Start Loc: Nara Inlet, Hook Island (20o 08.35'S, 148o 54.59'E)
Narrative: We spent yesterday relaxing at anchor at Nara Inlet. The kids did their school work, and we did the short walk to the Ngaro Cultural Site and had a look at the rock paintings. We ran the engine for 23 minutes for hot water.
There would have been close to seventy boats in Nara Inlet last night. We were in no rush to leave this morning, so we let all the charter boats file out before finally raising our own anchor at 10:08am. We spent the next 10 minutes cleaning the worst of the mud off the anchor, and finally headed out of the inlet. The winds were from the NW at about 10kts. Our course to Pioneer Rocks was 250 degrees mag. I allowed 10 degrees for leeway and tidal set and drift, so we steered a course of 260 degrees mag. As we went, I was surprised that I had to add another 5 degrees to our course as we were heading too close to North Molle Island. The wind also swung a bit to the west. The overall effect was that we set off on a close reach but when we cleared the northern tip of North Molle we were close hauled. Fortunately the seas were small so it was not uncomfortable and we averaged around 6.5kts over the ground. As we passed Pioneer Rocks we were back on a close reach and we anchored in Airlie Bay at 12:35pm.
The winds being from the NW, Airlie Bay was very exposed and had a good swell rolling in, which was not something I had considered. We checked with the marina and they could fit us in for the extra night, so after lunch (at 2:10pm) we moved around there and were tied up in the marina at 2:40pm. While I was reluctant to fork out another $87 to this marina, it takes a lot of time pressures off what we need to achieve over the next couple of days.
End Loc: Abel Point Marina (20o 15.85'S, 148o 42.69'E)
Distance run: 16nm (cumulative: 1076nm)
Engine hours: 1 hr, 20 min (cumulative: 127 hr 06 min)