Start Loc: Goldsmith Island (20o 41.04'S, 149o 08.44'E)
Narrative: Yesterday we remained anchored at Goldsmith Island. The kids did their school work and then we went ashore and relaxed and played on the beach. The owners of Stray Cat took the opportunity to beach her just after high tide to do some work on a propeller. I checked the solar regulator as it hasn’t really been working well for the last couple of days, and found that the positive wire from the regulator to the battery was burnt. I rang the marine electrician that installed it for me and he told me how to safely bypass the regulator and I will have to mail it to him so he can send it back and get it replaced under warranty. When he gets a new one he will then to mail it to me somewhere, so we will be without a solar regulator for a while. We ran the engine for 1 hr 09 min.
We sailed away from Goldsmith Island at 9:18am, headed for Thomas Island. The forecast was for SE winds at 10-15kts in the morning, freshening to 15-20kts early afternoon and then strengthening to 20-25kts late evening. We had a good run averaging about 4.5kts boat speed. Heather sighted another whale, this time it passed a few hundred metres on our port side heading south. True to the forecast, as we changed course to a close reach to come in to Thomas Island, the wind picked up to almost 20kts. We anchored on the west side of the bay on the north face if Thomas Island at 12:05pm. It is a nice bay with good holding sand, and we have it all to ourselves – being at the bottom end of the Whitsundays, these anchorages are less populated.Again true to the forecast, the wind picked up at last light. The forecast for tomorrow is SE winds at 25-30kts, so we plan to stay here for at least two nights.
End Loc: Thomas Island (20o 32.68'S, 149o 06.52'E)
Distance run: 12 nm (cumulative: 812nm)
Engine hours: 1 hr, 52 min (cumulative: 90 hr 06 min)