Start Loc: Little Pioneer Bay, Orpheus Island (18o 35.72'S, 146o 29.25'E)
Narrative: We went ashore this morning to have a look for the ruins of a house made from coral. Apparently an oyster lessee decided coral would be a cheap and effective building material, but had to abandon it as a result of infectious cuts. We couldn't find the coral house but did find the remains of the stone and concrete homestead from the old sheep station.
We sailed off the mooring buoy at 9:45am, but with NE winds at only 6kts it wasn't long before we decided to motor sail. By late morning, true wind had swung to ENE but was still about 5kts. At 12:38pm we anchored in Zoe Bay on the east coast of Hinchinbrook Island, 16nm from Little Pioneer Bay. As we came in we saw a waterfall and wondered if we could walk to it. A cat (Hadja) on the way out of the bay, came over for a quick chat and told us there was indeed a track leading to the falls.
After lunch we took the dinghy ashore and walked the 1200m or so to a beautiful freshwater swimming hole fed by the waterfall. It was a relaxing and refreshing afternoon. Reluctantly I dragged the family away at 3:00pm and we headed back to the boat, stowed the outboard and dinghy, and motored out of the bay at 3:58pm. Despite it taking three attempts to get the anchor to bite and the bay being exposed to the weather, I have decided we will drop back here on the way south if at all possible.
The late departure from Zoe Bay meant we would not finish the 17nm to where we had decide to anchor for the night until after dark, but that was not unexpected. We sailed back south towards the 5.5km long sugar loading jetty at Lucinda, then dropped sail as we turned east onto the leads and motored into Hinchinbrook Passage. We turned the navigation and steaming lights on as we passed the old molasses jetty at Dungeness. We anchored in 6m of water in good holding mud between Hinchinbrook Island and Haycock Island, at 7:05pm. We have mozzie coils burning and all insect screens in place, so we will see if we can keep the mozzies and midgies out whilst still allowing some ventilation.
The plan for tomorrow is to try some fishing in the morning while the crab pots are out, and then we will head up to an anchorage around Gayundah Creek. On Sunday we will use the high tide in the morning to pull alongside the jetty at Cardwell and fill up water, as well as get fresh bread and milk, before moving around to Missionary Bay.
End Loc: Haycock Island, Hinchinbrook Passage (18o 28.25'S, 146o 13.22'E)
Distance run: 33nm (cumulative: 1455nm)
Engine hours: 4 hr, 54 min (cumulative: 180 hr 19 min)