Start Loc: Bowden Island (18o 02.44'S, 146o 11.74'E)
Narrative: Last night was not the best one we have had. Despite the forecast the wind strengthened and we were getting high teens with gusts over 20kts. We had seas coming over the reef between Smith and Bowden Islands, as well as coming around the south of Bowden Island, so we were getting seas up to 1m from two directions. That's alright when sailing, but not good for an overnight anchorage. It also rained most of the night, and generally quite heavy. It's not surprising I guess seeing we are at much the same latitude as Tully, but it meant we had to have all the hatches and ports closed, so the batteries got a workout running the fans all night. To top it off, the hatch over Heather's and my bed decided it was a good time to start to leak, so I spent most of the night with a towel over me to absorb the water. It wasn't a fun night (but still beats a good day in the office!).
The low trough is proving really unpredictable for the BoM, but with the forecast of variable winds at 5-10kts for this afternoon, we gambled that the change would come late this morning, so we decided we would give Zoe Bay a go. Zoe Bay is on the east side of Hinchinbrook Island and very exposed to easterly weather, but it is the one with the walk to the waterfall and fresh water rock pool, so it is on our list of places to visit again.
We raised the anchor at 8:52am, motored clear of the shallows around Bowden and Hudson Islands, and set a course for the NE corner of Hinchinbrook Island. The wind was from the SSW at only about 5kts, with seas of around 0.8m. With the lack of wind, I only raised the main and we motor sailed on our SE course. An hour later I had dropped the main as the wind had swung SE and was now straight on the nose. The sea had picked up and was now around 1.2m, and we continued motoring into wind and waves, past the Brook Islands.
Just as we were passing between Cape Sandwich on Hinchinbrook and Eva Island at around 11:20am, the GPS decided it wasn't going to play anymore. I think it is moisture related. We had a similar problem with all the rain at the start of the year. It was in and out for a bit, we pulled the antenna and wiring apart to dry, and then just stopped playing up; until now. It's handy but not essential, and we will make do until we can get it all dry and working again.
We arrived at Zoe Bay around 1:00pm. There was still 1.2m waves rolling straight into the bay and no sign of the weather change. We may have been able to get into the creek at the north end of the bay close to high tide, but that was still four hours away and no guarantee, so we decided we would move to shelter in the Hinchinbrook Channel.
The wind had swung to ESE and freshened to around 12kts, so we motored clear of Hillcock Point SE of Zoe Bay then sailed SSE heading towards the end of the Lucinda Jetty, to the fairway buoy. We then dropped sail, confirmed we had enough tide, and motored on the leads over the shallows into the Hinchinbrook Channel. We dropped anchor at 3:46pm just past the old molasses jetty at Dungeness.
The plan is to get a good night's rest and check the weather first thing in the morning. Unless it is atrocious we will head back to Zoe Bay and go to the rock pool. If it is as forecast and suitable for overnight we will stay there, otherwise we will head down to Orpheus Island for the night.
End Loc: Dungeness (18o 31.35'S, 146o 19.68'E)
Distance run: 37nm (cumulative: 2166nm)
Engine hours: 6 hr, 00 min (cumulative: 48 hr, 08 min)