Making tracks

It's Monday morning (9am) and we are rolling south back toward the Whitsunday Islands.   We'll stop there for a few days and then push on.

 

By late this afternoon, we'll have covered 300 of the 850 nm between Cairns and Brisbane.   A couple days ago, we had a perfect cruising day with light wind, smooth seas, and whales.    Yesterday was pretty much a bash, covering the boat with salt as the spray blew over us and the sun baked the salt on.  Oso is humming along but will need a bath after this leg!

 

Today has started out good (since 5 am!) and the forecast is OK for the rest of the day.   The wind and seas tend to be a bit lighter in the early morning, so we try to get underway after the first cup of coffee.

 

We still don't have any update on our shipping schedule, but we'll keep pressing for Brisbane and take what comes.

 

E

Escape

This morning we finally "escaped" from Cairns in northern Queensland.   We arrived here 6 weeks ago hoping for extended time exploring and diving the outer reefs of the Great Barrier Reef.  Unfortunately, for most of our time here we have had 'enhanced trade winds' which means it has blown 20 - 25 kts and often 25 - 30+.  There is very little protection from wind and waves out on the reef and there are few islands or bays to hide behind.

 

The last two weeks we have been waiting for the winds to diminish since we have approx. 800 miles to go into the wind and seas back to Brisbane.    It looks like we have a good weather window for the next few days, so we will make some tracks south and sneak out to the reef for some diving when possible.  We hope to be in Brisbane around Aug 15.

 

Once we reach Brisbane, our plan is to ship Oso Blanco back to the Seattle area in late August.   We have a shipping contract, but the ocean shipping agents are notoriously late and undependable, so we do not have a firm shipping date.   Rather than just sit and wait, we have made reservations to return to the states and be at the cabin for Labor Day weekend!   If the boat has shipped, we will all come home.   If the boat is going ship soon after Sept 1, I will likely remain in OZ.    If shipment is delayed or uncertain, I will come home with Ann and Bear and return to OZ when necessary.    Either way, some of us will at Eagle Lake for the end of summer festivities.

 

We have obviously been disappointed that the weather limited our adventure on the GBR.   However, Cairns is a vibrant active town and we had a lot of fun in the area.  The marina is excellent and right in the center of the action, there are excellent hiking and biking trials, and we also did a number of great road trips inland.

 

The final leg of our South Pacific adventure is underway.   Oso is running perfectly and we are traveling with our good friends on Mystery Ship, just the way we started out from Mexico in April of 2010.

 

E

 

 

Weather Hampers Time on the Reef

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR, not to be confused with PBR in Wisconsin) runs along the NE coast of Australia for over 1600 miles. It varies from over 60 miles off shore to only 15 – 20 miles as it nears the northern coast. Most areas of the reef are hard to reach for private boats since it is well offshore, there are few islands to break up the force of the winds and seas, and the typical winds during the cruising season are at least 15 – 20 kts causing 4’ – 6’ seas. Anchoring or hanging out near the reef for diving must be planned carefully and coordinated with the occasional weather breaks. Most visitors and divers access the reef on day trips aboard large high speed commercial catamarans which zoom out and back in all but the worst weather. Many towns along the coast claim to be the best access point to the reef but Cairns is one of the best with the reef only an hour away on the fast boats.

 

We arrived in Cairns in mid June to spend our last month of our cruising life exploring and diving the GBR. Cairns is a very active tourist town and has a great marina to base out of. There is only one island in the region that has reasonably protected anchorage, so you are pretty much restricted to being ‘in town’ or out on the reef in settled weather. Unfortunately, since we got to Cairns, it has blown 25 – 30 kts around the clock for over 3 weeks. The reef and surrounding area has had large seas and we have been holed up in the marina for most of the time. Two weeks ago, our friends, the Taylors, came over from NZ for a family vacation and week of diving and the winds continued to howl. We took a chance and went out to an island approx 2 hrs away to try to find some shelter. After a couple nights being rocked around and not being able to get out to the reef, we gave up and returned to the marina. Taylors ended up taking one of the commercial boats out for a day of diving and reported that most of the passengers and some of the crew were sick on the way out.

 

Our cruising partners Glen and Cindy on “Mystery Ship” caught up to us in Cairns with the same goal of diving on the GBR. We made a plan to watch the weather forecast and do whatever it took to get out on the reef. Last weekend we saw a 3 day break in the 20 – 30 kt winds and headed out 60 miles to the NE to reach one of the more remote areas of the reef (the Agincourt reefs). We were lucky that the winds obeyed the forecast and we had 10 – 20 kts and were able to find reasonable protection from the waves anchored behind the reef. It is a weird sensation to be anchored with nothing in sight in what seems like the middle of the ocean. The reef remains completely under water, but still breaks to force of the seas.

 

We had two days of 2 –3 dives each and finally got to see what the GBR has to offer. It is estimated that the reef has lost over 50% of it’s coral since 1960, but we still had good dives and saw beautiful coral and many fish. A couple of Minke whales visited us in the anchorage and got so close we could almost touch them. We were carefully monitoring the weather and saw that winds and seas were expected to rebuild late on Sunday afternoon. We pulled anchor early that morning and headed back to Cairns. Apparently the wind gods were not paying attention to the forecast and by mid morning we had steady 25 – 30 kts, gusting to 35+, right on the nose. It was a 7 hour bash and crash all the way home with the boat falling off steep sharp waves and shaking us like we have not experienced in nearly two years. Luckily we knew it was going to be a short trip and hung on for the ride.

 

It is time for us to start watching the weather in order to head back towards Brisbane, where we will ship Oso back to the USA. It is nearly 800 miles back south – mostly into the winds and waves. We have 4 –5 weeks to travel and hope to sit out the strongest weather and make tracks when it lets up. Our goal is to revisit some of our favorite places on the Australian coast and minimize the bashing and crashing in our ‘final voyage’.

Happy Birthday Eric!

Looking good Eric!

SCUBA diving on the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef on your birthday!  PRICELESS!!

Our Outback Adventure by Bear

Ayers Rock, Uluru

In June, we went to Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock) which is near the town of Alice Springs. It is in the center of Australia. We went in my birthday week, so technically, it was a birthday present. Now I will tell you more about our trip.

          My family and I went for four nights. Two nights we spent under the stars, and two nights in a hotel. While under the stars, we slept in swags (big canvas sacks that you put your sleeping bag into). IT WAS BLOODY COLD!

          We got to Uluru by taking a long, cold bus ride in an old, beat-up bus that did not have heat or AC. But it was fun all the same, because the guide (Cooper) was really good at his job.

          There are many Aboriginal stories or sacred sites about Uluru. Some people climb the rock, but you shouldn’t! If you do, you are climbing up and down sacred Aboriginal sites. We did not climb for that reason.

          We were not the only people on the tour, no way. There were 14 other back-packers. There were: 5 Germans, 1 Scot, 1 English, 2 French frogs, 3 Asians, and our guide Cooper (or as he likes it, Boss). So, there were a lot of other people.

          We had a lot of good experiences on the trip like riding camels and learning about Aboriginals. I would HIGHLY recommend going to Uluru. It is an amazing experience for all ages.