Saturday 11th June
The weather has turned cold and it’s predicted to continue for a week. High winds and swell in the mornings dropping off late afternoon means we at least get sleep at night. This is keeping the water visibility to a minimum, which means poor snorkeling. So we have decided to head to Airlie early.
We left Thomas this morning and sailed across to Shaw Island. To make Shaw we had the wind and swell, off our back quarter. As we reached Shaw Andrew got Toni (on the helm) to point Imagine towards the wind, as if we were going to head South. We pounded into the waves for a few minutes then we turned north. Everyone was amazed at the difference between pounding into the waves and sailing with them. How quiet everything became. How fast we were going (6.5 knts) with little sail up, yet everything felt calm.
Upon rounding the point Jack and Toni were told they had to pick a place and anchor Imagine on their own. Jack dropped the main, then they took Imagine from one end of the bay to the other checking for the most sheltered place to anchor. They chose well.
After anchoring we had lunch and spent the afternoon chilling out. As the wind dropped both Liz and Jack ventured into the water. It wasn’t the water temperature that was a problem more the wind chill factor when getting out.

Friday 10th June We set off for the next island early in the morning. Well early for Toni and Jack. A quick breakfast and hauled anchor by 9:20.
A reefed main and a staysail and we reached a nice speed of 6 to 7knts. It only took a few hours before we turned into our bay on Thomas Island.
After lunch Liz swam ashore while Toni and Jack kayaked around checking out the next bay.

Thursday 9th June Goldsmith Island
We rose to a beautiful blue sky. Unfortunately we still had a very cool breeze creeping over the island. This made the water not very inviting. By lunch time the temperature had only reached 19 degrees and we were all rugged up. What happened to sunny Queensland???
Toni and Jack took a loaf of freshly made bread across to All the Stars the boat that had given us the tuna. This gave them the opportunity to check out another boat design.
Toby and Tara on Flossy arrived in the bay and anchored next to us. They had been enduring the 1.5m swell and 30knt winds all the way from Curlew. Andrew called them on the radio and invited them over for sundowners.
We went ashore for a walk and to leave a hammock for visitors to the island.
Jess and Emma from All the Stars joined us for sundowners on Imagine. Toby and Tara brought Sally (their dog ) along as well. More stories and drinks were exchanged well into the night (7:30pm). Boaties are real party animals.

Wednesday 8th June
We arrived at Goldsmith late Tuesday night. We could see by the lights there was only three other boats in the bay, so we found our place in the middle of the bay.
Early this morning one of the boats on a mooring left so we rapidly hauled anchor and grabbed the mooring. This gave us the ability to swap our anchors. It took four of us to safely unhook the Rochna anchor and replace it with the new Sarka. The Sarka is supposed to be better at resetting in sand, which all these bays up here are.
Liz swam to shore and back while Jack and Toni snorkeled the edge of the bay. Later Andrew and Liz went ashore in the dinghy and met a couple that offered us some tuna they had caught.
We’ve had several visits from a few turtles today, just chilling in their home patch.

Sunday 5th June
We thought we would move around to Rescue bay for some snorkeling, but when we got around the corner the wind and swell had a different idea. The wind and swell had built up and was going straight into the bay. This meant a change of plans.
Southerly winds and swell meant a good sail west to Curlew. Yeh right. It was a good sail till half way then the wind died and we had to motor the last couple of hours.
Once we had scouted the bay mapping where the sand bar was we anchored.
The next day Jack and Toni took the dinghy and checked out the shore while the rest of us were content with a swim around the boat.
We set off early Tuesday morning for Goldsmith island. We had only gone about an hour when we heard on the VHF radio a small fishing boat that we had seen at Curlew had capsized. They were calling for assistance but nobody was replying. Radios turned off on anchored boats in the bay.
It was going to take us an hour to get back to assist. There were other boats in the bay and we heard a boat that had just left had turned around to assist so we carried on our way.
We are hoping to meet up with one of the boats that were in the bay to find out what happened. We later heard on the radio that the boat was a write off and a salvage tug was going to be organized. Luckily the two occupants of the fishing boat were unhurt.
Liz was at the helm as we passed through the 41 cargo boats waiting to load up at Mackay. Once again the weather changed making it hard to reach Goldsmith without spending many more hours jibing back and forth, so the motor went on.
It was late by the time we anchored, but the motor had been on long enough to make a fresh loaf of bread, ready for breakfast.

Saturday 04 June Saturday was another day in paradise. Blue sky, no wind and no swell. But not all was well in paradise! As everyone took their morning turn at emptying their bowels, the odour increased to fill Imagine. Jack and Toni kayaked to shore and Liz swam. They went for a walk and explored more of the island while Andrew tended to the smell coming from the toilet and holding tank.
By the time everyone returned Andrew had replaced the air breather filter which was causing the problem.
We thought it would be rude not to attend the sundowners with the other boaties, so off to shore with more wine, sausages and a freshly baked loaf of bread.
Once again we fired up the fire pit and the bbq for the sausages as other boaties arrived. This time as the wine and tales flowed and we made our sausage sandwiches we noticed the others started drooling over the smell of fresh bread. We thought it was prudent the we offer a slice to the others before we were attacked.
Being Saturday night we stayed up and partied and this time were the last to leave at the late hour of 8.30pm. We boaties really know how to party.

Friday 3rd June
After a relatively peaceful night, we set off early to continue our trek to Percy. We stopped at South Percy Thursday night before heading on to Middle Percy.
For once West bay was calm and no roll. First up were swims off the back of Imagine. Jack and Toni went ashore in the kayak and Sue and Andrew went in the dinghy while Liz stayed onboard for a while then swam ashore to join us.
Once ashore we checked out the A frame, checking that our sign was still there. We returned to Imagine to get ready for the obligatory sundowners back at the A frame.
We returned to shore along with most of the other boaties in the bay. Andrew and Jack lit the fire for the BBQ, then while Andrew cooked the steaks and potatoes Jack started the fire in the fire pit.
Throughout the evening the stories flowing as much as the wine and rum. We were the first group to leave the fire and head back to our boat ready for bed at the late hour of 7.30pm.

Wednesday 1st June
We left Keppel early in the morning heading to Percy. The weather was forecast for 15knt to 20knt winds. After leaving the bay we did have 10knts for about ten minutes, before it dropped to 5knts. So we put up the Gennaker. That lasted three minutes when the wind got back up so we dropped that sail and went back to the headsail. After about 20 minutes it died again.
Ok, time to try again. This time it lasted most of the day. Eventually the wind went down to 2knts, so it was motor time.
Just then the steering went. Imagine did a 180 degree turn, the gennaker back filled and we needed to do something quick. Andrew raced downstairs into the back cabin and pulled the mattress off the bed and dropped the emergency tiller into position. To steer you need to stand on the bed boards, one foot on the tiller and poke up through the hatch like a meerkat so you can see where you’re going! Back on course Jack took over on the tiller while Andrew, Toni and Liz tried to pull the gennaker down. The gennaker jammed and Andrew had to go up the mast and free it.
Once that was sorted, it was time to look at what went wrong with the steering. Andrew and Liz started on ripping the floor up in the back cabin to get to the steering shaft. That part of the floor had been screwed, glued and fibreglassed. A couple of minutes with the angle grinder and the floor was up, revealing the shaft was a pipe that has rusted though.
Jack and Liz swapped jobs. Jack and Andrew found some hardwood and bolted it through the pipe to hold it together. An hour later we had steering. We have been lucky that the swell and wind were low and in the right direction that made fixing the problems a lot easier than it could have been.
Just to be on the safe side we headed to Pearl Bay for the night, and will recommence our sail to Percy in the morning.

Tuesday 31st May
The last three days on Great Keppel the weather has been good. Sunday we went around to Monkey beach for a snorkel. Monday Liz caught the ferry from Keppel to Yepoon (the mainland) for more supplies. She returned in the afternoon with a backpack full of only the essentials (booze), oh and broccoli and capsicum.
Tuesday we moved around to Wreck Bay to get out of the swell.

Friday 27th May
Another busy day with blue sky. After breakfast Andrew, Liz, Toni and Jack went ashore to meet up with Drew who they had met last night. Drew had been around Great Keppel Island for about 20 years, so he knew all the trails and tales.
He took us on a seven kilometer walk around the north eastern side of the island. He showed us all the bays along tracks we would not have found on our own. Some of the tracks were more like goat tracks.
Before returning to Imagine for lunch, Drew showed us around his catamaran that he had built himself.
The afternoon consisted of swimming off the boat chilling under Imagine’s sunshade and Drew joined us for sundowners on deck.