We got a brief break in the weather, long enough to sail to Shaw Island on the southern edge of the Whitsundays.
It was great to be in a beautiful anchorage again as we waited out a passing front. I spent the day paying bills online and did some other admin, defrosted the freezer and made more passage meals to be frozen. The front blew through with a vengeance and as the sun set the wind was down to 10 kts. Four fancy Oyster yachts, part of the Oyster World Rally that arrived while we were at Mackay marina, sailed into the anchorage just before sundown.
We awoke to high winds again, which was not predicted. No one in the anchorage moved, not even the Oysters. They’re heading to SE Asia like we are, but apparently not today.
We got underway just past noon and as I was running back to the cockpit after loosening the jib lazy jacks my foot turned under and I fell hard on the side deck. It was the same exact fall I took two days into an 8-day cycling trip when I proceeded to pedal another 300 miles on what turned out to be a broken ankle. And it’s exactly the thing you don’t want to happen on a boat, especially underway. Jack handled the boat while I iced my ankle and took an Advil. Luckily by morning it was clear my ankle wasn’t broken, just sprained, and I could put my weight on it but only just. A couple of days of rest and ice and I’ll be back to normal.
It took a few more days of mixed conditions — great sailing for awhile, then motor sailing in light wind — but we finally made it to Magnetic Island, or Maggie as the locals call it.
Ice cream awaits!
Oh m God Marce, my heart went under when you said that. How that hurt. But strong Marce circumvented the hard-(broken possibly)- fact and remained unscathed. What a trooper you be!