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Friday 29th October
We quietly left the bay in the middle of the night last night. There was no moon, but the sky shimmered with the glistening stars. In the midst of a light breeze Imagine glided through the darkness with a gentle rocking from the waves. The weather was finally in our favour. It wasn’t long before the moon rose, casting its yellow reflection across the water. It didn’t seem long before the night gave way to the morning. The red ball of fire emerging over the horizon colouring a few wispy clouds and lighting the way through the anchored vessels as we approached our desitination.
Doesn’t the life at sea sound so romantic?
What really happened! We had to get up in the middle of the night to catch the wind and tide. There was no moon so we couldnt see a thing. At least we had a breeze to sail by. The waves again were coming from the side making Imagine continuously rock. The moon finally came up just before dawn and when the sun came over the horizon we couldn’t see a thing as we navigated between cargo boats anchored outside Gladstone.
Anyway we are here just south of Gladstone in Rodds Harbour. Hopefully there is going to be enough protection when the southerlies come through next week.

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Wednesday 27 Oct
To go or not to go, that is the question. Whether it be nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous expectations (if we can’t get shelter). Or to stand fast and weather the storm (where we are). Not quite William Shakespeare, more like John Shakespear (the guy that lived at the end of our street)
We are wanting to head south to Lady Musgrave but there is a southerly coming. Do we set off ahead of the southerly and take shelter on the mainland, in a river that looks to give shelter, or do we sit tight and weather the winds at Great Keppel, then head off to Musgrave.
Most of the 45 boats in the bay have made a run for it. Possibly getting as far south before the southerly kicks in.
Fish for dinner again tonight. Caught by Lydia, filleted by Andrew, cooked by Sue and eaten by all.

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Monday 25th October
We are staying here waiting for a weather window. We need a day and night of constant wind to make it to Lady Musgrave. We then need a few days of light wind so we can spend time enjoying the atoll. We only spent one day there on the way north due to the weather.
The past few days its been like glass in the morning then by 3pm and into the evening the wind has got up over 20knots, and it looks like continuing like this for the rest of the week.
So Lydia has passed the time cleaning the hull with intermmitent breaks of walking upside down on the keel. We have been snorkeling and Sue and Andrew have been fishing, but only catching fish too small to make a meal. Lydia will have to get back to spearing again.
We can still make fresh bread, but we are getting low on fresh fruit and veggies. We still have enough frozen meat and veggies to last us a few more weeks then it may be canned baked beans as we head into Brisbane.

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Wednesday 20th October
This is getting boring. Five storm cells in three days. Three while we have been sailing to Great Keppel and two since we have been here. Sue is not a fan of lightning storms as she spent them clinging hard to Andrew. I can’t say Andrew is a fan either. Lydia on the other hand dances for joy as they approach. The ramifications don’t effect her as much.
As this storm approached we watched as some boats reanchored. A couple left the bay to make a run for it (not sure if they would have outrun the storm). Another boat interestingly hauled anchor moved out of the bay and continuously circled outside of the bay. Maybe they thought it better to be at sea than at anchor in a storm. We thought it better to have 40m of chain out in 4m of water. Every skipper approaches this differently.
Since we have been at Keppel we have been confined to the southern bay and indoors due to the weather conditions. Hopefully this afternoon was the last of the storms for a while. The wind is predicted to drop and we should have some nice days.
After this afternoon’s storm Lydia had had enough of cabin fever (two days out of water). She dragged out the huka dive gear and went overboard to start cleaning the hull. Barnacles and seaweed were growing again. At this time we had 1.9m below the keel, she could almost stand on the bottom! Tiny fish swarmed around her as she was tackling the hull.

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Monday 18th October
Well, we set off yesterday. 7knot winds, gennaker up sailing nicely. Two hours later, no wind, the ocean was like glass.
Do we turn back and try again tomorrow? The weatherman said 10knots during the day increasing to 20 in the evening. So we turned on the motor and kept going. Two hours later here was the 10knot winds. Beautiful, half a meter swell, 10knot winds (in the right direction).
By evening we had reached Port Clinton (almost half way) a large bay and inlet. The ocean coming from deep water to shallow and wind against tide made it very choppy. The one and a half meter swell was now coming on the side of us and the wind dropped to 5knots.
There wasn’t enough wind to keep the sails open, so should we try to find shelter in Port Clinton which is very shallow, or motor on. After eight hours of motoring the wind finally came back.
Problem, we were an hour from anchoring at Keppel Island and there was lightning coming across from the coast with a lot of wet stuff. There wasn’t much we could do. Keep on going.
The morning light suddenly turned dark. The rain started followed by the light show. Sue was anxious to say the least, as the lightning was striking very close. Lightning and thunder almost simultaneous. The wind was sustained at 70km with a few peeks of 78. After half an hour (which Lydia slept through most of it) the show was over, the sky cleared and we could see Keppel. Thunderstorms on land are nerve wracking, as are ones when you’re on a boat at anchor, but it’s a whole new level when you’re in the middle of one at sea and the only tall mast (or as Sue calls it, lightning conductor) in sight!
By the time we had anchored it was blue sky and a slight breeze. We all had a late breakfast and went to bed. Waking at lunchtime to still a blue sky we could hear thunder in the distance. Batten down the hatches, it’s another thunder and lightning storm heading our way.
This storm came and went. Not as intense as this mornings but it had its moments. Once again Lydia slept through it all. We are hoping tonight is a little more sedate.
NB. Boats that get hit by lightning usually lose all their electric items, navigation instruments, auto pilot, lights, phones, tablets, engine alternators, starters and batteries, rendering the boat inoperable . Then the lightning finds its way out of the boat blowing a hole or two through the hull fittings.

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Sunday 17th October
Symphony left us on Friday morning, heading for the coast and supplies. We did more snorkeling and swimming.
That afternoon we decided we should start heading south again. Too late. We should have left on the Friday because the weather Saturday was not good.
Early Saturday morning the 20knot wind and waves swung around to the south. The main sea swell was still coming from north east. We couldn’t sail south into the wind and we couldn’t see anything around that was sheltered from both north east and south, so we stayed put and rocked around.
By lunchtime the wind had eased and swung easterly giving us shelter again. The wind was going to drop off completely during the night and we have waited till today to set off to Keppel Island. Being approximately 200km away, it will be a day and night sail.
Unfortunately Lydia decided to go for a dive before we left. It is a tragedy. After all that diving and this was to be her last ever dive. In the water only minutes. When we got her back to the boat, we didn’t think she was going to make it. We tried resuscitation in a cup full of rice, but she was gone. Glenda the Gopro is dead. RIP. Only send gif’s or jpg’s in memory.

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Thursday 14th October
On our way north we didnt get to stop at West Bay here on Middle Percy because of the weather. Early this morning we hauled anchor and headed around to West Bay whilst the wind and swell were supposed to moved more easterly. No they didn’t. The wind and swell were coming straight in the bay.
We anchored and made our way to the beach. The reason everyone stops at West bay is to visit the A frame hut and leave a plaque. We were here to upgrade the one we left last year and Lydia had a new one to leave. It’s fascinating looking at all the plaques and names of the boats.
We chatted with the caretakers of the island, had lunch, a swim and left our mark. It was too rolly to stay in the bay so we returned to Rescue Bay. Graham from Symphony came over to see if Lydia wanted to go spearfishing. She didn’t need asking twice. She picked up her gun, mask, fins and weights and was in the dinghy in seconds. About an hour later they returned. Graham had caught a fish. Lydia didn’t see any of the ones she was looking for so she returned empty handed this time, Graham shared half his fish with us.

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Wednesday 13th October
Rescue Bay has kept us sheltered from the northerly winds for the past few days. The bay has two sandy beaches separated by a rocky cliff.
Tuesday morning Andrew and Lydia went ashore and climbed the hill to see if there was any reception but there wasn’t. After the short climb Lydia exclaimed “I dont like being on land, my gills are drying out”. She has just forgotten how to walk. So it looks like climbing the sand dune and kayaking down its steep edge is now off the itinerary.
Back in the water Lydia found a bommie with lots of fish around, so she was happy she could go spearfishing. After lunch we all went back to the beach for a swim. Sue attempted to climb the sand dune, but soon returned to the water claiming “the sand on the dune was too hot”. It had nothing to do with the size of the dune and that she had taken 3 steps up and promptly fallen on her bum!
Today on our way back from the beach we saw a yacht had anchored over Lydia’s bommie and was playing around with their anchor. They hadn’t seen the bommie when they came in late yesterday afternoon and now their anchor was caught around it.
Lydia dived the bommie and let Graham and Sue (Symphony II) know which way their anchor was wrapped around, so they could get free. Lydia then continued diving the bommie and speared two fish. She gave one to Symphony. Graham, Sue and Jamie re-anchored and came over for sundowners.

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Monday 11th October
We got up early to leave Keswick but had a slight problem, the anchor wouldn’t come up. Sue tried motoring to port, then reversing and trying to go to starboard, to no avail. It was time to bring out our secrect weapon, Lydia. Nine meters down, no problem. She disappeared and a minute later surfaced to say “The chain is unhooked from the rock. You can haul anchor now”. With that we were off.
With only 10 knots of wind, the gennaker was the go. By afternoon the 10 knots had subsided to 5, not even keeping the sails up. So we had to motor the remainder to Prudhoe Island (half way to Percy). The south west gave us protection from the swell, so we had a nice night.
In the morning we set off for Percy Island. Out of the shadow of Prudhoe we could tell the wind, although strong enough, was not going to get us to Percy without a lot of tacking. So we returned to the protection of Prudhoe and spent the day exploring.
This morning was going to be the day. The weather report said the winds were in the right direction and were going to start at 7 knots building to 10 by lunchtime and then 15 by afternoon finishing at 20 for the evening. Well, we started with 10knots and after two hours it dropped to 5 and that’s where it stayed.
As if we weren’t going slow enough, Lydia went and jumped off the back of Imagine and hung on to a rope, being dragged along in the water.
So today was another motor job. We were just off Percy when the wind came up (10 knots). We just carried on motoring till we got into Rescue Bay, on the southern side, just in case the northerly winds do eventuate over night.

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Friday, 8th October
The past few days have been just snorkeling and fishing on both Keswick and St Bees Islands. Andrew has spent time editing videos and has now uploaded 4 new ones for you to watch. Look at the VIDEOS tab and click on 2021 Whitsundays.
On the northern side of St Bees Island just 10m off shore is the wreck of the Cremer. It was a 50m steamship that sank in 1945. The remains of the hull, and deck machinery can still be seen.
Because of the depth and rocky bottom we couldn’t anchor nearby. So Sue circled in Imagine while Lydia and Andrew swam to the wreck. Being in 8m of water Lydia was the only one able to dive down that far and check it out.
As we are getting stung every time we get in the water here we have decided tomorrow we will head south to Percy. The final straw was seeing the locals having sex in the bay.