The Whitsundays (25th June)

 

After a couple or wet and windy days in Hammo, Barry and Ros said their farewells (Tuesday 10th June which didn't to quite as smoothly as planned as their flight was delayed for a number of hours as planes were struggling to land with the poor visibility. As the winds are still a bit boisterous on the Wednesday we decided to hand out for another day in Hammo before heading out for some time in the islands which also allowed me a bit of time to have a badly needed haircut.

As forecast the weather was much nicer when we awoke on Tuesday morning so we did a last minute shop at the general store before heading out and around to the very popular Cid Harbour for our first night out.  We counted 25 anchor lights in the harbour and were visited by the MV Dennison which does a lap as part of its sunset and dinner cruise.  We went for a bit of a stroll in the afternoon to Dugong Bay which is a really lovely walk through the rain forest.  Our next stop is Stonehaven which is on the western side of Hook Island.  We picked up one of the southern most moorings which are very pretty as you are almost totally surrounded by coral.  We even went for a bit of snorkel on the coral just at the back of the boat which was a whole lot better than we were expecting.  Suzanne from Osiris also came with us for a bit of a dip.

 On Friday morning we headed over to Blue Pearl Bay for a snorkel which is always good and always busy.  It also gave me a good chance to have a go with my new Go Pro camera although this first attempt was not all that successful so better luck next time!  As there is a cool change and strong winds forecast we are off to the very protected anchorage at Butterfly Bay for the evening only to find the crew from Arjuna already tucked up on a mooring and were invited over for afternoon drinks which was great – when you have three young boys on board sundowners come a little earlier than other boats!   Just as we were saying our evening farewells the change decided to hit so we had a rather wet and bumpy trip back to Sally but got there safe and sound and pretty much battened the hatches for the night.

Birthday Celebrations!

As the next few days are forecast to be a bit windy we figure Butterfly Bay is looking like a good spot to hang out especially as there is some nice coral in the bay swimming distance from the boat which provided some more snorkelling opportunities and a little more success at my new project of becoming an underwater photographer with the Go Pro attached to the Boat Hook  Sunday and we are still shacked up in Butterfly Bay but being intrepid yachties decide to take the RIB out for a burn around to Maureen’s Cove for even more snorkelling.  The trip was definitely exciting with the dinghy becoming airborne on a number of occasions but we did make it there and back quite safely.  During our stay at Butterfly Bay it just happened to be my birthday and despite the windy and slightly cooler weather had a lovely day which included a snorkel, a bottle of Moet Chandon to celebrate and a very nice top which I know was expensive as it was purchased at the Henri Lloyd shop at Hammo so not too shabby at all.

 
Monday and a few more windy days are forecast so we head back around to Stonehaven for a night before making our way into Airlie Beach for a few days before the good weather comes.   Able Point Marina has recently been taken over by someone that cares and is looking great and the staff are really helpful so our stay was great.   It was even made better as they seem to think Mustang Sally is a Super Yacht as we were directed to a 30mt berth which was very comfy and we felt right at home with all the other Super Yachts!   We also managed to catch up with Michael Arcaro, a neighbour from Safety Beach, who is up here doing some boatie type work with his charter boat business.  No surprises here but we also found the crews from Dilligaf, Osiris and Arjuna also in for a stock up!

 Finally on Friday (20^th June) the forecast is on our side with at least five days of calm, warm and sunny weather on its way and we are not going to miss any of it.    Our first stop is lunch at Bauer Bay at South Molle Island before heading back over to Cid Harbour for the evening – this time there were 23 other anchor lights in the anchorage and some of the boats don’t seem to have moved since we were here last time.  Friday was a bit of an eventful day.  It started with me tripping up the steps in the companion way and putting a bit of a gash in my knee.  Next up Mark lost his hat over the back of the boat at South Molle although he did go over the back to rescue it.  Lucky last was me knocking over a cup of coffee in the cockpit and during the clean-up operations forgot to shut the hatch over our bed and ended up with very wet bedding.  It can only get better!

Saturday morning and we are out of Cid Harbour and around to Whitehaven Beach for a couple of nights.  This has to be one of the best stops in the Whitsunday’s.  Apart from being a beautiful anchorage with aqua water and white sand beaches there is entertainment all day with various tourist boats, helicopters and water planes turning up at all times during the day.  There is also plenty of coming and goings with the yachties and bare boaters.   We were even lucky enough to be there for the inaugural Whitehaven Beach Fun Run.   We had a lovely stay here which included the walk to the Solway Lookout and over to Chance Bay, a stroll down the beach and lots of swimming.  We even took the dinghy for a trip over to Chalkies Beach on the nearby Haselwood Island for a beach walk.



Hill Inlet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Backpacker Games

On Monday (23^rd June) we left Whitehaven and stopped in at Tongue Bay (at the top of Whitsunday Island) on our way north.  This is a very popular stop for the back packer boats as there is a walk to the lookout where you get great views of Hill Inlet and Whitehaven Beach en-route to the beach where they spend the day getting burnt and frolicking in the water – what more could a back packer want!  After a quick stop and walk we are off again on our way to the north of Hook Island and a stop in at Manta and Luncheon Bays for a snorkel as the conditions are perfect – calm day, lots of sun, calm day and clear water.  Naturally the Go Pro came out again and we managed to get some great footage of the coral and huge numbers of fish.  Even managed to get Mark feeding Fat Albert – the huge, long term resident, Maori Wrasse!  All we can say is that the GBRAMPA (Queensland Marine Parks) program is working as the fish and coral have never looked better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Manta Ray Bay

 



After our snorkels we head into Butterfly Bay for the night and were lucky enough to pick up the last of the nine moorings available.  Tuesday morning and we are off to Blue Pearl Bay for yet another snorkel (can’t get enough of the water at the moment as the conditions couldn’t be better) before heading back, to what seems like our favourite anchorage, Cid Harbour, for a couple of nights as we are planning to do the walk to Whitsunday Peak on Wednesday morning.   

Manta Ray Bay Local

 

Wednesday and we are up bright and early for our walk up to the Peak which is only 5kms around trip however, it takes around 3 hours as it is quite steep hike with the peak at around 450mts.  The walk is lovely in itself as it follows a creek for the first part through palms and ferns and then heads into the dryer vegetation towards the top of the peak.  The views from the peak are amazing to both the south and north of Whitsunday Island. 

 

Views from Whitsunday Peak



Hamilton Island from Whitsunday Peak



Walk to Whitsunday Peak

Tomorrow we are back around to Hamilton Island for a few days as we are meeting Amanda there when she flies in from Melbourne on Friday.  We will probably spend a few days there as it is always worthwhile spending some time at FAT island before we start trekking north again on our way to Townsville.

 

Mackay to Hamilton Island (10th June)

Barry and Ros arrived as per plan on Friday afternoon and settled into the boat before heading up to the Mackay Yacht Club for drinks with the crews from Speranza and Dilligaf.  We hired a car for Saturday afternoon and headed into the new Caneland which is absolutely huge for a spot of shopping and boat provisioning. 

Beach Walk at Scawfell Island

Sunday we headed out and had a beautiful sail out to Refuge Bay on Scawfell Island which is a lovely anchorage so much so that we figure it is worth spending a couple of nights. We were very excited that the new GPS receiver is working a treat!. On Monday we headed in for a shore party and had a great walk along the beach with a couple of Oyster Catches.  In the afternoon we all headed in for a snorkel and managed to find some nice soft corals and even a turtle who didn't seem too impressed by the company

Brampton Island Look Out

Tuesday and we are off to Brampton Island which is one of the most popular anchorages in this area.  We arrived and around lunch time and headed into shore after a quick bite and met up with Chris the caretaker of the resort, which shut down around 5 years ago, He was also here when we visited on our east coast trip in 2011.  We walked up to the lookout in the afternoon and were rewarded with some wonderful views of the South Whitsunday islands and had a refreshing dip off the back of the boat upon our return - the water temp is still around 25C so it is rather pleasant.

View of the Southern Whitsunday Islands



Around the Island Circuit - Brampton Island

Wednesday and we tackling the 'Around the Island Circuit' on Brampton which is a gentle 8km lap of the island.  It is a fantastic walk as the scenery and vegetation is continually changing.  We have also decided that this definitely wins the top spot as Butterfly Island as there are literally thousands of them.










On Thursday we departed from Brampton bound for Goldsmith Island which is all of 15NM away.  The really nice thing about the Whitsunday Islands is how close the islands and anchorages are so generally you have the pick down before morning tea.   We spent the day at Goldsmith and as the winds are starting to build a little we head up to Shaw Island on Friday as this it is re-known as one of the best trade wind anchorages in the area.  No surprises but we have quite a bit of company in the anchorage. 

Brampton Island Resort

We have always wanted to do some of the walking tracks on Lindeman Island so we head over to Gap Bay which is at the north end of Lindeman Island on Saturday morning and head off for the walk over to the resort which is on the south east corner.  The walking track doesn't seem to have had much use lately and it is very much a bush bash although it does appear that someone has been through here recently!  Like many other islands resorts Lindeman Island closed around 12 months ago however, we believe it has been bought by a Chinese consortium so hopefully it may open again one day soon.   After our trek it is back to the comfort of the anchorage at Shaw Island for the night before heading into Hamilton Island on Sunday for a few days of R&R in resort world as the forecast is looking pretty crap for a few days.

Hamilton Island is looking as good as ever so it is not too hard to spend a few days here even if the weather is a bit ordinary.  We met up with Rex, a friend of Barry and Ros that now works up here at Qualia Resort, for drinks and dinner at the Tavern.  It is pretty busy on the island as it is both the long weekend plus there is apparently a trucking convention in town and as the weather is a bit ordinary there are plenty of people kind of wandering around looking for things to keep them amused.

The weather on Monday (9th June) is no better in fact it is really wet so it is kind of a leisurely day on board apart from the occasional walk around the shops or a lap of the island on the courtesy bus.  We were lucky enough to catch up with Alan and Michelle that were also on the Louisiades Rally in 2011.  They now have a rather large power cat berthed up here as their holiday home so it  was great to have some time for a chat and also a tour of their new boat.  We also found out that they were the walkers that had been at Lindeman Island before us - how bizarre!

It is now Tuesday the 10th June and Barry and Ros are cleaning and packing up their bags for their flight out at 12.30 today.  We are now starting to think that Barry may be a rain god as it is still raining and we also had similar conditions when he was aboard when we were trying to get back home in 2012.  It is looking like we will be here until Thursday when the forecast is starting to look good again when we can head out for a lap of the Whitsunday Islands.