Showing posts with label At. Show all posts
Showing posts with label At. Show all posts
Tuesday, 4 April 2017
Kicking back at San Telmo Around Mallorca Beach by Beach
August 25-27 - 2012
A very rare thing happened on Alcheringaon the morning of August 25th. We had a sleep in and didn’t get underway till about 11.00 am. Because of the wind direction we elected to give the anchorages on Dragonera Island a miss and headed to San Telmo instead. It would be revisiting old ground for us but Marc hadn’t been there and we knew it should be well protected from the north easterlies that were forecast.
Conditions were a little light but we were able to sail all the way. We started with a nice downwind reach out to sea then square run wing on wing with the cruising chute. The wind got very light and fluky for quite a while but we were still making acceptable speed so we stuck with the set up. The autopilot got a rest as we hand steered all the way. It was actually great fun helming the boat to get the most out of every little bit of breeze. We didn’t actually expect to make it all the way to the strait between Mallorca and Dragonera Island without tacking back out to sea but as we approached the coastal cliffs the wind veered in our favour and we sailed directly into the passage. It also got squeezed so strengthened quickly from under 10 knots right up to near 20 knots. This had us right on the limit of our cruising chute and had us flying along.
We covered the 21.1 nautical mile trip to San Telmo with an average speed of 4.5 knots and reached 8 knots during the sleigh ride through the strait. It really was a very enjoyable sail.
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| Asymetrical chute out to starboard, mainsail to port and three happy meerkats afloat in the middle. |
We anchored close in to the beach in what is the most protected corner of the bay but unfortunately after having spent five very peaceful nights in this anchorage while Marc was away, this time a big swell rolled into the bay making the boat roll uncomfortably most of the night. Rob was also up for a couple of hours securing everything on deck and keeping an eye on a huge electrical storm hovering just out to sea. Luckily it bypassed us.
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| Alcheringa at anchor off San Telmo |
Marc stayed onboard all day on Sunday reading while we went ashore for a while, strolled around the very pleasant town and picked up some really nice fresh baked baguettes. With some swell still rolling around the point, launching the dingy back off the beach was a bit challenging. We tried to time our run between waves but sure enough the sea wasn’t going to co-operate and we got well and truly drenched as a small breaker rolled over the bow. With no thought for self preservation, Karen heroically managed to save the bread though.
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| San Telmo - Mallorca |
On Monday we spent another lazy day in San Telmo. Rob got some more blogging done as he’s been trying hard to catch up. We’ve been so busy actually doing things he hasn’t been able to find the time to write about doing those things and all of a sudden we found the blog nearly three months behind. He was keen to finish the story of our passage from Gibraltar to England on Curious. It had happened so long ago back in early June that he actually thought it would be fairly short. However once we started to go through the photos of the trip and recall all the great things that happened along the way it ended up longest chapter yet at 6,500 words with over 70 photos.
We all did make a trip ashore for a local lunch and for Marc to see the town though because we were going to be moving on again in the morning.
For more about our travels check out and 'like' our Dreamtimesail facebook page at
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For more about our travels check out and 'like' our Dreamtimesail facebook page at
http://www.facebook.com/DreamtimeSail?ref=hl
Saturday, 1 April 2017
Bad weather bad bureaucracy How to waste a week at Orpheus Island
12-19 August 2016
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| Dawn yet to break over the marina in Townsville as we prepare to get underway. |
With our Customs Clearance from Border Control safely tucked away in the Nav Station, we were up early and moved Our Dreamtime out of her berth and across to Breakwater Marina’s fuel dock where we topped our fuel tanks and jerry cans to the brim. We then threw off the lines slipped from the dock and packed away our fenders for what we planned to be quite a long while. Our passage to the Louisiade Islands of Papua New Guinea was now officially underway.
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| Group selfie to mark the start of our passage to PNG. |
Unfortunately the weather forecast was far from favourable for venturing outside the reef so our first step was a forty-six mile downwind sail to Pioneer Bay at Orpheus Island. We would shelter there from some strong winds and big seas before making our way out through the reefs via the Palm Passage for our Coral Sea crossing.
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| Passing Townsville's Cape Pallaranda. |
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| Palm Island. |
We had a fairly uneventful but pleasant day in fairly mild conditions and arrived in Pioneer Bay at Orpheus Island well before sunset. There are four moorings installed there but all were occupied so we found ourselves anchoring in reasonably deep water but the holding was excellent so it wasn’t a concern.
Townsville to Orpheus Island – 46.3 Nautical Miles – 8 Hours 54 Minutes Average Speed 5.2 Knots – Max Speed 7.1 Knots
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| Our first night's anchorage at Orpheus Island |
The wind began to build the next day as predicted but we were well sheltered by the high hills of the island. It was a brilliant sunny day so we took the opportunity to do some exploring over the nearby coral reefs in the dinghy after lunch. The coral looked very healthy and we spotted a number of very large, giant clams. The whole area is a conservation Green Zone with no fishing of any sort permitted so of course the marine life was abundant. At one stage we had two massive manta-rays with wing spans of around two and a half to three metres circling the dinghy. They were mesmerising.
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| Lynda and Karen enjoying our exploration of Pioneer Bay |
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| We were able to drift over the reef at low tide with great views of the coral and giant clams |
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| Two huge manta-rays circled our dinghy. |
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| Humpback whales were regular visitors just outside the bay. |
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| Roast duck cooked on the BBQ capped off a pretty good day. |
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| As did the sunset over Lucinda and Hinchinbrook Island. |
What we saw through the clear waters convinced us that we really did need to get in amongst things and made plans to do some snorkelling the following day. When we did our Customs Clearance the officers asked us to email them if our departure was delayed more than 48 hours and then email them again when we actually headed offshore. With the wind howling at 30 knots in the anchorage on Saturday we did the right thing and emailed as requested. The wind may have been pumping but thankfully the sun shone again and we had a couple of amazing hours swimming over the reef at low tide. We have never seen such a concentration of giant clams anywhere in our travels. The fish were prolific and the corals amazing.
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| Karen enjoying the underwater wonderland. |
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| One of many colourful giant clams we snorkelled over. |
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| The coral was fantastic. |
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| Another giant clams |
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| The smaller ones have more intense colours. |
We would have preferred to be a couple of days on our way to the Louisiades but our couple of days at delay at Orpheus Island had been very nice. However the reply we received from Border Control was not what we expected. To quote “…because you won’t be departing within the 48 hours your clearance will be withdrawn and you will need to present again for clearance. This can be done at Breakwater Marina or alternatively you can contact Cairns office and clear out from there.” They have to be kidding right?
The wind kept blowing, the rain came and stayed and the seas outside the reef were reported at four metres plus. Not surprisingly we stayed right where we were, safe at anchor.We kept communicating with Border Control to try to sort something out, but guess what, we were still required to report back to Townsville. We don’t blame the officers. It appears because our email was on record showing we didn’t depart within 48 hours their hands were tied. It’s just an unsafe policy to impose on sail boats. Good seamanship is to shelter in dangerous conditions not put to sea because of a time on a piece of paper. We had been watching the weather very closely working different departure planning and weather routing models. It appeared a Friday departure to the Louisiades was on the cards but the wind was going to keep blowing until then preventing us getting back to Townsville. Moral of the story - if leaving Australia on your boat, once you obtain your clearance certificate from Border Control, shut up, say nothing and do not contact them. Then just sail away when it’s safe.
Knowing we now had to return to Townsville for a new Customs clearance we had no qualms going ashore on Wednesday and catching up with friends who were also sheltering in Pioneer Bay, Gary and Anne off Chances and Brian and Petra from Bella to enjoy a great walk up to the ridge line to enjoy the views.
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| Abandoned shepherds hut on Orpheus Island |
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| View back over Little Pioneers bay |
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| L-R: Petra, Lynda, Brian,Anthony, Karen, Anne and Gary on the ridge top at Orpheus Island. |
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| Brian and Rob checking the conditions on the seaward side of Orpheus Island. |
By Thursday the winds had eased to the mid – high teens so we motored bow on to them from Orpheus Island bouncing our way to anchor at Fantome Island to shorten the next day’s trip a little but weren’t looking forward to the big bash.
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| At anchor in the shelter of Fantome Island |
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| Pina Coladas at sunset improve the worst of days. |
We upped anchor at 6.00 o'clock for our run under motor back to Townsville and were greeted by rain, a fair sized swell and 20+ knots smack bang on the bow from the time we rounded the point of Fantome Island. That was our lot for the next seven and a half hours to Breakwater Marina where two Border Control Officers met us at the fuel dock, looked at our passports and handed over a new clearance certificate. The whole process took them 90 seconds.
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| 22.4 knots of wind on the nose, waves and rain. Not fun. |
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| Bouncing along. |
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| We joked about Border Control sending FA-18s to make sure we came back probably being a bit of overkill. |
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| It was almost dark by the time we reached Magnetic Island |
We naturally took the opportunity to top up our fuel and water tanks plus Karen managed a dash to the supermarket for more fresh fruit and veg. Then we were off again. This time on our way to Horseshoe Bay at Magnetic Island where we anchored for the night just before after clocking up 54.4 miles
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| Fantome Island via Townsville to Magnetic Island - 54.4 Nautical Miles - 11 Hours 46 Minutes. |
Now the time has finally come. We will set sail for PNG via magnetic passage early in the morning. It may be some time before our next blog update as it will have to wait until we find some internet service somewhere. We MAY be able to organise some Facebook updates via our Iridium Go Satellite Coms but that's yet to be tried. In the meantime we hope you follow our progress via the Predictwind Tracker linker on the right hand side of our blog's home page. It updates every hour. Cheers!
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We love to receive comments on our blog from readers. If you do leave a comment and you also have a blog, please leave a link as well. We'd like to click over for a visit and leave you a comment too.To stay right up to date with what we’re up to and see lots more photos check out and 'like' our Dreamtime Sail Facebook page at DreamtimeSail
If you have only recently discovered our blog and would like to read how it all started, or work through our previous adventures, click the link to go back to our first blog entry. Stuff it. Let's just go sailing anyway.
We hope you enjoy reading the previous posts to catch up on our story.
Thursday, 23 March 2017
Black Cat the Didi 38 at the start of the 2017 Cape 2 Rio yacht race
The picture was pre race start, they are just leaving the entrance to Cape Town Harbour.
The excellent image was taken from the Cape 2 Rio 2017 web site, my thanks to them.
We can do CNC cut kits to this design, also the Didi 26 etc.
Roy
Click on the image to enlarge it.
The excellent image was taken from the Cape 2 Rio 2017 web site, my thanks to them.
We can do CNC cut kits to this design, also the Didi 26 etc.
Roy
Sunday, 19 March 2017
Vote to Support Canoe Building Project for At Risk Ojibway Youth
Anishinaabe Babamadizwin: A Journey By Canoe will work with at-risk Anishinaabe (i.e., Ojibway) youth to build both birchbark and cedar/canvas canoes, and then use those canoes on wilderness voyages. To quote the organization's description on the Aviva Community Fund site, "Such canoe trips could develop leadership skills as well as increase awareness of their Native culture and traditions. The youth participants return to their communities as future leaders."
The organization is competing for a grant from the Aviva Community Fund by soliciting votes from the general public to demonstrate widespread interest and support for the project. To add your voice, go to the project page and register, then vote either on the page itself, or by "liking" it on Facebook.
Saturday, 18 March 2017
Fishing trawler Iris drying out at Looe in Cornwall
This picture was taken by Robert Henry McBride circa 1964 and while on a family visit to Cornwall.
Click on the image to enlarge it.
Given that the event was only fifty plus years back its more than possible the the ' Iris ' of Looe in Cornwall is still afloat?
Roy
Click on the image to enlarge it.
Given that the event was only fifty plus years back its more than possible the the ' Iris ' of Looe in Cornwall is still afloat?
Roy
Classics at Voiles de Saint Tropez 2011
Here's an impressive lineup of classic S&S boats at the recent Voiles de Saint-Tropez regatta. Above we have yawls Manitou (design #99), Cometa (ex-Comet, design #522), Stormy Weather (design #27), Argyll (design #628) and Skylark, (design #146).
This great helicopter shot was taken by Kos Picture Source. Thanks to them for allowing us to use it. Click here to access more images of this event.
Friday, 17 March 2017
More Canoes at PMM
Some classic wood/canvas canoes on display at Penobscot Marine Museum. The first three shots are a Morris with extraordinarily shaped recurved stems. Numbers 4 and 5 are an Old Town sponson canoe (sorry, don't know the exact model) named Susannah, hanging upside down and soon to be part of a new exhibit called Rowboats and Rusticators. Interesting thing about sponson canoes: the sponsons were applied after the rest of the canoe was built, and the sponsons themselves were built much like boats in their own right, with planking laid over station frames.Friday, 10 March 2017
Swimming with sharks at Green Island and heading South
28-29 September 2016
Leaving our idyllic anchorage in the solitude of Batt Reef was difficult, particularly when it marked the beginning of our journey back south down the Queensland coast to Brisbane where we will sit out the cyclone season and attempt to rejuvenate our depleted cruising funds. We plotted a course to Green Island skirting any reef areas along the way in the hope of enticing a fish onto one of our lines as we passed. . In the days before GPS chart plotters an early morning departure would have been rife with danger as the sun needs to be high in the sky to make coral bombies visible under the water but with the advantage of technology we were able to raise the anchor as soon as the sun had risen far enough to provide some light and we carefully re-traced our track through the coral heads that guarded our sheltered lagoon. We hadn’t hit anything on the way in so we shouldn’t hit anything going out retracing our exact path. That’s the theory anyway. Then began the five hour passage to our overnight anchorage.
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| To exit the lagoon at Batt Reef in the early morning light we retraced our track in exactly. |
After running along the edge of the channel between Batt and Tongue Reefs we skirted the interestingly named Pixie Reef and discovered it features a nice small sand cay that looked like it would be a great spot to spend a day in calm weather. Unfortunately there are way more places on the Great barrier Reef we’d like spend time at then days to do it. Maybe next time.
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| This tiny sand cay at Pixie Reef is surrounded by quite a good sized coral reef. |
We then ran as close as we dared to the edge of Upolu Reef just outside the conservation zone taking great care to avoid some bombies that rose straight up from the seabed to just below the surface of the clear tropical water. Unfortunately despite trailing three lines no fish were harmed in this entire exercise by the time we had to haul them in before entering the conservation zone at Green Island.
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| We passed these guys just off Upolu Reef. |
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| Boats anchored around the sand cay at Upolu Reef near Green Island. |
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| Karen on the bow keeping watch for coral bombies as we pass Upolu Reef with Green Island ahead. |
Entering the anchorage at Green was so much simpler this time as we just followed out track from last time and avoided all the angst we experienced on that occasion. See the story here- Green Island . We anchored in four and half metres of crystal clear water over good holding sand with more than ample swing room.
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| Batt Reef to Green Island - 26.7 Nautical Miles - 5 Hours 07 Minutes Average Speed 5.2 Knots - Max Speed 7.3 Knots |
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| The only two other boats in the anchorage at Green Island were friends on Moonbeam of Geelong and Acupora. |
After a light lunch, we loaded the dinghy with our snorkelling gear and headed for a nearby coral patch. What a treat. After anchoring the dinghy in sand a little off the coral we were welcomed into the water by a huge giant trevally that continued to closely circle us for about five minutes. On the reef itself we were again surrounded by schools of fish of all shapes, sizes and colours. The mix of soft and hard corals was extremely colourful and looked very healthy. One of the white tip reef sharks patrolling the reef was totally unperturbed by our presence providing plenty of opportunity to get some good photos and video as it glided so gracefully close by us. Unfortunately a turtle we spotted was not as camera friendly and kept a more discreet distance but it was still a thrill to watch it from afar.
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| This big Giant Trevally was extremely curious circling us for quite a while. |
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| Once more we found no shortage of good sized fish at Green Island. |
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| These are stills from video we shot which we will add to the blog when we have better wifi. |
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| Colourful fish everywhere and lovely plate coral at Green Island. |
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| This shark was near two metres and totally unconcerned by our presence in his world. |
We love Green Island. It’s a well sheltered, quiet anchorage surrounded by unbelievable snorkelling. What’s not to like. This was only a short overnight stay for us this time but no doubt we will be back.
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| Green Island even turned on another great sunset for us. |
Next morning we were underway again for a short 14 mile hop over to Fitzroy Islandwhere we’d spent a few days on returning from our sojourn in the Coral Sea. Fortunately there was enough wind for us to sail this time and we had a very enjoyable downwind run wing on wing.
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| Our Dreamtime getting along very nicely wing on wing in light winds |
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| Green Island to Fitzroy Island - 14.4 Nautical Miles - 2 Hours 58 Minutes Average Speed 4.8 Knots - Max Speed 8.0 Knots |
The northerly breeze that carried us across from Green Island was also blowing into the bay at Fitzroy but as it was predicted to drop overnight we didn’t expect any worries as we dropped anchor off the resort. A mild swell provided a little bit of rocking through the night but not enough to cause any lost sleep. In fact, after a string of early morning starts, we managed a nice sleep in before heading ashore late morning to do another of the excellent National Park walks on the island.
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| We loved the National Park walks through the rain forests on Fitzroy Island |
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| Karen on the trail. |
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| Add caption |
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| This vine wasn't sure which way to go. |
On returning to the beach we found the wind had turned more nor-west and picked up to 10-15 knots. The swell coming into the bay had also grown considerably. We stripped off to swimmers and put all valuables and clothes in a waterproof bag we carry before launching the dinghy off the fast shelving coral beach into the breaking waves. Lots of fun.
With Our Dreamtime at anchor doing a good impersonation of a rocking horse on steroids in the swells, stepping from the dinghy onto the swim platform rising and falling by a good metre at the stern required a leap of faith with great timing. Sorry but there’s unfortunately no video of either process which is a pity because it would no doubt be entertaining.
After securing the inflatable on its davits we very quickly decided we would need to move elsewhere if a decent night’s sleep was to be had. After a quick look at the charts, we upped anchor and motored a bit under three miles across to Wide Bay on the mainland in the lee of Cape Grafton.
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| Fitzroy Island to Wide Bay - 2.8 Nautical Miles - 0 Hours 46 Minutes Average Speed 3.6 Knots Max Speed 5.7 Knots |
This proved an inspired move as the anchorage here was beautiful with two great sand beaches separated by spectacular granite boulders. Even better it was well sheltered from the northerly wind with only a small, slow swell rolling around the point into the bay. We rigged a bridle with a long anchor snubber run back to mid ships which kept the bow pointing into it and prevented any roll. See how it works HERE.
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| Sundowners would not have been this calm if we'd stayed at Fitzroy Island. |
Sundowners that afternoon were enjoyed in very contrasting conditions to if we’d stayed at Fitzroy Island and we were again able to get a very good night’s sleep ahead of our early departure for our next jump southwards. We love a plan that works.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------We love to receive comments on our blog from readers. If you do leave a comment and you also have a blog, please leave a link as well. We'd like to click over for a visit and leave you a comment too.
To stay right up to date with what we’re up to and see lots more photos check out and 'like' our Dreamtime Sail Facebook page at DreamtimeSail
To stay right up to date with what we’re up to and see lots more photos check out and 'like' our Dreamtime Sail Facebook page at DreamtimeSail
If you have only recently discovered our blog and would like to read how it all started, or work through our previous adventures, click the link to go back to our first blog entry. Stuff it. Let's just go sailing anyway.
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