List of all our Anchorages to Mackay

Well checklist Robyn (thanks for the title Vicki :) ) is at it again.  Decided I wanted to write up all our anchorages.

List of Anchorages while Sailing North

Date	Anchorage	Comments
25 April 2012	Left Home Silverwater Lake Macquarie, Swansea Bridge, sailed to Newcastle, anchored off Pirates Port Cove	Airforce F18 saluted us as we left (nothing to do with ANZAC day of course
26 April	Sailed from Newcastle to Port Stephens – worst day – 4-5 metres swells, rough and rolly. Anchored in Fame Cove - Bliss	Will come back to stay at Fame Cove – just beautiful.
27 April	Anchored in Shoal Bay – not nice, rolly with the swells	Should have stayed in Fame Cove and got up early rather than in Shoal Bay.
28 April	Shoal Bay (Pt Stephens) to Tuncurry (2 nights)	Tie up to individual wharves, did washing ashore in the park, great anchorage 2 nights
30 April	Forster/Tuncurry to Camden Haven	Anchored opposite Ex Servicemen’s Club, great anchorage.  2 nights
2 May	Tuncurry to Port Macquarie	Great anchorage in Hastings River
4 May	Port Macquarie to Coffs Harbour	Best day’s sailing yet, long day, Coffs Harbour is terrible anchorage, then went into Marina which was great.
6 May	Coffs Harbour to Iluka	Iluka just magic, great anchorage
9 May	Our first overnighter from Iluka to Southport – Gold Coast Seaway	Anchorage in Bums Bay – just lovely despite the civilization
12, 13 and 14 May	Southport to Great Sandy Straits – off Frazer Island	Got a southerly set of Cape Morton and didn’t go anywhere for a whole night. 4 am anchorage behind Double Island Point, crossed Wide Bay Bar on High Tide – anchored in a gutter – Brown’s Gutter, great anchorage.
15 May	Brown’s Gutter to Big Woody Island(off Frazer Island)	Great anchorage in Great Sandy Straits
16 May	Big Woody Isand to Bundaberg through Hervey Bay – great day’s sailing	Burnett River – Bundaberg – Bundaberg is down River.  Great Anchorage – stayed in Marina one night, very good.
19 May	Bundaberg to Pancake creek – 65 miles today – very long, good sail	Pancake Creek, Bar crossing at night, but good and good anchorage.
20 May	Pancake Creek to Cape Capricorn	Rolly with swells, but good anchorage and very nice.  Windy bulleting down from the Cape into the little bay
21 May	Cape Capricorn to Great Keppell Island	Alan Lucas did warn us that not many quiet anchorages  from here to MacKay – another rolly night from swells.
22 May	Great Keppell Bay to Rosslyn Bay - Yeppoon	Very rough quick trip into Rosslyn Bay – Marina is lovely
24 May	Rosslyn Bay (Yeppoon) to Port Clinton	Amazing large bay, great anchorage, but tides are huge, careful anchoring required.
25 May	Happy Birthday Kent – no phone coverage in here Cape Clinton to Island Head Creek	This is where the army practice firing and bombing.  Beautiful.  Large tides.  Good to anchor here in a reasonable storm – stayed two nights until rain cleared.
27 May	Island Head Creek to Hunter Island	Possibly worse anchorage – swells trying to drive us onto the beach.  Lovely and quiet when we arrived.  No much sleep here!
28 May	Hunter Island to Curlew Island	Magic day’s sail – beautiful anchorage.
29 May	Curlew Island to MacKay Over 960 nautical miles to Mackay	Mackay Marina – good marina – gets more expensive as you go up the coast.