Despite lockdowns lingering, Kim and John Clinton were able to continue their annual cruise from Sydney to the Whitsundays in 2021.
They provided this recount of another memorable journey.
We’ve been part of the annual pilgrimage north to Queensland’s Whitsunday Islands for more than 20 winters now, but it’s always different and still an adventure.
These days on Holy Cow, our Beneteau OC50, we do the 1000nm trip two-up in a pretty leisurely manner, mostly day hops with stopovers in favourite anchorages.
Holy Cow departed Sydney late May 2021, ahead of some forecast “hazardous surf conditions” being generated by a big weather system that was lashing New Zealand, so we only stopped briefly for a sleep at Port Stephens, Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour, then through to the Gold Coast.
A day after we left Coffs Harbour, a wave of 10 metres was recorded. In other years, we might have just stayed on in Coffs or Iluka and spent some days ashore, but this year we were on a timetable for our annual maintenance booking at Gold Coast City Marina.
Once on the Gold Coast, we headed up the Coomera River (on the high tide) and the regular crew from Gold Coast City Marina met us to lift Holy Cow for the yearly spruce up ahead of the Whitsunday Regattas.
We had some major work to be done this year- rigging replacement, mast service and antifouling, but because it is so convenient having all the facilities and services on hand, we always bring a shopping list of extra jobs.
We cannot speak highly enough of GCCM and the Gold Coast Marine Precinct in general – it is a huge facility with every conceivable maritime service, product and operator, all on site.
It makes for a convenient break in the Sydney to Whitsundays trip and there are even facilities if you need to live aboard while on the hardstand.
From the Gold Coast, we headed up through the Moreton Bay Islands with only a little bump at Jacob’s Well and on to Mooloolaba, another favourite stopover at the Wharf Marina and chance to catch up with friends at the Mooloolaba Sailing Club.
The entrance to the Mooloolah River is always a concern, and although it was only dredged a month before our arrival, the big seas that we had missed on the NSW coast had already dumped more sand across the entrance.
Coast Guard Mooloolaba QF6 has a Facebook page where they give daily updates and videos on the state of the entrance. It is well worth checking if you’re thinking of going in and, of course, check Notices to Mariners for regular updates.
The next challenge was the notorious Wide Bay Bar, and again it’s the locals we get our advice from. When approaching Fraser Island, you just call Tin Can Bay QF17 and they will send a text of the latest waypoints.
It is interesting to see on the plotter how the track though the sandbars has changed so much over recent years, compared with the track through the channels of the Great Sandy Straits.
Timing is crucial for this bar crossing and subsequent shallows in the Great Sandy Straits. For Holy Cow, crossing the bar about two hours before high tide takes you in with the incoming tide all the way to the shallow point at Sheridan Flats and then the outgoing tide will take you through to the deeper waters of Hervey Bay.
Alternately, after crossing the bar, anchorages are abundant so anchoring to wait for the next tide is an easy option.
We keep detailed logbooks which are invaluable as a reference when revisiting routes and anchorages from year to year, but as well we run the Nebo logging and tracking app, which gives us daily written and graphic logs of all Holy Cow’s movements.
Below is the monthly summary of our June trip from Gold Coast to Yeppoon. The bonus with Nebo is that our crew and family can follow our progress at any time.
Once across the Wide Bay Bar and through the Great Sandy Straits, we head along the western side of Fraser Island and inside the sheltered waters of the Great Barrier Reef.
From here, there are multiple choices of creek and island anchorages to day hop the rest of the way north to the Whitsundays.
We anchored at South White Cliffs, Burnett River, Pancake Creek and then into Keppel Bay Marina at Rosslyn Bay. Close to Yeppoon, the Keppel Bay Marina is a popular stopover for refuelling and provisioning (just don’t arrive at low tide!). The Capricornia Cruising Yacht Club is a must for sundowners.
In 2021, the Queensland marinas and anchorages seemed particularly busy. It pays to check Notices to Mariners regularly for live firing and entry restrictions.
Shoalwater Bay is the area usually affected but coastal exercises go from Evans Head in NSW right up to Cairns in North Qld.
The weather gets warmer and the water gets bluer the further north we go. Easy day sails to Supply Bay, Curlew Island and then on to Brampton Island for the most spectacular sunset.
Finally we were in the Whitsunday Islands and it was busy with boats. We tied up at Port of Airlie Marina for a couple of nights, said “hello” at the Whitsunday Sailing Club, did a trip to the supermarket and then headed out to the islands.
The weather was perfect; we even had a few days without the persistent South Easterly to go paddle boarding over beautiful reefs where coral appears to be coming back beautifully after the devastation of Cyclone Debbie.
Got a cruising story or photos to share? Send them through to media@cyca.com.au.
