Start Loc: Mourilyan Harbour (17o 36.14'S, 146o 07.30'E)
Narrative: We bumped the bottom on the low tide overnight. Just before we anchored, I checked how much depth we needed; the tide was to go out 1.4m, plus our 1.7m draught, meant we needed to anchor in 3.1m of water plus any fudge. As we manoeuvred around during anchoring, the least depth I saw was 3.4m, so we should have had 30cm of clearance. Either the tide tables were not accurate, or more likely, at low tide we just happened to be sitting over a bump. Heather woke up to "funny" bumping and when we checked the depth we were 10 minutes after low tide and showing 1.6m. It was only mud and not enough to keep me awake, and certainly not worth moving, so I went back to bed. Heather stayed up 20 minutes or so until we were clear of the bottom as the tide came back in.
We all had a bit of a sleep in this morning, but still decided that rather than a short leg to Stephens Island we would continue south to an anchorage around Smith and Bowden Islands, with Dunk Island as a fall back should the going be slow. It was 10:20am before we raised the anchor and motored out of the harbour. Once clear of the entrance, we motored SE direct into wind for a bit over an hour until clear of North Barnard Islands. The winds were SE at around 12kts as we sailed SSW. We were against the tide so speed over ground was as low as 3.5kts. After an hour or so of slow progress, we tacked not long before 1:00pm and sailed E. We now had 1.5kts of favourable tide so it was a good tack.
The wind swung to more ESE as we tracked south again, and as the strength varied between 8kts and 14kts, we sailed and motor sailed as needed to keep speed up. The tide eventually turned and started to assist, and we ended up making good time as we sailed past Dunk Island. We dropped sail as we came to our anchorage and dropped the pick off Bowden Island at 4:53pm.
Bowden and Smith Islands are both small, uninhabited islands, and part of the Family Islands Group. There is a reef that links the two islands and provides a reasonable anchorage on the lee side. We connected a mooring line with a float to the head of the anchor to aid recovery, just in case we get snagged. Hudson Island is just south and we got our anchor caught there on the way up, so I might be a bit gun shy. After anchoring the kids and I went for a swim to the beach and had a quick look around, then showers and dinner. It is a bit blowy and hence a bit rough as I type this, so we will see how comfortable the night is.
End Loc: Bowden Island (18o 02.44'S, 146o 11.74'E)
Distance run: 36nm (cumulative: 2129nm)
Engine hours: 3 hr, 39 min (cumulative: 42 hr, 08 min)