What a 2009 Cruise on Erica - Nov 2009

As we write this, our last post for 2009, we have swapped the Ocean Highway for the Bitumen Highway as we take to the road and drive to Brisbane before flying home. This brings to an end our fantastic cruise on Erica this year when we sailed or motored over 3,000 nautical miles on the Queensland North Coast. As you will see from earlier postings we achieved our goal in 2009 of reaching Lizard Island which was a very memorable experience.

The attached photo shows the happy crew of Erica enjoying a fast sail off Cape Manifold on our way to the Port of Bundaberg. This is where Erica will spend her Christmas Holidays after crossing her own bit of bitumen but her new home has a nice view of the Burnett River where she will return in 2010 for some more sailing fun - We hope you enjoyed following our travels in 2009 as much as we have. All the best for Christmas and the New Year.

The Cruise Back - Nov 2009

After the initial strong southerly winds making life hard we have now got northerly winds and have been enjoying champagne sailing as we head south towards Bundaberg. We have used this time to catch up with some old Farr sailors in Airlie Beach and sunset drinks on the beach at West Bay, Middle Percy Island. Days have been long with lots of nautical miles to be covered and being overtaken by our friends who fly spinnakers. In between the long sail we have discovered new and beautiful bays including Long Beach on Great Keppel Island before another sunrise as we head out to sea for another long days sail. We still seem to be meeting lots of new friends at beach drinks and staying in touch with some of our well known sailing companions. Enjoy as we are!

The Bash Back - Oct/Nov 2009

After a fantastic and busy week at Lizard Island a weather window (less than 25 knots on the nose) opened up so, with a pre-dawn start, we followed the procession of boats leaving including our new friends on Gypsy Lee. During that first day they had several encounters with large ships but gladly survived and we all enjoyed a musical dinner that night at Hope Island. Hope is truly a magical place for us. More fast and this time rough passage up the cost found us after several days at Cardwell where we found ourselves in the Friday night lawn bowls fun. Then dinner with our dear friends on Kieara C who are heading to Darwin next season. Then we found Gypsy Lee again in Hinchinbrook Channel were we enjoyed breakfast on Gypsy and dinner on Erica. Last night we spent at Cape Bowling Green which is appropriate after our game of lawn bowls but this Cape is no more than a very long and flat sand spit. It is truly sad saying goodbye to so many new and old friends as we fast track down the coast. As we write this we are an hour from Gloucester Island which we left 3 months earlier on our odyssey to Lizard Island.