Saturday 5 May 2012

Tiare Taporo III finally arrived at Airlie Beach Lat. 20 degrees 16' S Long. 148 degrees 43' E

We arrived yesterday (4/5) at 1600 after a long sail from Shaw Is. which we had left at 0800 with double reefed main as usual!! When we left there was a SW blowing up to the usual 20 knots or so and initially all went well. However, once we left the lee of the land and were well out in the Whitsunday Passage the sea became very nasty with a steep chop. The sea state isn't helped by the fact that very strong tidal currents flow between the islands, especially at the moment as we approach the Moon's perigee. Apparently the moon is the closest to the earth that it's been for some time and the tides up here are huge by NZ standards. The tidal range at the moment is 5.25 metres whereas only 8 days ago the range was 2.65 metres. An interesting phenomenon and one to be aware of because when anchoring you need to be sure that you will still be afloat when the tide goes out!! At one stage we were pooped by a following sea just as she rolled heavily to port and there was water in the cockpit again. And because the cockpit drains are almost exactly at the same level as the waterline they aren't very effective and sometimes let more water in than they drain. We then gybed over to avoid running into a shallow patch off Cape Conway and the rolling got worse so started the engine and headed for Dent Passage between Dent and Hamilton Islands. It was much calmer in the passage and we had the tide with us which was just as well because we hit over 9 knots over the ground as we came through. Fastest the old girl has been. As we approached a jet was taking off from the airport on Hamilton which was a bizarre sight after all the remote places we had been to.
We then passed between Whitsunday Is. and Henning Is. to then round Loriard Point into the Hunt Channel and Dugong Inlet which are all part of Cid Harbour. We dropped anchor just around Hughes Point for lunch and then continued across the top of the Whitsunday Passage to Airlie. The scenery from Hamilton Is. north is much greener and lusher than the arid islands to the south. Dennis said it reminded him very much of the Marlborough Sounds except for the water depth and the temperature! We had a good sail for the 15 miles across the top of North Molle Is. and then on to Airlie Beach. On the way across we rang the marina at Airlie to ask whether they would have a berth for us and they asked about public liability insurance. We told them we had NZD5 million but it wasn't enough. They are now asking for cover for AUD10 million so we are anchored off. If we want to go in at some stage we'll have to increase the cover because most marinas are now in fact requiring the same.
We went ashore after securing the boat and we were able to land on the Coral Seas Resort jetty off which we are anchored. Reasonably sheltered and the jetty is handy. Had a meal at the Whitsunday sailing Club which is down the other end of town and then back to the boat for an early night.
We have now sailed over 400 miles from Bundaberg which works out at an average of 26 miles per day. We have another 1000 miles to do to Cape York and after allowing for some provisioning stops have around 43 days in which to do it. This means that we would have to average at least 23 miles per day every day. After Cape York it would be 800 miles to Darwin which would be done in two 300-400 mile segments over a period of about 10 days. Doesn't sound a lot but is actually a very strenuous regime - from experience so far. And there's no possibility to spend some time exploring if so inclined. So we have to make a decision very soon and the other factor is an on-going family health matter in NZ which Jean is involved with. The downside of staying in north Queensland is the possibility of cyclones in the summer so if we stayed we would have to somehow make sure we were in or near a cyclone "hole" in the event that one came through. So, a difficult decision all round.
Watch this space as always..............
www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.