Day 159: Currigee

There is a lot of bad weather coming. Days of high wind, rain, and thunder storms. Dunwich would normally be OK for the wind direction but, at this intensity, it is way too rocky. Still, I'm in southern Moreton Bay and, in the channels, things should be a lot quieter. I looked at the charts and a spot between Macleay and Karragarra Islands should be good. It's a short 1 hour motor.

I set off on reduced power - I'm in no hurry - and made slow headway into the tide. This would take some time but I can enjoy the trip. Just coming up on Macleay and I noticed a dark shape following the boat about 5m behind the starboard engine - the lazy engine today. Further investigation revealed it as a crab-pot. I don't know if this was set in the channel or was pushed in by the weather but I had caught it.

Anchored off a nearby beach, splashed the dink, and jumped in with the mask / snorkel to clear it. An easy job to untangle it from the prop. Checked inside and just found a whole chicken - no crab or lobster, dammit. There was no marker on the line, it must have been cut off by the prop. I cut off the line so that it wouldn't be a hazard and sent the pot to a watery grave.

On to Macleay. When I got there, it was clearly not going to happen. Strong gusts were running down the reach throwing the moored boats around and I didn't want to be a part of that. On, then to the Gold Coast, only now it's getting late because I've been buggering around with a crab pot!

Very heavy.

I headed for Paradise Point, somewhere we stopped on the way up, and arrived just on dark. This was no good either. Of the boats anchored, they were being thrown around, and a couple of houseboats were up on the beach. It was too dark for the precise maneuvering I would need to put the anchor in safely so I bailed to Currigee campsite.

Low visibility.

I have been to Currigee a few times and it is good for the wind direction, and big so there should easily be a spot. When I got there it was very dark so I used the big torch to scope out where everyone else was. Eventually got the anchor down in 4 1/2 m of water and all the chain out, between a mono and another cat. One problem is the tide running up and down the reach, which conflicted with the wind somewhat. Rocky night with little sleep because I was afraid of the anchor dragging. The plotter track showed that the anchor had reset a couple of times through the night but never very far from where it was dropped. Another tick for the Manson Supreme!

Location

Currigee