Day-3: Pumicestone Passage - Mooloolaba - Flingtime

Progress to date was slower than anticipated and wind strength and direction were not looking too favourable so an early start was deemed in order. We were up at 04:30 and held some hope of making Double Is Point with fallback to Mooloolaba. In the chilly morning NNE breeze, we set off on a port tack under main and jib.
This part of Moreton Bay is littered with sandbars and we kept a close watch on the depth and barely had any daggerboard in the water. Shallow depth alarm was set at 1.5 metres under the keel and triggered a couple of times. One was a pilotage error which required a tack to remedy. It really is expecting too much of charts to give more than 'a good indication' when it comes to shifting sandbanks so caution and common sense should be applied.
Much the same applies to weather forecasts. BoM - Double Is to Point Danger: Winds NW-SW 10-15kts, increasing 15-20 kts in the afternoon with isolated showers and patchy rain. One of the many non-gov't weather sources presented 3hourly predictions such as 12:00 W 14 kts; 1500 NW 15 kts and so on and it was fairly accurate on this occasion. Common sense tells you that if they are all lined up like ducks then the forecast is quite likely, but if there is wide variation then stick your head out of the cockpit, observe, and make your own estimates.

The sunrise was quite nice and this was the first of a wonderful series. We logged-on to Coast Guard Mooloolaba. Later on we checked bar conditions as Notices to Mariners had recently been issued, about dredging activity and charted a sand build-up at the entrance.

07:35 Wind picked up to 25 kts from the NW so we put in the first reef in the main. Our track was mostly inside the main shipping channel but we decided to cross it and tack back while keeping an eye on the nearby NTK-Hinode all 417ft of it ...getting the hang of the new AIS.

09:10 we shook out the reef as the wind dropped to 8kts and any thoughts of bypassing Mooloolaba were banished.

11:00 we lowered the main sail and motor sailed. We booked into Kawana waters Marina and phoned a few friends to meet up for dinner.
By 12:17 we had fenders on and were following the leads into Mooloolaba. A red mark was missing, the tide was high, the wind was low and tide high for a smooth entrance. We tied up at 'Chippos' fuel jetty and collected keys from the marina office. Fuel = diesel; and petrol = jerry cans from somewhere else so we did not bother with a fuel top up. Logged off CG.

Dinner at the tavern was a jolly enough affair with Cowells and Ryans joning us. Our table was right next to Flingtime and it would have been much quicker to row than walk. The weather had turned cool and showery so good hot showers were welcome. Accumulated laundry was done.

The marine traffic.com iAIS was working fine and friends were texting approval. However, in the rush to the shower, laundry,pub I forgot to turn it off so Flingtime came along for a virtual pub crawl.