October 3 - 9, 2008: South Pacific

Rivergate Brisbane, Australia (S 27.26.690 E 153.06.356) http://maps.google.com/maps

Couldn’t Noumea just say ‘see ya’ and let us leave peacefully instead of shooting us through the outer reef Dumbea Pass like a watermelon seed between fingers? That’s pretty much what it was like. The winds were in the 20's at the anchorage and increased to the 30's by the time we reached the pass and the point of no return for the 837 mile trip. We continued on after passing thru on a heading that was a bit off our desired course. We were dealing with winds in the high 30's, waves in the 4-10’ range and made a course that took the wind and wave angles into consideration. The winds were very strong and the waves were an issue. We needed to keep the boat moving quickly enough for rudder authority and the ability to surf up to 10.7 knots. The technique involves not looking back, feeling the boat lift up and start to turn on a wave, counter-steering to stop the yawing of the boat, surfing down the face of the wave and then turning out and getting ready for the next wave. Seas this big and a boat this big requires solid footing and sometimes a heavy hand on the wheel to get it moving quickly enough. If you are behind the curve and the boat turns abeam the waves you can usually get lucky and skid sideways down the face.

In the daylight it was comforting to see the horizon and get a feel for the conditions. Once the sunlight was gone we used Venus, as it is always on the western horizon at sunset, as a mark to sail to. Instead of looking at the compass you can keep a star inside the shrouds or in reference to the mast and not have to look down for course corrections. This allows for more concentration on steering. Venus is known as the sunset star and eventually drops below the horizon and negates its use. As luck would have it the moon came up and we were then able to use the moon’s reflection on the water as a mark to steer to. Steering this way made us think of all the sailors in the past that used the sky to navigate.

Over the next few days the winds dropped to the mid-teens and we knew we were headed in the right direction when we were greeted with this beautiful rainbow. When the coastline finally came into view on the fifth day out it looked more like another gigantic island than a continent since it was very low lying. On October 9th early in the morning in the middle of a squall we came around the northern tip of Moreton Island and entered Moreton Bay. This bay was extremely shallow, mostly sand filled so had to follow a very narrow and not very well marked channel to the entrance to the Brisbane River. The winds also starting picking up and because of the shallowness of the bay the ride got really rough with short 4 foot waves. This turned out to be the roughest part of the passage oddly enough. It didn't last long before we sighted a yacht leaving the Bribane River entrance.

We passed over the bar and made the eight mile trip up the river to the Rivergate Marina. It was a great relief for me to have finally successfully made the trip from San Francisco to Australia. The marina was modern and had all the necessary facilities to do major work. We ended up seeing a lot of the boats we'd seen in French Polynesia there being worked on. The only disadvantage about the place was that it was in an industrial area and we'd need a car to get around.

Brisbane had a poor reputation among the yachties because of the less than hassle free clearing process with Australia authorities. We had heard all kinds of horror stories of fines and other hassles of cruisers trying to clear into Brisbane. Our experience could not have been farther from those stories. You have to give the authorities as much as 30 day advance notice of your arrival. This we did with the internet which worked out very efficiently. We arranged our visas the same way. I would say the Australian government was much farther along than the US in making use of technology. You can even pay your bridge tolls on that bridge in the background by using the internet. The customs and immigration officials arrived within the hour of our docking to provide total hassle free one stop clearance. They even give you a permanent customs officer to act as your contact for your stay. The only surprise was the health and quarantine service. The Aussies are very strict about what they allow into the country in terms of fresh food and anything else on vessels. They've privatized the health and quarantine service whose role is to inspect and quarantine any items they find on foreign vessels. We had managed our stocks to the minimum so there was not a lot to be quarantined as you can see in the yellow bag. They even hauled it away for the all inclusive price of A$ 250! The clearance into the country was certainly hassle free but boy was it expensive!

Fortunately renting a car was not, about $25 US a day, so we got our wheels and drove into town. I've been to almost every major city in Australia but had never made it to Queensland or Brisbane. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. Its one of the more modern and newly developed cities in Australia and happens to be the fastest growing for good reason. Everything from the port to the industrial areas looked like it had been built in the last five years while preserving the old buildings. The city was clean beyond belief and we couldn't find any homeless people regardless of how hard we looked. The food was magnificent and the beer legendary!

There was lots to do from Ferris wheel riding to whale watching. Brisbane is a great city and I look forward to my family joining me for the Christmas season. For now the Dave's had to get back to their land based lives and I needed to get Present Moment hauled out and back to ship shape. I had been blessed by being able to take a trip of a lifetime with a great crew and boat and I'll be forever grateful