally spending the entire day doing very little indeed.
I managed to drag the beanbag up under the palms and doze off 4 an hour or 2 B4 the mosquitoes drove me back to the yot.
A swim was in order then with the yot firmly parked on the beach as the tide receded we put a few more zip ties on the grass matting on the fishing platform.
While the tide was out a definate black and silver line developed at the waters edge.
We don't know what the mineral is but itz like black glitter. I collected a sample for the Yards resident rock hounds to have a look at.
Then it was thyme for cocktailz on the deck!, as a big bowl of fruit punch was devoured in record time.
This turned into a really special day of rest and relaxation (wkoa) and only improved as a school of whiting moved in around the Yot. Several made their way into the catch bin. Handline capture (old skool style)
Early in the arvo a dinghy showed up with 4 black fella's aboard, they promptly dove over the side to collect I'm guessing cray's B4 heading into the billabong for a swim as well. They to set about catching a few whiting before departing and leaving the bay to ourselves again.
Around 4 the Yot re-floated so we headed further out in to the bay to set up for a nite of fishing. This proved a mistake as the wind and current increased making life aboard once again non conducive to good sleep. I decided after several hour to give this up as a bad joke and move the Yot 3 miles around the Cape to Missionary Bay, Once again the radar came in useful as we passed a large mothership type fishing vessel with 4 or 5 dory's strung off the rear.
Safely anchored in the shelter of the bay a solid nite sleep followed.
After another sleep it and breakfast it was thyme once again to pull up the Wft's and complete our journey to Cairns on schedule.
This will be a journey I'll never forget.And in truth is still less than half complete with a week with Brother Andrew, His Wife Jenny and son Chris still to come B4 I head back along my tracks and return Galleycat to Townsville. I'll put an add on gumtree and see if I can find anyone who wantz to head South with Me.
After an epic Blog entry that's about all for this leg of the journey.
Hope you enjoyed it as much as I.
Captain felix
This bay is definately worth anuther visit next week.
A really relaxing day was had by all, refilling a couple of the water drums for the plants and generally spending the entire day doing very little indeed.
I managed to drag the beanbag up under the palms and doze off 4 an hour or 2 B4 the mosquitoes drove me back to the yot.
A swim was in order then with the yot firmly parked on the beach as the tide receded we put a few more zip ties on the grass matting on the fishing platform.
While the tide was out a definate black and silver line developed at the waters edge.
We don't know what the mineral is but itz like black glitter. I collected a sample for the Yards resident rock hounds to have a look at.
Then it was thyme for cocktailz on the deck!, as a big bowl of fruit punch was devoured in record time.
This turned into a really special day of rest and relaxation (wkoa) and only improved as a school of whiting moved in around the Yot. Several made their way into the catch bin. Handline capture (old skool style)Early in the arvo a dinghy showed up with 4 black fella's aboard, they promptly dove over the side to collect I'm guessing cray's B4 heading into the billabong for a swim as well. They to set about catching a few whiting before departing and leaving the bay to ourselves again.
Around 4 the Yot re-floated so we headed further out in to the bay to set up for a nite of fishing. This proved a mistake as the wind and current increased making life aboard once again non conducive to good sleep. I decided after several hour to give this up as a bad joke and move the Yot 3 miles around the Cape to Missionary Bay, Once again the radar came in useful as we passed a large mothership type fishing vessel with 4 or 5 dory's strung off the rear.
Safely anchored in the shelter of the bay a solid nite sleep followed.
After another sleep it and breakfast it was thyme once again to pull up the Wft's and complete our journey to Cairns on schedule.
This will be a journey I'll never forget.And in truth is still less than half complete with a week with Brother Andrew, His Wife Jenny and son Chris still to come B4 I head back along my tracks and return Galleycat to Townsville. I'll put an add on gumtree and see if I can find anyone who wantz to head South with Me.After an epic Blog entry that's about all for this leg of the journey.
Hope you enjoyed it as much as I.
Captain felix
