Today is Carole's Birthday. We need a rest from rolling anchorages, so I called Magnetic Island Marina (only about 8 nm away) to see if we could get a berth for the night. They were hardly busy and in no time I had booked a berth for Cooinda and ourselves and preparations were made to get the anchor up and motor over to Nelly Bay, where the marina is located.
Just before we left, Amazon headed off towing his recovered dinghy.
Amazon with recovered dinghy leaving Cape Cleveland
We arrived around 10.30 am, could select any berth we wanted as the marina was less that half full, and we were very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the facility. It is located on the waterline of a Peppers Resort and not far from the Townsville / Magnetic Island ferry terminal. There was an IGA supermarket close by and a number of eating options. Other shopping was only about 1 km away on the road to Picnic Bay. We did a bit of shopping at the supermarket, booked in to the restaurant for dinner, to celebrate Carole's birthday, and wandered down the street to the 'main' shopping area. We had a light lunch, went to the fishing gear shop to replace some tackle and walked back to the marina.
As we had all afternoon to occupy, we decided to catch a bus to Horsehoe Bay on the north of the island. The bus ride was exciting to say the least. I think the driver was a retired formula one driver.
Horseshoe Bay represents the only viable overnight anchorage as an alternative to the marina. There were lots of yachts anchored and on moorings in a very scenic bay, with a nice beach. The anchorage would roll a bit under the conditionbs we had experience over the previous few days, but probably would be more comfortable. The beachfront is lined with shops, restaurants and a tavern, and it was very busy.
Carole, Rod & Lee at Horsehoe Bay
Yachts anchored at Horsehoe Bay
After a good walk around and a beer at the tavern, we caught the bus back to Nelly Bay. It was packed and some passengers trying to catch it down the track had to be left behind for the next bus, as there was no room.
After a brief rest, we showered, had champagne and nibbles on Mica and headed off to the restaurant (about 50 yards) for a most enjoyable dinner.
We didn't party on as the plan is to get up early and leave the marina at 6 am to motor to Townsville, as we need to go in on a high tide due to a very shallow entrance < 1m LWS.
Overall we were very impressed with Magnetic Island and will return there before heading south.
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