The Duke Islands

Wednesday 23^rd September 2015

There were only three boats anchored at Curlew last night, surprisingly quiet. Other than Wilparina and ourselves, a catamaran arrived in the late afternoon.

Keen to keep moving South, we pulled up anchor at 6 am again this morning to do a short dash, around 30 nm, to Hunter Island before a forecast increase in wind strength arrives late morning. Hunter is a good anchorage to sit out Strong SE trade winds.

North Eastern tip of Curlew in the morning sun

Wilparina motoring South from Curlew in light conditions

Approaching the Duke Islands 

We were anchored at Hunter by 11.30 am, and the wind didn’t really start to come in with any strength till early afternoon. We motored/motor sailed all of the way to Hunter in light SE winds.

On arrival at Hunter once again we were the only boats here, although the catamaran we saw last night at Curlew arrived about an hour after us. Another 3 arrivals turned up in the afternoon. The wind did come up as forecast, but a few hours later than expected.

Mark and Janet are further down the coast, sailing to Keppel Island today. Janet reported the catch of her first spotted mackerel.

We had a relaxing afternoon, catching up on a bit of sleep, doing some chores and Steve and Kim came over for sundowners, having spent a good few hours clearing a toilet blockage that was previously thought fixed. All appears well now.

It is an early night for all of us, and we will be staying here tomorrow to dodge the Southerly change coming up the coast. There were gale warnings on the Capricornia Coast today