Start Loc: Grassy Island (20o 09.32'S, 148o 36.34'E)
Narrative: We left Grassy Island at 9:20am and headed NNW. The winds were still NNW at 10-15kts, so we again motored into wind. We decided we would just make a short hop to start with, and tow a couple of lures to an unnamed mainland bay on the east side of George Point (20o 05.73'S, 148o 33.29'E). It looked like a bay with a nice beach, where we would have some shelter from the seas, so we dropped anchor 10:30am. We fished for a bit (Cam had something decent that got away from him and I threw back a flathead) and then took the dinghy ashore to let the kids run around and burn off some energy. The beach was not that flash, with lots of rubbish and really course sand. It was back to the boat for lunch before departing at 1:10pm for Breakfast Bay on the southern side of Gloucester Island.
As we rounded the George Point, the wind dropped right off, so we continued motoring. At about 2:30pm it was back up to 8kts from the N, so he let out full head sail and made 4.5kts on a close/beam reach, and gave the engine a rest.
We furled as we neared the reef east of Gloucester Passage (between the island and the mainland), and motored into Breakfast Bay. We anchored at 3:30pm, almost right on low tide, in 6m of water. It took three goes to get the anchor to bite properly, but we made sure it was well bedded as the island can channel the winds and the tidal flow can also be up around 3kts. We rested, fished (Cam again had something bite and run, but get away), read and relaxed. We will take the dinghy ashore tomorrow for a look and a swim.
We plan to spend a couple of days around here before we head in to Bowen for supplies.
End Loc: Breakfast Bay, Gloucester Island (20o 03.24'S, 148o 27.55'E)
Distance run: 14nm (cumulative: 1190nm)
Engine hours: 3 hr, 00 min (cumulative: 153 hr 36 min)