While a forecast for 25-30knots SW turning SE promises a great sail it comes with a dogged return and certainly did not curry much favour. However, as Brian pointed out on Friday night, the detailed forecast for the southern bay on www.bom.gov.au/marine was only showing 10-15knots. Good enough and game on for a Saturday night camp at Blakesleys.
It can get surprisingly cold in South East Queensland, something not lost on Patrick who endured sub zero temperatures on Fraser Island last month. While unlikely to get that cold this weekend, a SW can be bitey so we took a smaller tent and lashed a big fat dry bag with extra sleeping bags to the rear deck.
We decided on an abbreviated paddle from Point O'Halloran. The rising tide marooned the half packed boats on a sandy island. After lugging them back, the last hatch cover was secured when the tide floated the boats to a firm following breeze. Cruising at 9kph we surfed and sailed past Potts Point to make a beeline
for Blakesleys. Thereafter the wind petered out leaving a calm deserted bay. Nothing quite like a strong wind warning to scare everyone else away. We pulled up at Blakesleys to find two tinnies and a couple of kayaks approaching from the south.
This was Christine and Bill from Queensland Sea Kayakers (QSK). They were part of a larger group, the rest of whom had decided to come the long way round. We set up camp towards the northern end of Blakesleys. Over the next four hours paddlers came in groups of two to four headed up first by Patrick and Phil. By late in the afternoon the beach had colourful and diverse congregation. Patrick elected to stay while Phil headed off in Frog Boat One.
The entrees started to do the rounds as the sun set. An impressive array and volume of nuts, dips, oysters, stuffed olive leaves, blue cheese, chips and crackers with spread worked the giant seated string. So much so that towards the end some offerings were looking distinctly familiar as they plied their bid to be consumed. As the temperature fell the warmth an open fire held more appeal than a campfire in a can. Soon the fire worshippers were toasting themselves on a steady blaze which created a great set of embers in need of a
spud. Impaled marshmallows made a classic sickly sticky treat.
Later in the evening an emboldened tinnie occupant made his was over for a chat while his mates exploded aerosol cans in their fire. After waning rhetorical he still couldn't quite get the idea of why someone would want to paddle the distance to set up camp. He was quite convinced we would have to be a bunch of boy
scout types. It was a blessing that he had decent skinful on board as he forgot the drop off, stepped backwards and fell flat on his back. Undeterred he got up and toddled off.
The next morning saw Nev and Patrick head off early into calm waters with little wind. Brian spent some time introducing himself to Jenny, really not necessary given that just the two of them had paddled across from Point O'Halloran the day before. Dolphins came in close and appeared to be feeding in the channel just west of Pelican Banks while a curlew collected his fill of crabs along the shore. A Brahminy kite cruised overhead and pardalotes took cover in their nests in the sand bank.
When all the boats were down at the waterline, the QSK headed for Coochie while most of our lot made for Potts for morning tea. The dated watermelon was a tired tragic, not so Mark's date roll - very nice thank you. No one was in a hurry to head back and the SE in the sails made a sufficient 2kph. We slowly diverged and made a quiet pace towards Steve and Kylie for an icecream stop on Coochie. As we landed the QSK crowd came down to head off for their destination Weinam Creek or Victoria Point. By the time we were back on the water the SE was getting more frisky, our efforts even less so. It was a lazy wind and a far cry from the forecast 30knots which appeared to have knocked the boat numbers very much in our favour.
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