We left Port of Airlie on the 2nd September around 11:30. We motored out a little bit then raised sail. We had a very pleasant crossing to Stonehaven on the west side of Hook Island. We poked our nose in at the southern end but then decided to go as far north as we could find a mooring.
Here is our daughter Tammy on the helm while motoring out of Pioneer Bay (Port of Airlie) while I mucked around getting the main sail ready to raise (actually I'm sitting on the sail bag in this picture). Airlie Beach is in the background.
Finally under sail.
We arrived at Stonehaven at 15:52 (16.2NM) and picked up a mooring for overnight.
At this stage I deployed our "beach tent" shade. This was really just a pretty cloth tarpaulin with lots of eyelets. Since the sun was behind us we placed it out the back - hoisting its pole with the main halyard. It billowed out the back of the boat and made me concerned for our mooring attachment - not very successful.
By that time it was sunset anyway.
Here is our daughter Tammy on the helm while motoring out of Pioneer Bay (Port of Airlie) while I mucked around getting the main sail ready to raise (actually I'm sitting on the sail bag in this picture). Airlie Beach is in the background.
Finally under sail.
We arrived at Stonehaven at 15:52 (16.2NM) and picked up a mooring for overnight.
At this stage I deployed our "beach tent" shade. This was really just a pretty cloth tarpaulin with lots of eyelets. Since the sun was behind us we placed it out the back - hoisting its pole with the main halyard. It billowed out the back of the boat and made me concerned for our mooring attachment - not very successful.
By that time it was sunset anyway.
The cabin windows seem to be quite useful as mirrors at night.
We left Stonehaven at 09:55 and motored over to Langford Reef (1.7NM) where we picked up a mooring and fired up the 12V oven then cooked muffins from a muffin mix.
With full sun on the Solar Panels the battery didn't even notice the oven's 8.3 Amp current draw (about 100W). They were delicious - not quite as risen as in a home oven but pretty good.
I was a bit hot when we got to Langford Reef so I went for a swim while the muffins baked. A turtle eyed me off before diving away and I got laughed at by the crew for cleaning the Kismet's hulls. They were a bit scummy after this short time in the water - mainly the bows just above the waterline.
From Langford Reef, we went over to Blue Pearl bay on Hayman island, picked up a mooring and had our first snorkel.
You can see our zig-zag course near Langford Island as we raised sail, discovered that there was almost no wind and dropped them again.
We had planned on going around to Luncheon Bay but the wind was "on the nose" (dead ahead) so we motored. As we were a bit worried about what time we would arrive (we left Blue Pearl at 16:29), we stopped at Butterfly Bay instead at 17:30 for our overnight mooring.
I'm glad we shortened that trip - Luncheon Bay would have been another 30 minutes at least which would have had us navigating coral bommies at sunset.
At Butterfly Bay, we heated up some frozen Lasagna for dinner using the Origo Stove (alcohol) with a frypan covered in foil. It did a great job.
There's that toothy gap again.
The 3/4 pants I'm wearing are a full pair that Laurel cut down and re-hemmed following some advice from Peter Yates (Trailer Sailor Place) to keep knees covered from the sun. They were VERY practical but I'm told not a great fashion statement. I note that I'm already sporting sandfly bites on my legs from the caravan park.
Butterfly Bay next morning.
I was hoping we would go ashore for a walk at Butterfly Bay but we had a big trip down to Hamilton Island that day so decided we would be back to Butterfly Bay a couple of days later (it was on my itinerary).
We made our way down the east side of Hook Island and carefully motored through Hook Passage at slack tide (it was quite calm) and on down to Homestead Bay on CID island. There was no wind to speak of and we had to make reasonable time - explaining why Hook Passage was so calm.
We anchored at Homestead Bay for lunch. At this stage I deployed our shade for the second time and it was a little more successful as I used a sail slug and ran one side up the mast with the main halyard - it still needs work though.
After lunch the wind had picked up a little and we then sailed part way to our Hamilton Island berth overnight.
Laurel joked that sailing was a tad slow when you had to go in almost the opposite direction - but I enjoyed the sail. We dropped sail when we entered Fitzalan Passage (where we turn SSE) as we were straight into the wind.
Our overnight berth at Hamilton Island. Once again at the base of a ramp.
We made our way down the east side of Hook Island and carefully motored through Hook Passage at slack tide (it was quite calm) and on down to Homestead Bay on CID island. There was no wind to speak of and we had to make reasonable time - explaining why Hook Passage was so calm.
We anchored at Homestead Bay for lunch. At this stage I deployed our shade for the second time and it was a little more successful as I used a sail slug and ran one side up the mast with the main halyard - it still needs work though.
After lunch the wind had picked up a little and we then sailed part way to our Hamilton Island berth overnight.
Laurel joked that sailing was a tad slow when you had to go in almost the opposite direction - but I enjoyed the sail. We dropped sail when we entered Fitzalan Passage (where we turn SSE) as we were straight into the wind.
Our overnight berth at Hamilton Island. Once again at the base of a ramp.
I was a little critical of Hamilton Island at the time but I actually enjoyed it in retrospect. The Lorikeets were very demanding. You really did have to fend them off your breakfast.
More next post...
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