Heading north

After enjoying a final Airlie market and catching up with some Rochy people on Saturday morning, we sailed off to one of our favourite spots, Double Bay.
While we are out of all communication (save for those freaky little atmospheric conditions at sunrise and sunset providing a glimpse of the weather on the internet), Double Bay is well protected from winds and swell, and teases you with its fish life. Not to mention the beauty of a quiet little bay surrounded by mountains.

One was released and one was dinner.

Yesterday we decided forecast conditions for the next few days looked pretty good for our trip up to Townsville so off we set.

Beautiful Olden Island - burnt off by Marine Parks. This tiny island is rock and grass so you'd have to wonder why it needed burning. 

(Unburnt as yet) Grassy Island, just outside Double Bay

Despite a Bureau forecast of 15 to 20 knots increasing to 25 in the afternoon, the wind barely got to 10 knots and the sea was like glass.

With our new, downloaded diagrams on sail trim and reefing, we (finally) made some sense of the best shapes for the main and head sail and twitched some extra knots. Yay! The conditions were perfect for us to play around with the sails and so today, when we set off from Bowen, with a land breeze of 10 knots we were able to set the sails early and effectively. Of course it helped having a ebbing tide and the swell going our way.
We have now dropped anchor at Cape Upstart which puts us one (long) day out of Townsville, though we may pull up just south tomorrow night at Cape Cleveland, depending on conditions.
Today's trip included three pods of whales, well off in the distance but their mighty breaches and splashes could be seen for miles.