After a good night’s rest behind Ida island, we waited for the incoming tide at 12:30 and set sail up the Strait in this section where it is wide enough, to sail up to Garry’s Anchorage. With just the jib up and a 3 knot incoming tide we sailed all the way up to Garry’s doing the 14 nm in 2.5 hours. Once we had set the anchor, we went ashore for a long walk on the island.
We got back at 4pm and were greeted by a big group of yachties having sundowners on the beach. Introductions were made and they insisted we join them. All these people are retired and are making their annual sail up the coast. A most convivial group from Yamba.
We pulled up the anchor at 5:30 the next morning to get to the notorious Sheridan Flats at high tide. This is the shallowest part of the strait, more or less halfway to Hervey Bay and we crossed it at 7:30 with less than 100mm below the keel. Thank goodness the GPS and channel markers are there to make life easier in these complex channel passages. We entered the Great Sandy Strait Marina at 10:30, welcomed by Bob and Deb Rafter, the friendly managers who were waiting to catch our mooring lines. The warm showers were enjoyable and Annie did the laundry duty whilst I took the opportunity to have a haircut and visit the local Apple expert. I use my iPhone 6 as a hotspot for internet access for my MacBook Air and they inexplicably stopped talking to each other. David the Apple expert, showed me the dark arts of the OS system and got them talking again.
This morning we went for a long walk to the markets at the Urangan Pier, an amazing relic from days past, fortunately kept in good repair after part of it was demolished. The photo below tells the history.
The market, in particular the farmer’s fruit and vegetable section was a delight. Annie paid $25 for all the fruit and veg below:
There is a lot of rain forecast for tomorrow, so we will do chores around the boat. On Monday morning Andrew from “Aquaholics Outboard Service” (I just love the name!) will come to service the recalcitrant outboard before we set off to Bundaberg in the arvo. This is of course sugar cane country and the home of Bundy rum – the twin’s favourite.