curlew magic

By | July 16, 2022

We call it ‘crossing the paddock’.  This is the stretch of water between Great Keppel Island and the Whitsundays.  There are limited mainland anchorages, pretty much island hops.

So after a few jobs … haircut, new dinghy wheels, washing, Netflix, Elvis, prawns and a Piano Man performance … AND … FIVE days of constant RAIN (and COLD) … in the Keppel Bay Marina, we, along with several other yachts, finally headed north.

We do like our stays at Keppel Bay as it’s a great place to socialise with fellow yachties at the Sailing Club nearby (thanks Pete on Lukim Yu for the music, a great night) or the marina’s restaurant, a bus comes to the door along with the generous option of a Marina courtesy car, and we now have our friends on Vivacious living in one of the Keppel Bay units overlooking the marina, with Vivacious in prime position on their jetty out front. We also caught up with our caravanning friends John and Tess from home over a meal of local prawns!

Screecher run to Marble Island
Marble Island sunset

The highlight of this last passage was definitely Curlew Island.  As Noel Patrick’s Curtis Coast  puts it, ‘doubtlessly the jewel of the area’.  Curlew Island has a long graduating golden beach with a spectacular high bluff on the western end. It is truly a beautiful anchorage.

Entering Curlew … check out that bluff!

Looking east …

Looking down the beach to the east

… and west …

… and looking west

Here’s a few pics from our walks …

I did get my drone up a few times at Curlew.  There was a bit of wind around so I’m still a tad cautious.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to capture the spectacular western bluff from the air.  I know I need to be more adventurous, just give me time. But I think I did manage to capture the beauty of the water’s aquamarine tones and its expansive golden beach, especially at low tide.

We were lucky enough to spend some time here with Illakai and Blue Pearl.  A big thankyou to Milan off Blue Pearl for his feed of fish.  A fisherman extraordinaire!

Next stop Scawfell Island, the Whitsundays. We woke to a very blowy morning and unfortunately an unexpected engine problem. It wouldn’t start! And we had some oil leaking in the engine bay. Next stop Mackay.  A howling wind, a jib and one motor got us to the Mackay Marina where we’ve spent the last few days sorting our problem.  One big problem turned out to be a coincidence of two small problems.  We were very fortunate as Jim the mechanic not only identified the problem but was able to supply a recycled part as there were no new Yanmar oil supply pipes in Australia.  We live in a new world don’t we?!

A full moon rising. Not a great pic of the moon but the colour around the marina was beautiful.

 

7 thoughts on “curlew magic

    1. Amanda

      Thanks Chris. Getting the hang of the drone. Just need the wind to slow down!

      Reply
  1. Kerry

    Beautiful photos and go you with the drone, I know exactly how you feel as our kids gave us one for Christmas for our adventures- now I need to be more adventurous with it too.

    Glad you sorted your engine problems – smooth sailing..

    Reply
    1. Amanda

      Thanks Kerry. See you are on your way north. Hopefully we will catch up … and compare drone stories! Next challenge is launching from the boat! Eeeek!!

      Reply
  2. john mills

    should have been pictures
    john

    changed when i went to post

    Reply
  3. Amanda

    Thanks John! I’m enjoying using my drone. Such a different perspective from the air. Glad you’re enjoying them too.

    Reply

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