Last Couple of Days at Abell Point

Sunday 28^th June 2015

The wind continues to howl, and a check of yesterdays weather observations showed that Hamilton Island had 46 knots last night. One of Smithy’s motor boat mates was over there during it all and said there was a fair bit of tree damage as a result. At Airlie it is very gusty all day with patches of rain, and then a few quiet periods before it is back again.

Janet decided yesterday afternoon to try out Woolies home delivery service, so she put together an order, we added a few heavy items that are a pain to carry over long distances, and the order was placed for morning delivery today. At just after 9 am, the groceries turned up at the marina, and only had to be carried down the marina arm, instead of all they way from town.

It was not a great day to be out and about, so I filled the fuel tank, and topped up the jerry cans, topped up the water tank etc. A walk to the chandlery to get a few bits and pieces helped fill in the morning.

Drinks have been organized on “Ruby”  at 5pm, and we plan to have a baked dinner (chicken) tonight.  The Cobb is fired up and the chicken put on to cook, before we head off. It takes a couple of hours to cook, so should be perfect by the time we return.

Quite a crowd turned up on “Ruby”, with Mark , Janet, ourselves, and Steve and Kim Smith. Ruby is tied up alongside “Mad”, so Garry who we have met along the way also dropped in, as did another couple from another Dufour that the Foghartys knew.

Baked vegies were put on when we got back to the boat and we had a very nice baked dinner with Mark and Janet. Carole dressed up her home baked chocolate brownies for desert which went down very well.

Looks like another windy and rainy night. The winds at Hammo reached 38 knots tonight.

Monday 29^th June 2015

Heavy rainfall greeted us as we rose this morning, it is still blowing hard, and a cruise ship has arrived in Pioneer Bay.  Passengers are being ferried ashore to our end of the marina, to be greeted by local volunteers and a live band.

In the meantime, the team ( a man and lady from Quantum Marine) arrived to remove Koonya’s mainsail and take it off to the loft for repair. It is a big sail and it took 4 of us to get it down and 3 of us to carry it off the marina arm to the awaiting truck.

Carole and I walked into Airlie Beach to buy some fresh veges etc, as we hope to get out of the marina tomorrow. The town was full of tourists from the cruise ship, hopefully they spent some money in the town.

Steve and Kim booked a hire car and went to Dingo Beach for lunch, and then on to have a look at Bowen. We hung around the marina to help put the sail back on Koonya, which turned up just after lunch, nicely repaired. It was still very windy, so getting it back on the mast was a bit challenging, but all went well.

We are meeting lots of people, as everyone is walking around the marina legs waiting for this crap weather to pass through. Today was wetter than the previous few and equally as windy.

A new neighbor arrived on the other side of our arm this morning, a 58 foot yacht called Pilgrim, which runs charters in Sydney Harbour. They decided to head North this year, to escape the Sydney winter,  and have already picked up a couple of charters to keep them busy. Otherwise, they will just enjoy themselves.

Dinner tonight was at Barcelona Restaurant at the marina. We dined with Steve and Kim, and Mark and Janet opted for a quiet dinner on board. The meal at Barcelona was pretty good, much better than the table service.  

We hope to be heading out into the Islands in the morning. The forecast is still not great, but we have had enough of sitting on the marina waiting for something better.