After a good rest we had to wait for high tide to ensure a safe crossing to the yamba Marina to top off our fuel tanks. William, Nicholas and Jasmine took the opportunity to lower the inflatable and ducked into Iluka to get some bread. Iluka is a beautiful little town with great camp sites / cabins down on the water with families and kids all relaxing having a swim and playing.
We motored across to Yamba at high tide and filled our Diesel tanks and our jerry cans. Kids enjoyed an ice-cream. On the way out of Yamba, after logging on with Marine Rescue, we spotted Dolphins in the entrance. That makes dolphin sightings every day so far on the trip.
Another long day sailing and motoring towards the Gold Coast. In the afternoon, William put out a trolling line for a bit of fun (we don't really have room to keep anything at this stage). We caught a beautiful Mahi Mahi which was approx. 50-60cm long. After a few photos, we released it to grow bigger. Kids were extremely excited and we spent a bit of time looking up the fish as it was the first Mahi Mahi we had caught before. We expect to get a lot of fish once we are further up in Queensland and have the time to properly prepare and cook them.
Another long evening and early morning followed. We passed Cape Byron (Byron Bay) and hit a very strong current (3-4knots) which significantly slowed us down. With no wind and full revs on the engine, it was difficult to make any forward way and only by carefully watching the lights on the coast for movement was it possible to confirm forward movement. Average speed up until now was slightly above 6 knots, but from this point beyond, average speed fell to approx. 5 knots.
The expected 3am (16th April) arrival off the Gold Coast Sea Way became an arrival at 5am with a fleet of small craft leaving in the dark for a day of fishing offshore. There were no berths immediately available so we motored at night up the channel and anchored off the south western edge of South Stradbroke Island until noon. At 12noon on we were able to obtain a spot at the Marina Mirage for 2 nights.
After a quick shower to freshen up, we caught up with family for the afternoon and evening and then back to the yacht for the night.