Month: June 2022

From the Sailing Blog of S/V Cielo

“June 21st, 2022, We’ve had an amazing sail today to Burnett heads near Bundaberg. Early start to make the most of the tide and got in around 1pm. We ran the watermaker all morning and made over 80 litres so really happy with that. Still got some air getting in somewhere when we flush the system after running it though. Later we are catching up for a drink with our friends (finally it’s been a year since we have seen them) on their boat. And then an early start tomorrow to head out to Lady Musgrave as the weather is looking good to go out on the reef. It’s the furthest part south of the great barrier reef. If it’s not any good, the forecast is for great sailing conditions so we will make the most of it either way.

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June 24th, 2022, A few days ago we left Burnett Heads around 3am and sailed all the way to Lady Musgrave Island. It was spinnaker sailing most of the way and we got there just before 1pm. LMI is a Coral Cay – basically a reef in a ring with an 6-8m anchorage in the middle and a little island on which terns and noddies nest. The sun was right overhead so we had clear visibility to avoid any bommies on the way in. We went for a walk around the island after a very choppy dinghy ride and the next day we went snorkelling at the reef and saw sharks and a bunch of colourful fishies. We left there early yesterday and had great sailing all day again. We intended to head to heron island but ended up at mast head island as it was closer. It was so rolly and when the tide turned the anchor and chain was making the boat spin around again so we up anchored and have been making our way overnight to the Keppels.

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June 25th, 2022, After getting into Great Keppel Island earlier we had a bit of a sleep catch up then went for a walk on the island taking a picnic with us. There are about 40 boats anchored here! We had a little explore in the dinghy but there isn’t a lot of coral nearby for snorkelling so we landed and walked over to butterfish bay and wreck bay from the bay we are anchored in. Packed Australian beaches as usual (not). It was great to stretch legs as I don’t think we’ve had a decent walk since the Gold Coast! We saw butterflies and some birds that look remarkably like a type of peacock.

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June 27th, 2022, Yet more extremely busy beaches! Oh, the crowds. We took another walk on the island inland to the resort on the western side – about 6kms. Rewarded ourselves with icecream and a drink and then walked back via the shore which often involved scrambling over rocks. It was low tide so worth exploring. We found more goats and lizards and a little crab. Temperature about 21 degrees and sunny. Expecting a big blow tomorrow so just checking our anchor is set and we have enough chain out.

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S/V Cielo is an IP 420

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From the Sailing Blog of S/V Cielo

“June 14th, 2022, Bye bye Brisbane! On way to double island point. It’s a shame to miss seeing Teewah from the coast because of the dark. We had lovely flights from there a few years ago. Winds so much lighter than forecast so the iron sail has been on. Yuk. Managed to do a few hours under the spinnaker but wind speed has fallen to 3-4 knots.

Quite a busy shipping channel to get out of Moreton Bay – there are sandbanks everywhere so no surprise really. Saw another dugong last night. No photos as you only see their noses pop up, take a breath and dive back under. Stunning sunset again.

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June 17th, 2022, We got to Double Island Point as the sun came up. Very pretty indeed! We motored until 1am and then the wind finally came along so we sailed until our arrival. Stopped for breakfast and a cup of tea and then decided to head on to the Wide Bay Bar as the weather looked the best today for crossing. The coastguard here are really good. They give you coordinates for the best approach as there are some sand banks that the incoming swell and waves break on which can be very unnerving.

After an hour and some rock and roll during which some cushions fell onto the floor, we arrived in the Great Sandy Straits. We will find somewhere to anchor overnight and get some much needed sleep. For anyone who has been there we are right next to Fraser Island and almost at Hervey Bay. We’ve been warned the mossies are pretty active even now. Uh oh.

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June 19th, 2022, We made it to K’gari (Fraser Island) – the largest sand island on the planet! It was a pretty full on day. We had to time our trip to go through a really shallow spot of the great sandy strait called Sheridan Flats – we needed the tide to come in up to a certain level so ended up tacking upwind against a 2 knot current to waste time as we had gotten to the start point a bit early.

After we got through (shallowest we saw was 1.9m and we draw 1.54m) the wind picked up to 20 odd knots so we had a cracking sail further north to anchor out of the wind at North White Cliffs. We landed the dinghy and went for a walk up the beach admiring the artwork of the sand bubbler crabs and careful not to step on the army of tiny Soldier Crabs as we refloated the dinghy to get back to the boat.

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S/V Cielo is an IP 420

Read the full S/V “Cielo” Blog Here…

From the Sailing Blog of S/V Island Spirit

“May 31, 2022, THE TOTAL IS IN…., 3,294 nm run over 62 individual legs!
Here is the total trip: https://new.spotwalla.com/trip/029c-222ed31e-ae72/view

We made it back to our home waters of the Upper Chesapeake Bay, May 30, 2022 after a challenging weather month of May.  Many cruisers were complaining about the spring weather and how they were stuck and could not move north. We wanted to sail from the Bahamas direct to Cape Lookout, a simple 3 day passage with the aid of the Gulfstream, but our weather router, Chris Parker, said there was not going to be a good 3-day window. So we headed for Florida and then ran north on shorter, single overnight trips.

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Bahamas to Florida

Our passage from Bahamas to Florida was the calmest we have had in 11 years of crossings. Literally, the Gulfstream was a lake. What a simple motor run this was.

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Offshore Again to Charleston, SC

We had dreams of docking and walking EAST BAY Street in Charleston, but when we arrived and called every single marina for a dock, they were all full. ZERO slips available.  So we dropped the anchor off the aircraft carrier and rested. We were only here to pick up a new B&G RI10 radar interface box that never did fix the broken B&G radar. Thanks, B&G, we did not need it, even though your tech told me to buy one. The problem is the antenna and we have now ordered a new one. So, our visit to Charleston was a bust and out the inlet the next morning we raced.

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Once more Offshore run to Cape Lockout, NC

We departed Charleston after breakfast and made the offshore run for Cape Lookout, NC. Each of these ocean runs was about 36 hours, so one more overnighter at sea. Sadly, much of this had to be motor sailing as again, we were running before storms and trying to get into port before they would hit us.  At this point of the trip, we were really missing Caribbean Tradewinds sailing, as the winds are steady and always from the east. Here on the coast, you need to deal with cold fronts and storms. Not fun, and we missed the trades. When we reached the Beaufort NC inlet, of course the winds were 20 gusting 25 knots. We needed to reef down to a double reef as we bashed into the ebbing tide, making 3 foot standing waves in the long, long inlet. Finally, we reached the ICW and ran up Adams Creek to a calm anchorage after 36 hours.

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Pulling into Annapolis is HOME

Yes, our home dock is in Rock Hall, MD, but pulling into Annapolis is the real feeling of HOME. We first sailed here and rented boats here in 1986. Every year since we have sailed to Annapolis and have spent many nights here. This is one of our all-time top destinations. When we sailed past the Thomas Point Light, we finally knew we were HOME…..it has been a long, long, much longer than expected trip from the Caribbean Sea. We feel very accomplished and we are proud of the distances we have run. Go, ISLAND SPIRIT!

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S/V Island Spirit is an IP 35 #165

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From the Sailing Blog of S/V Cielo

“June 6th, 2022, We’ve had a cracking overnight sail although still have a few hours to go.

The wind picked up to 20 knots although we saw gusts of 27 at times but our sails were reefed so no issues and we were still making excellent progress. The sea was a bit choppy at times but this eased when we came closer to shore. We rounded Cape Byron around 2am.

The sunset last night was stunning and the sunrise this morning was very similar!

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June 7th, 2022, We’ve arrived at the Gold Coast!

Total sailing time from Coffs was around 29 hours plus 1.6 hours of motoring which was really just getting into the GC Seaway.

After breakfast the wind picked up so we were able to sail nearly all the way – what a bonus! It’s a bit chilly here but I love the weather forecast – due to be sunny all week!

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June 8th, 2022, Another lovely sunset.

 Tee shirt weather during the day. Laundry done. Provisioning done. Work stuff done.

A couple of boat jobs to get parts for including an issue with air getting into the fresh water hose which makes showers difficult.

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S/V Cielo is an IP 420

Read the full S/V “Cielo” Blog Here…

From the Sailing Blog of S/V Trance

“Friday May 27, Today is the Day! Anchor was up by 8:00 am destination Tolchester Marina! We arrived at 11:00am, welcomed back by the sound of horns and people cheering. Our family and friends were spread out around the marina on different docks. There was also a cameraman from the NBC Baltimore TV station filming our return into the marina.

The three day celebration begins!

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Thanks to All who followed our journey around the globe. We enjoyed sharing our adventures and day to day life on a sailboat. There will be more Trance escapades in the future, Nova Scotia, Bermuda, the Caribbean to name a few. So keep an eye on this Blog Page, as well as “Sailing Trance” on Facebook.

Fair winds for all your adventures!

Marlene and Dan

S/V Trance is an IP 420 #92

Read the full S/V “Trance” Blog Here…