Mooloolaba Marina

 I arrived here in Mooloolaba on Wednesday evening after a long trip down from Pelican Bay. There were about 7 yachts anchored in the bay Tuesday night all waiting to see what the bar would be like Wednesday morning. The first report came at first light from a power boat going out fishing for the day. The report was that the bar was lumpy, but no breakers. That was enough for us and there was the sound of 7 anchor chains being hauled in. I went last, being the slowest, and I found that "lumpy" was rather an understatement, it should have been mountinous. 3 to 4 meter swell that was not defined,but all over the place, lumps and holes coming up everywhere. My prop was out of the water almost as much as it was in. I averaged 2 knots going across and it took 2 hours and 10 minutes.

After that it was motoring all the way with a 10 to 15 knot headwind. Then to cap it off about 5 miles north of Mooloolaba the engine started making a very funny noise, knocking and sucking sounds. I throttled back and it was OK, crept the rest of the way and finally dropped anchor in Mooloolaba Bay about 2130. Very tired and thankful to be there.

Thursday morning I came into the river and up to the marina where I had booked a berth. it was high tide, but the entrance to the river was getting the occasional set of breakers going straigh across the entrance. I timed getting there just as one set finished, but the first breaker of the next set caught me and gave me a bit of a shake up. Pleased to be inside in the calm and motored leisurely up to the marina.

I got the name of a diesel mechanic from the marina office and he came out straight away to look at it. I was envisioning big end bearing or a head gasket, but he gave it a clean bill of health, he said the air cleaner and belts should be changed but that was all. That will all be done before I leave here. $30 for peace of mind, well worth it.

I've now paid to stay here for a week, because there is a bit of a dreaded east coast low and we are going to have 25 - 30 knot southerlies for about 6 days. So next blog probably won't be until next Thursday when I once again venture out.