December 28

We raised the hook at about 6:15am and steamed out of the harbor. Our goal today is Scarborough Marina at Redcliffe in Moreton Bay just North of Brisbane . The route is quite complicated as we have chosen to follow the coast instead of heading out into the center of the bay into the main ship channel (which is deep). The savings will amount to close to 10 miles. Weather conditions are fine with a light breeze of 8-10k from the North. The forecast for today calls for 15-20k from the NNW so we are hoping more wind develops soon. Skies are mostly clear with about 15% cloud cover and seas are calm with a pronounced swell of 2-3ft from the NE. Our initial course is 160M so we have the swell on our port beam causing a bit of rolling now and then. The total distance to Scarborough is about 37 miles. We are making about 6.5-6.7k over ground and expect to arrive around noon.  

It is now 8:30am and we have just passed Coloundra Head and the Northern tip of Birbie Island . A huge Japanese freighter just passed us to port heading North. Conditions remain calm with 8-10k of wind, sometimes from the Northeast, sometimes Northwest (and everything in between). Seas are calm with the same swell as earlier. We have about 14 miles to reach Skirmish Point where we have to traverse a very shallow passage between some drying shoals to the East and the mainland to the West. The shallow area in question is only about 1.5 miles in extent and should be about 10-12ft deep.