Bad Bowen Ju-ju

Washing up

Bowen was good for protection from the rather insane weather that has been hitting various parts of the Queensland coast recently but, unfortunately, that was really about the best bit of Bowen. We hunkered down on a marina berth for three nights after two nights on a pile mooring. There isn't a lot within walking distance of the marina so after groceries and some purchases to allow us (i.e. Shane) to install 12V fans in each cabin in preparation for the warmer weather we're heading towards, we spent a lot of time on the boat.

The culmination of the bad Bowen ju-ju was probably our efforts to re-fuel prior to leaving the marina yesterday. We cast off without problems and went round to one of the two seafood companies in the marina that sell fuel to the public. Shane had spoken with them and they said to just pull up and re-fuel. Unfortunately when we got there trawlers were on all their jetties so we couldn't pull in. We needed to re-fuel so we called the other company who confirmed they could re-fuel us so we pulled in there instead. Our fuel filler cap is on the stern of the boat so I stupidly convinced Shane to reverse in. The wind was still blowing ridiculously hard and we ended up with our bow being pushed to one side of the pen, blowing us onto one of the trawlers as we drove out to try again. There was some scraping and general unpleasantness but the only damage was to two of our stanchions and, of course, our pride. There were a few swear words emanating from Shane as we sailed out of Bowen and, even if there had been a cyclone warning, I don't think I could have convinced him to stay in Bowen any longer and I suspect we won't be pulling in there on the way back down.

A new boat speed record

A strong wind warning was current as we left Bowen meaning our 43nm cruise to Cape Upstart, that based on our planning speed of 5 knots would take 8.5 hours, took just a little over 6 hours. And we set a new boat speed record of 10.3 knots. There were some decent waves coming through in sets, particularly as we cruised along the northern side of Cape Upstart where we had, I think, the biggest waves we've seen so far, and a wind gust of 37 knots at one point. I wasn't overwhelmed but the kids thought it was pretty cool and Shane thought it was 'awesome'. We spent today tucked up in Upstart Bay doing schoolwork including a rare appearance by the Science Master who did lots of cool experiments on surface tension of water.

The weather isn't due to clear until the end of the weekend so we have changed our plan to head north and visit the reef again and will now head north-west to Townsville in two legs over the next two, maybe three, days.

Finally, I would like to once again thank Oatsey for his fantastic hospitality while we were in town. You're awesome. So is Toby (aka Porridge).