Salsa Update, Tin Can Bay In The Bush
Mooloolaba to Sandy Straits
Once again faced with the dilemma of a sail just a tad bit too long to do in one day, combined with tidal restrictions on the entrance, I decided to Leave Mooloolaba around 3 AM in hopes to make the incoming tide to the Wide Bay Bar just south of Fraser Island to enter the Sandy Strait. The sail itself was rather uneventful, I even managed to watch two movies underway something I usually don’t do when coastal cruising, but there was just nothing going on so I just popped my head out every 5 minutes as I sailed along wing and wing on a broad reach. Just inside the bar my good friend Ned from Tanamara was waiting to pilot me in and had plans for me to visit him and his wife Heike at their property about 45 minutes from Tin Can Bay.
Salsa was secured nicely in their spare birth at the Tin Can Bay Marina (which is for sale by the way…), pure luxury from my stand point, hot showers, walk on and off the boat, perfectly protected snuggled way up a little creek! It was not only great to see both Ned and Heike after all they did for me when my forestay broke on my way south, but staying on their property in ’the bush’ was an awesome experience. The first night we had a feast on Prawns followed by an open fire Barbeque the second day. The coolest part was that I was sleeping in an old bus “bushy the bush bus” that had been converted into a camper-van, and even had my own jeep so I didn’t have to make the 2 minute walk to get the bus from where Ned and Heike were staying! (Don’t worry I mostly walked, even though the Jeep IS more fun). Normally they have a clan of Kangaroos that visit in the mornings but I was off at 6 AM to the Maryborough market with Heike who has a stall where she sells her handcrafted leather goods and I had a chance to walk the town for a few hours and take a tour between overeating at the market and the following morning I probably slept in too late to catch the Kangaroos but I did catch a huge lizard, even got a picture but he started climbing up a tree trying to hide from me. After two nights in the bush it was time to head back to Tin Can Bay as it was time for the Annual “Bay to Bay” race from Tin Can to Hervey Bay. Its around 100 trailer sailors that sail about 20 miles to an anchorage in the Sandy Strait the first night then sail the rest of the way to Hervey bay the next day. We got to watch some really fast Catamarans and Trimarans coming across the finish the first day and then watched the race start the following day, one of the pictures just showed the channel completely full of spinnakers, how cool!!
Currently I am back in Bundy painting Salsa’s Bottom and getting the chain re-galvanized, then hope to be sailing further north in a few days. More pictures from this blog were added to the Australia Album;
Another Update covering the Sandy Strait to Bundy coming soon! -Kirk
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