Moreton Island Camp - January 2016
This was my 2nd camping sail to Moreton Island on the H16 and whilst my organisation was rather impromptu the experience was wonderfully spectacular. Meeting up with Dave at Raby Bay we began the task of rigging out H16's and packing everything we needed for the trip upon our trampolines. Watching the flags @ VMR it was evident that the winds favored us for a nice downwind leg to start. Once out in the bay just north of Peel Island the winds dropped around 3-5kts seeing us both attempting to maximise as much speed out of our cats as we could. This was often hampered as the sandy bottom and clear blue water showed us everything from large herds of Dugong to giant turtles, stingrays and Shovel Nose sharkes dashing under our hulls. The winds soon changed to a nice easterly which saw us both jumping out on trapeze where we played dodge the turtle. I've never seen so many giant marine turtles and bumped several with my rudders as they never heard our approach until we were flying over the top of them. We stopped at the sand hills for a quick photo and continued heading north to the Tangalooma wrecks. The wrecks in their new state for me were still a sight to see and the crystal clear waters and sunlit sky make the area extremely popular. The waters were littered with snorkelers and the beach filled with 4 wheel drives waiting for the ferry. Dave and I then returned south where we setup camp in the same location as our first Moreton Camp last year, several hundred metres south from Tangalooma Point. Once setup we enjoyed an entire afternoon of relaxing, sleeping, swimming and just talking whilst the sun set. On dusk Dave and I found ourselves running down the beach to join a pod of Dolphins swimming close to shore. Unfortunately they didn't let us get very close and my undewater GoPro didn't get close enough for some nice footage.
A fire kept us company as we enjoyed our hiking meals and sugar snacks well into the night as we could see the lights of Brisbane as though they were close enough to touch.
After a great nights sleep we awoke to a very high tide making the start of our return leg alittle easier not having to drag our cats to the water.
Unfortunately the skies were alittle overcast and the winds were blowing white caps across the bay, but Dave and I were both determined to successfully travel back across the bay. So in one large upwind run on the blowing S/E (20kts+) we flew on trapeze through some huge swell to make our first tack in front of Mud Island near the Port of Brisbane. From here we made several more tacks around St Helena, Green Island and Wellington Point where upon different journeys a gap formed between us of around 3-400 metres. This doesn't seem like much but on the bay it looks as thou we're miles apart. On our last tack into Raby Bay we again were sailing side by side as we finished to the beach thinking 'we made it' in one piece.
