Cat Play: Day 65: Tongue Bay

The wind has died down to around 15 knots so we decided to change the scenery. Upped anchor around 10am - windlass still behaving itself - for, what we hoped would be, a nice run round to Haslewood Is. All went well until we came out of the gap between Whitsunday and Hook islands. First we got hit with peaking 2m waves - an established SE swell meeting a tidal run. It turned out to be the worst of that but we were still nose-on to a nasty 1m swell all down the eastern side of Whitsunday Is.

That's when the port engine shut down. The engine seemed OK until I checked the fuel tank. Empty! That's it, we're fitting something better than a bloody stick to measure fuel level at the first opportunity!

With one engine, we slowed right down, sometimes making no more than 2.5 knots. In the end we gave up on Haslewood and turned into Tongue Bay. It may not be the best anchorage for the promised easterlies tomorrow morning but we will get some relief for a while.

Joined a boat-load of tourists ashore and I walked over the headland to the northern side of Hill Inlet. Still amazing!