Start Loc: Number Seven Creek, Missionary Bay, Hinchinbrook Island (18o 17.66'S, 146o 15.01'E)
Narrative: We checked the crab pots this morning after putting them out last night, and I was surprised we didn't get anything. Mangrove creek, muddy bottom - does it get better?
We raised the anchor at 10:20am and motored back to the cross over, into Number Six Creek, past the starboard lateral and towards the first special out in the bay. From there we were slightly west of our track in as we headed towards to the peak of Goold Island, and the least depth we recorded was 2.7m so it was a deeper track.
Once clear of the shallows we said goodbye to Hinchinbrook Island, raised sail and set a course up the east side of Goold Island and into Rockingham Bay. Winds were E at about 10kts, so we sailed on a beam reach from Goold Island north to the Family Group of islands. As we passed the small and uninhabited Hudson Island (the south-eastern most of the group) the small beach and clear water looked very inviting, so we decided to stop for a swim. We anchored off the beach in 5m of water at 1:45pm. It took two attempts to get the anchor to bite as the bottom was just small pieces of broken coral with some scattered rocks. We took the dinghy ashore and all had a refreshingly cool swim. We started to raise the anchor again at 3:00pm, but we had fouled the anchor. I manoeuvred the boat around but wasn't able to free it. There was nothing else for it, so I donned my fins and goggles and pulled myself down the anchor chain to see what the problem was. Fortunately, the anchor wasn't caught under a rock, it was just that the chain had wrapped around a rock. On my second dive down I was able to unwrap it. I surfaced over the anchor and guided Heather straight towards me while Haydee used the windlass to raise the chain and anchor. Once it was clear of the water and Heather had put the boat in neutral, I swam around the back, climbed back on, and we were finally under way at 3:20pm.
The wind dropped to about 7kts as we approached Dunk Island, so we motor sailed for a bit, dropped sail just off the sand spit, and anchored in Brammo Bay at 4:58pm.
Looking through the binoculars at the Dunk Island Resort revealed that the jetty no longer went all the way to the beach, the bar/kiosk near the jetty was destroyed, many of the resort accommodation buildings are missing parts of their roof, and a lot of other debris lying around. Presumably it is all Yasi damage, and there has not even been much attempt to clean up let alone rebuild.
End Loc: Brammo Bay, Dunk Island (17o 56.03'S, 146o 08.20'E)
Distance run: 27nm (cumulative: 1520nm)
Engine hours: 2 hr, 30 min (cumulative: 188 hr 26 min)