Heading south on the East Coast of Australia. Questions.

[Moana Bella]

And a PS: If you go inside Fraser, I'm just checking that you know to get the latest co-ordinates from Tin Can Bay Coast Guard before crossing Wide Bay Bar. And call Sandy Straits Coast Guard before going through Sheridan Flats, so they will tell you about conditions and the sand bar across the channel.
But don't be put off by this - its a lovely trip, as long as you do your homework and give the strait the respect it deserves.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by chrisr

there's a lot of stuff about the current on the BOM website, but very simplistically : 10 nm offshore...3-4kts



it's gold !



cheers,

Even I can follow those kinds of directions. [emoji23]

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Moana Bella

And a PS: If you go inside Fraser, I'm just checking that you know to get the latest co-ordinates from Tin Can Bay Coast Guard before crossing Wide Bay Bar. And call Sandy Straits Coast Guard before going through Sheridan Flats, so they will tell you about conditions and the sand bar across the channel.

But don't be put off by this - its a lovely trip, as long as you do your homework and give the strait the respect it deserves.

Noted. I’d rather be stopping there for weeks, or longer.

If I do this trip, however, I won’t have that luxury. But next year I should have plenty of time to enjoy the place properly,

[catsketcher]

I would also recommend that you have a flexible plan of where you want to go. One of the most important things about cruising is to be adaptable to conditions. I would even suggest you have a less certain objective - instead of "getting to Airlie beach by August 1st" or similar, it is much better to have "head north to the tropics" as your aim. Then you can adjust to different opportunities that present themselves.

A case in point happened to us 20 years ago. The weather was forecast to be pretty rough from the south, so we stopped in at Bundy and had a couple of days doing jobs and hanging out in the library. Then when the wind died out, we glided across to Lady Musgrave Island. We had a great time in the glass out conditions, snorkelling and watching noddy terns, yet up on the reef were two boats that had ventured into the lagoons, even with the bad weather well forecast. We were there two days after people had lost their boats and the place was totally benign. We had a great time two days after people went through a harrowing event.

I love the Whitsundays (and all the coast) but you will have a better time being in the moment and cruising to Keppel than busting a gut to get to Airlie and back. No place is perfect, every place is beautiful if you get it in a good mood, you just have to be ready to slow down and watch.

Strangely, I haven't found much set inside the reef itself, although the tidal flows from Cape Capricorn onwards to the Whitsundays are very strong. I find the most southerly set is along the NSW coast from Yamba to Smokey Cape or Port Mac. To view the set well use the thermal pics from the BOM. Go to this page and watch the animations.

IDYOC300 product of Oceanography

cheers

Phil

[GILow]

Originally Posted by catsketcher

I would also recommend that you have a flexible plan of where you want to go. One of the most important things about cruising is to be adaptable to conditions. I would even suggest you have a less certain objective - instead of "getting to Airlie beach by August 1st" or similar, it is much better to have "head north to the tropics" as your aim. Then you can adjust to different opportunities that present themselves.

A case in point happened to us 20 years ago. The weather was forecast to be pretty rough from the south, so we stopped in at Bundy and had a couple of days doing jobs and hanging out in the library. Then when the wind died out, we glided across to Lady Musgrave Island. We had a great time in the glass out conditions, snorkelling and watching noddy terns, yet up on the reef were two boats that had ventured into the lagoons, even with the bad weather well forecast. We were there two days after people had lost their boats and the place was totally benign. We had a great time two days after people went through a harrowing event.

I love the Whitsundays (and all the coast) but you will have a better time being in the moment and cruising to Keppel than busting a gut to get to Airlie and back. No place is perfect, every place is beautiful if you get it in a good mood, you just have to be ready to slow down and watch.

Strangely, I haven't found much set inside the reef itself, although the tidal flows from Cape Capricorn onwards to the Whitsundays are very strong. I find the most southerly set is along the NSW coast from Yamba to Smokey Cape or Port Mac. To view the set well use the thermal pics from the BOM. Go to this page and watch the animations.

IDYOC300 product of Oceanography

cheers

Phil

Phil,

All good advice, however this trip would have time constraints, hence I've asked about expected weather comditons.

This won't be a cruise, that's next year.

Matt

[catsketcher]

I guess the best advice I can give is to remember that you can have a great cruise if you have either a destination (and no time constraints) or a time constraint (and no destination). A destination WITH a time constraint is for planes, cars and delivery skippers, but does not make for fun cruising.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by catsketcher

I guess the best advice I can give is to remember that you can have a great cruise if you have either a destination (and no time constraints) or a time constraint (and no destination). A destination WITH a time constraint is for planes, cars and delivery skippers, but does not make for fun cruising.

Well said, Phil, true words to which all fledgling cruisers should harken.

Jim

[GILow]

Originally Posted by catsketcher

I guess the best advice I can give is to remember that you can have a great cruise if you have either a destination (and no time constraints) or a time constraint (and no destination). A destination WITH a time constraint is for planes, cars and delivery skippers, but does not make for fun cruising.

Yep, I do know all this. You are preaching to the choir mate.

Like I said, this one has time constraints.