Mooloolaba

We've arrived in Mooloolaba after a very pleasant overnight sail from Southport. We're in a berth at the marina for tonight, then will motor up the canal to Lawrie's Boat Yard where the boat will be pulled out of the water for inspection of the keel tomorrow morning.

The 90nm passage from Southport took 19 hours. The winds were 5-10kt ESE for most of the evening. They died altogether for an hour so we motored. Then a nice 15kt southerly came in and took us home. There was a nearly full moon and only scattered cloud, so it was a clear night with good visibility. About a dozen ships passed but all were well offshore from us. Although we did 93nm over the ground we only logged 87 so overall the currents assisted us. We stayed near the 50 metre depth contour in the hope of staying out of the current - it worked!

We sailed the entire passage with one reef in the main and the full No 3 jib. The boat moved along well even in quite light winds. She sails very well.

Approaching Mooloolaba we spotted our first turtle in the water. They always have a bemused look when they see you. We've been escorted by dolphins many times since leaving BB.

The entrance to Mooloolaba is well marked. We entered in the middle of a spring tide ebb, and the current in the channel was only about 1.5kt. The minimum depth seen in the channel was about 2.5m.

The marina is very modern and there are no water restrictions so we hosed down the boat. There are a number of international boats here - we've been seeing more and more as we head up the coast.
It's a nice sunny day in Mooloolaba. Hope all's well where you are!