The plan was to sail Top Shelf around Moreton Bay for two to three weeks from Monday 22nd September. Moreton Bay is reputably one of the best boating grounds in Australia with relatively protected waters ( ie no ocean swell) and lots and lots of islands and passageways to explore.

Our departure was delayed by a day due to Steve’s brother and wife coming up to spend Sunday night with us, and our return has been brought forward to the 3rd October so we can attend my brother’s 80th birthday party – so just short of two weeks. We don’t mind changing plans for family, after all they’re what’s important in life. However, having a schedule on a boat is always potentially fraught.

Steve spent Monday morning getting Top Shelf ready – fuel, water, fishing gear, new BBQ, etc. I spent the morning doing the provisioning. We’re both currently on a ‘low-carb’ diet and it provides a menu of all the food you can consume in a week – made provisioning very easy! Everything stowed and ship-shape we headed down to Scarborough Marina where we planned to rig her, sleep on the boat in the car park and launch at the high tide on Tuesday morning. This is when you start to find the things left behind – like my doona. We had dinner at the club (very average) then popped over to a friends place who lived nearby who lent me a doona. (I sleep in the forward cabin and Steve sleeps on the starboard berth – gives us both plenty of room).