Lizard Island to Townsville (19th September - 1st October)

Research Centre at Lizard Island

Getting south from Lizard Island is never easy!  According to the statistics the wind blows from the SE for 91% of the time in September so the chances to get south can be slim.  We had a small window of opportunity in the weather to head south on the 19th so figure we better take it as you are never sure what you are going to get.  The forecast is for around 15-20knts from the SE for the next three days and our course to Low Isles is around 160^o so it is going to be 'on the nose' all the way.

Crown of Thorns

It is up early on the 19^th and we are off and aiming to make it to Cape Bedford for the night.  As the course for today is a little kinder (180^o) we were able to make it quite comfortably in to the anchorage at 13:00H although it was a pretty bumpy sail.  The next day wasn’t quite as kind as the wind swung more to the SSE which meant it was a true beat all the way to Hope Islands in around 20-25knots of wind.  We ended up with 2 reefs in the main and our very lovely #4 headsail up which gave us the best angle to the wind possible however, it was still a very long day as we didn’t arrive at Hope until 16:30H and we covered 55NM but only made 30NM in a forward direction – not much fun at all.    We are kind of figuring that unless something improves in the weather overnight we will be spending a few days in at East Hope Island until the next weather window presents itself.

The BOM is very good at forecasting the weather these days and true to form there is no let-up in the weather on Sunday so it looks like it is Hope Island for the next few days.  We have plenty of company for our stay as a bunch of fisho’s are camping on the island for a few days and there is a regular procession of people stopping in on their way north - strangely there don't seem to be many people arriving that are also heading south!

Over the last few weeks our house batteries have being showing signs of ageing and we have been having to charge twice per day just to avoid going under volt.  This was even more noticeable during our sailing days when we have been using plenty of electrons on all the nav. gear and auto helm.  Luckily we have enough internet and mobile coverage to do some research and during our stop have arranged for a couple of batteries to be delivered to the marina once we arrive in Townsville. 

Hope Island - Not TOO tough!

We didn’t waste our time in Hope Island – it is a very pretty spot so we went for plenty of walks around the island (both clockwise and anti-clockwise) and also went for a snorkel most days and were pleasantly surprised with the diversity and good condition of the coral even though the water is not as clear as what we have become accustomed to. 

On Thursday (25^th September) the weather has started to settle down and we have a more comfortable 10-15knt SE wind blowing so we figure it is time to get moving again.  We left the anchorage early and had a go at motor sailing and did much better than expected for the day.  The original plan was to make it in to Low Isles for the night however progress was so good that we were able to make it into Port Douglas in time to meet the fuel truck which was a bonus as we were keen to top up the tanks before we do the overnight trip to Townsville.  It was a real treat to be in marina world again where we could have long showers and even enjoyed a meal off the boat. 

Friday and again we were up early for the trip down to Townsville which is around 190NM.  The winds were very light and we motored, with and without some sail, all day and night which was very comfortable.  At dawn on Saturday we did the math and figured that we still had a chance to make it into the Breakwater Marina by 14:00H when we still had enough water under the keel (there is only 0.5mts at LAT tide in the entrance channel which can make it a bit tricky).  So it is back up with the main so that we can achieve the 6.2Knot average that we have to maintain to make it.  Luckily the winds played fair and we had a light NE wind start to make its presence felt and before we knew it we were roaring along with time to spare.  

The first job at Townsville was to replenish our hydrocarbons so we are now full to the brim with diesel and LPG.  As usual there are 'boat jobs' to be done.  Mark serviced the gen-set which didn't go quite as well as expected.  Before he started work the impeller went which was a bit annoying and then after changing the oil and fuel filter found that the motor wouldn't run for more than 60seconds which was very annoying.  We have had a bit of a feeling that there has been a small air leak in the fuel system for some time as the gen-set hasn't been running quite as well as it used to and after much fiddling and tightening of hose clamps etc. it looks like it is all running at 100% again which was at least a good outcome.  While this was going on I was keeping myself busy on deck polishing the stainless steel.  If you haven't noticed there is a lot of SS on Sally!

Late on Monday the new batteries turned up.  They are even bigger and heavier than the ones that we have which is all well and good but installing something that weighs around 75kgs under the floor of the boat was always going to be a bit of a challenge.  Ryan from Alco Batteries was great and delivered the batteries down to the boat and even helped to bring them on board.  Tuesday was battery day so we managed to lift out the current batteries and slowly but surely get them onto the wharf.  With some careful planning Mark installed some fixtures to secure the new batteries and we managed to get them into position without wrecking our backs so all good.  So far they seem to be working great.   As a bit of a treat we went and did a few laps at the Tobruk Pool and then went out for dinner at the Yacht Club with Graciella and Oscar from Zenitude who we first met in Lord Howe in 2013. 

Their are a number of boats in here that we know including Windana and Osiris so sure there will be plenty of catch up sundowner's during our stay.  At this point it is looking like we will be here until Saturday when we will head over to Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island to wait for a weather window to get down to the Whitsunday's which we are hoping will turn up sometime early next week.

 

 

 

Lizard Island (8th - 19th September)

Lizard Island is a pretty amazing place to spend a couple of weeks and we can now understand why it is such a popular spot to visit for us boaties!  While Leapy was here we went for at least 2 snorkels per days in beautifully clear water and every time managed to see something new.  The diversity of coral and fish is amazing and the back of the boat is more like an aquarium most of the time with plenty of Bat Fish, GT’s, Reef Sharks and numerous other fish hanging around that we are not able to identify.  We also saw plenty of big fish on the reef – just wish we could work out what they all are – note to self to get a better fish ID chart when we get back home.



Resort - Post 'Ita'

As Ann and Col (Annacol), also fellow Hunter owners, had been waiting on our arrival for some time they had a couple of very nice bottles of bubbly waiting on ice for us so after we had settled into life on LI they had us over for sundowner's one night which was a lot of fun as they are always great to catch up with although I think we were all a little worse for wear the next morning!

During the last few days while Lynda was on board we also got to go for a lovely walk and had a swim at the Blue Lagoon on the SW corner of the island.



Blue Lagoon

A very sad looking Lynda had to fly out on the afternoon of the 11^th but was rewarded with a very scenic flight back to Cairns and managed to identify most of our stops on the trip north.  It was a bit like a tag team in the 11^th as Wayne and Helen flew in on the same plane that Lynda caught out.

As is normal the first order of business, after dropping their bags at the boat, was to head to the beach for sundowner's with ‘The Mob’ at the so called ‘Table of Knowledge’.  Wayne and Helen were very kind and brought a good supply of fresh food which we very much appreciated as we were just about depleted on any fresh rations.

Local Lizard at LI

On the 12^th we headed off to the reef near the boat for their first snorkel which was closely followed by the walk up to Chinaman’s Lookout which was closely followed by a snorkel on the Clam Garden so that night we all slept very well!.  On the Friday we headed off early to do the walk to Cook’s Look.  This is the highest peak on the island at around 350mts and was the place where Cook went in order to try to find a suitable passage out of the reef and luckily he did and it is now aptly named Cooks Passage!   The start of the climb is a bit challenging however, the views from the top where definitely worth the effort.  The afternoon on board was rather quiet with plenty of Nanna naps all around. 



View of Watson's Bay

 

 

South & Palfrey Islands

Cairn at Cook's Look

 

 



Helen & Wayne - Cook's Look

Again we did plenty of underwater exploring whilst Wayne and Helen were aboard.  Mark also decided it was time to give the bottom of the boat a bit of a tickle before we start heading south and was closely monitored by the usual mob of Bat Fish plus a couple of Black Tip Sharks. 

Wayne and Helen flew out on the afternoon (18^th September) after what seemed like a very brief stop at LI.  They had a great time and certainly made the most of their stay spending plenty of time in and under the water as well as exploring the island.  They also had the daily job of filling our water containers from the local well as we are not using any of the ships water at the moment to make sure we have plenty on board for the start of our trip south.  

Cairns to Lizard Island (27th August to 8th September)

Our new crew, Leapy Lynda (aka Vanuatu Survivor if you have read the BLOG on our Cora Sea Cruz from 2013), joined the boat.  After the obligatory tour around the main centre of Cairns and a swim in the Esplanade Pool we did the final stock up of diesel, gas, unleaded and fresh produce before departing for the final push north to Lizard Island.

We left Cairns Marina on the 29^th August and headed to yet another marina in the very beautiful town of Port Douglas.  We had a lovely sail up to PD and after a bit of confusion finally found our berth in Marina Mirage.  We found John and Jo from Kirra Kirra at the local pub – they are spending quite a bit of time in PD as they have a wedding to attend – not too shabby a spot for a wedding!   On Saturday (30^th), after some yoga and some more exploring, we headed to the ‘Tin Shed’ to watch the last game of the AFL home & away season between Carlton and Essendon.  Lynda and I are both quite rabid Blues supporters and the skipper just happens to be Essendon.  We normally have a bet on the game – the team that wins shouts the loser dinner and drinks.  This lead too much confusion as the game ended up in a draw so we were neither happy or sad and not sure who was buying what but think we ended up shouting each other!  After the big game we went to see the local Queensland Giant Grouper feeding which was a bit disappointing as George the Grouper failed to show however, the bar at the feeding station was doing a wonderful trade as most of the spectators were partaking in a beverage or two while enjoying the views over the inlet.

On Sunday (31^st August) we left PD and marina world.  We are very much looking forward to spending some time on the anchor.  The first stop is to Low Isles which is only about 10NM from Port Douglas and is a beautiful spot to hang out for a few days.  It is also a popular spot for the tour boats from PD so we had plenty of company during the day.  Thanks to Parks we were able to pick up a mooring which was rather nice.  We did the quick island tour – it is a very small island so it doesn’t take a long time to complete however, there is plenty of infrastructure present which includes a light house, two lighthouse keeper homes and another residence which is where we figure the caretaker resides.  There is plenty of great snorkelling around the island so we spent plenty of time in the water and Lynda got to try out her new snorkelling attire!  One of the highlights of the snorkelling was the very friendly turtles that didn’t seem to be too worried about us swimmers.  We found one that was very intent on foraging in the coral – were not quite sure what he was looking for but he didn’t seem to find it while we were watching. 

Low Isles

After a couple of nights at Low Isles we headed out to Tongue Reef for a snorkel on our way to Cape Tribulation, which was our stop for the night.  Tongue Reef was another great snorkelling spot so we spent plenty of time exploring underwater – we even pulled out the Go Pro for some more practice at underwater photography which turned out not too shabby even if I do say so myself.  We arrived at Cape Tribulation late in the afternoon but had enough time for a quick shore party.  It is definitely the spot where the jungle meets the sea as the rain forest comes right down to the beach.  Luckily we are in a patch of calm weather so the night at Cape Trib. was pleasant – it is not a common anchorage in these parts due to the prevailing strong trade winds that persist in this region.

Enjoying East Hope Island

On the morning of the 3^rd September we departed from Cape Trib. to Hope Islands which is to be our home for the next couple of nights.  The entry from the south into East Hope is a bit interesting as there are a few bommies to avoid however, once into the anchorage we were lucky enough to have our choice of two moorings to pick up.  There is plenty of bird life on East Hope and also plenty to see under the water so we had plenty to keep us entertained for our stay.  We were also joined in the anchorage by the MY Lauriana who were very kind to share some of their excellent homemade brew!



Cairn Reef

As we have some good weather forecast, and as we are not ones not to miss an opportunity, we decide to head over to Cairns Reef on the morning of the 5^th September for the next two nights.  Not many people go to Cairns Reef as it is in the shape of a big U and it is around 8NM from the entrance upwind to the head of the reef where the best anchorage is located.  We were glad we made the effort as we again enjoyed some excellent snorkelling and were lucky enough to have several Manta Rays lingering around the boat for much of our stay.  We also went for a shore party during low tide and saw a plethora of wild life in the shallows including huge fish (have no idea as to what type), plenty of turtles and quite a number of small Black Tipped Reef Sharks that seemed very interested in my feet while I was towing the dinghy along behind. 

After our excellent adventures at Cairns Reef we are up early on the morning of the7th as we have a long day ahead to reach Cape Flattery which is around 52NM.  It is a great day for a sail with around 20knts blowing from behind as is standard in these latitudes.  We made good time and arrived at Cape Flattery at 17:00H.  Cape Flattery is apparently the site for the largest Silica Mine in the world so there is plenty going on ashore and it made a good anchorage for the night before the last leg of our trip north to Lizard Island.

As the weather is still being kind to us we decide rather than heading straight to Lizard we might take a detour out to the outer reef.  We were hoping to stop in at the Cod Hole however, when we arrived we found that the public moorings were not there anymore - we think as a result of cyclone Ita that went through earlier this year, and there was already a large dive boat in the anchorage so we didn’t feel all that comfortable so decided to head over to the nearby Cormorant Reef for an explore.   As we were not familiar with the reef we decided to anchor in the deep water on the western side of the reef rather than going in to the shallower water however, we had a couple of fantastic snorkels on the nearby bommies.  Mark reckons we had around 40mts visibility underwater and the diversity of fish and coral was amazing.  The fish are also huge which was great to see and they certainly showed no signs of any fear sharing their waters with us humans.

The Table of Knowledge with Bill and Sue

It was a bit hard to leave the outer reef but as we wanted to arrive at Lizard Island by dark we up anchored at 3pm and headed to LI.  Getting the anchor up wasn’t quite as easy as it should have been as we kind of hooked the chain on a bit of coral but after a bit of mucking around we finally freed ourselves and headed off.  We arrived at Lizard Island around 17:00h and were pleased to hear the dulcet tones of Bill from Dilligaf on VHF welcoming us into the anchorage and also inviting us into the beach for sundowners so it was quickly down with the anchor, drop the dinghy and on our way to the beach before you know it.  It was great to catch up with the Dilligaf’s again especially as they are heading south tomorrow!  We also met up with our old friends Ann and Col from Annacol who have been here for around 7weeks – obviously they really like it here! 

Sunset at LI

Our position at LI is 14^o 39’.607S 145^o 27’.114E which is as far north as our travels will take us this season – it is all south from here on in with the main land on the starboard side!

Will report on our time at LI in the next BLOG



LI Resort - Post 'Ita'



 

 

  
 
 

 

Cairns with a Hobart Interlude! (26th August)

After picking up the car we drove down to Mourilyan (south of Innisfail) to catch up with Margy and Joseph who have a cane property on the Moresby River.  I have know Margy since the early 60's so as you can imagine it is always great to catch up.  Margy has been running the café at the Sugar Museum but is about to give that away on the 30th August and don't think the days can come quick enough.




On the Thursday (14th August) we say our farewells and head back up to Cairns via Atherton, Mareeba and Kuranda which was a lovely drive apart from the rainy conditions.  The next few days we spend pottering around Cairns and were lucky enough to spend a few lazy afternoons sunning ourselves by the Esplanade Pool which was rather nice.  We also arranged another delivery of Coles Online and now the boat is full to the brim for our trip up to Lizard Island.

As strange as this may seem we have to take what we are now referring to as a 'reverse holiday' and head down south for 1 week.  The main reason is to attend Jonathan (my nephew) and Carmel's, wedding in Hobart.  On Tuesday the 19th we flew down to Melbourne and spent a couple of nights down at sunny Safety Beach before flying down to Hobart on the Friday for the wedding on Saturday.

Salamanca Market

On the morning of the wedding we went for a wander down to Salamanca Place and the market which was fantastic especially as a number of the stalls were selling local Tassie made produce or items.  It was then back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding which was quite an experience as we have not worn proper shoes or fancy clothes for a number of years now so we definitely were not in our natural habitat!.






The wedding was held at St Mary's Cathedral with the reception at MONA.  What a great day and to make it even better it is also a bit of a Hollamby family reunion which only happens about every 8-10 years as my brother and his wife live O/S. 

On the Sunday we went down to one of the local cafe's for the post wedding rehabilitation party which was a really nice way to spend the afternoon as we got to spend a bit more time with the family and also some of Jon and Carmel's friends which was a lot of fun..








After our goodbyes we are back to Melbourne for the night at Miss Amanda's who put us up for the night which was fantastic and also arranged for a bit of a dinner at the Wick with Miss Leapy and Al and Jude which was great.  Tuesday and we are up early to catch the flight back to Cairns - we were very happy to arrive to a warm sunny day and back to our normal attire of shorts and thongs!

Miss Lynda arrived on Wednesday and quickly settled in to the conditions!  Today we are off to do the last of the shopping and tomorrow we are on our way to Port Douglas before heading north to Lizard Island *yay*

As there is not a lot of internet access at LI we may not be able to do any blogging until we are on our way back south so if you don't see any new posts for a while you will know why.

Hinchenbrook to Cairns (12th August)

After spending some time at Orpheus Island in the Palm Group we departed from the anchorage at Little Pioneer Bay early on the morning of the 27th July in order to meet the high tide at Lucinda.  As with a lot of the east coast of Queensland the water is shallow and the entrance at Lucinda is even shallower than most so it is prudent to make your entrance at the end of the flooding tide.  The sugar wharf at Lucinda would have to be one of the longest in the world being 5.6kms in length and dipping 1.2mts over its length as it follows the curvature of the earth!

As per our earlier posts this trip we had plenty of calm weather so were very lucky to be able to explore the eastern side of the Hinchinbrook and now we are heading up into the Hinchinbrook Channel.  Our first stop is as Haycock Island which is very pretty.  The Hinchinbrook Channel has a bit of a reputation for having a good supply of crocs in the mangrove creeks however this didn't seem to deter some locals who spent most of the afternoon wake boarding around our yacht.

On the 28th (which I believe was a Monday) we motored up to the township of Cardwell and went ashore for a few supplies.  Again this whole area is shallow so we had to anchor Big Sally around 1.5NM off the pier and take the trip in on Little Sal - glad that we now have a 15HP motor on the back which meant the trip was a breeze.  Back in 2011 Cardwell, as with most of this area, was hit badly when Cyclone Yasi went through and it was great to see that the town is going through a bit of a re-build and looking really good again and thriving with plenty of the grey nomads passing through as the town is on the Bruce Highway.

 After the shop we head back south to anchor up in one of those croc infested mangrove creeks - the one we picked doesn't seem to have a name but provided a very calm anchorage and no crocs to be seen.

Muggy Muggy beach

On Tuesday it is up early as we are off to one of our favourite spots - Dunk Island.   Dunk was also badly damaged with Yasi and it was great to see that it is also recovering well 3 years later.  The resort has now been bought by a miner who has started doing some work round the place although to what level it will be developed to is still a bit unknown however, we were thrilled to see that the Beach Bar is back and open on weekends & public holidays and the walking tracks are all cleared again.

View from Mt Kootaloo

We stopped at Dunk for about four nights which included a Friday so that we could enjoy lunch at the Beach Bar - the best prawns ever!!! We also did the walk around the island including the trek to the lookout at Mt. Kootaloo, which has some great views, and lunch at Muggy Muggy Beach .

The Best Prawns!

Unfortunately the calm weather is about to end after around 4weeks (we can't really complain) so we figure it is time to start heading towards Cairns.  We dropped in at Mourilyan Harbour for the night which is always an interesting stop although there is not a lot there apart from the sugar loading wharf.   On the 3rd of August we headed into Cairns which will be Sally's home until the end of August when we continue the trek north to Lizard Island.

We are stopping at Cairns for a while as we are heading back south for a week (all the way to Hobart - Brrrrr) to attend my nephews wedding on the 23rd. 

There is plenty to do in Cairns and the place is really going off with plenty of tourists in town.  There are also plenty of international yachts in the marina including a number of yachts participating in the ARC Around the World Rally. Our stop in Cairns has also allowed us to get a few jobs done - one of the messy ones

was cleaning the BBQ - never a fun job although there were plenty of yacht owners that were very keen to employ my BBQ cleaning skills!   The other main job was to sort out the anchor winch which has been on suicide watch for the last few weeks.  We arranged a new solenoid switch however, this didn't seem to do much at all and after finding out that a new motor would be around 10weeks in the making we decided to remove the offending motor and take it up to the local auto electricians to see if he would fix the beast. Luckily it looks like we only had dirty brushes which were easily cleaned - unfortunately the re-installation of the offending unit was not quite so easy and Mark spent many hours stuck up in our anchor locker - not fun!


We are currently on board waiting for our Coles On Line delivery which is the big stock up before our trip to LI.  Tomorrow we are hiring a car for a few days and heading down to Mourilyan to catch up with some old cane cocky friends and also do a bit of sight seeing on the way.  We are flying out on Tuesday and will be back on board on the 26th.  Leapy Lynda is then joining us on the 27th and we will be heading off shortly after that for our first stop which will be either Yorkey's Knob or Port Douglas.

Townsville to Hichinbrook Island (26th July)

As predicted Amanda departed from Sally on the 12th of July and it was once again back to two of us. We stayed at Townsville until the 17th July and had a good look around the town including the Maritime Museum, many walks down The Strand and quite a few swims in the Tobruk Pool.  We also tried to watch Jack Miller in the Moto 3 race being run on Sunday night but were unable to find anywhere televising the race, however we did get to follow the race, and ultimate victory to Jack, via the internet.  Just in case you don't know he is currently leading the Moto 3 category - not bad for a young bloke from Townsville!



The Forts Walk - Magnetic Island

We departed from the marina in Townsville on the morning of the 17th and headed back to an old favourite, Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island, where we caught up with Gail and Ian Pearse (L'etoile)from down south who have been enjoying a few days with friends at the Lotus House.  We decided rather than rush off we would enjoy a few more nights at Maggie, especially as the weather is continuing to be rather nice.  We enjoyed this time and did the walk to The Forts, which was the forward defence for Townsville during the Battle of the Coral Sea which was pretty much fought on the door step of Townsville.  We also walked down to Acadia which is the other main town on Maggie Island and stopped in at Gilligan's cafe' for a coffee and morning tea.



Maggie Island Local

View from Maggie

Site of Leper Colony - Fantome Island

On the 20th (Sunday) we finally left Horseshoe Bay and started the trek north yet again.  Our first stop was at Juno Bay on Fantome Island in the Palm Group which is about 40NM north of Townsville.  We spent a couple of nights in the anchorage and went and explored the old Leper Colony that was only shut down in 1973 -  which was not that many years ago. Hopefully we are still leprosy free!.   We also were visited by a Navy Patrol Boat during our stay - it is quite a daunting sight to see one heading straight for you! 

Navy on Patrol -Juno Bay



Zoe Falls

As our remarkable run of calm and warm weather is forecast to continue for a few more days we figure this our best opportunity to finally get over and explore the very exposed eastern side of the world heritage listed Hinchinbrook Island.  Our first stop is in the very well known and beautiful Zoe Bay where we went for the short walk up to Zoe Falls which is definitely worth the stop.  Naturally as there was a lovely big pool of fresh water I decided that I must go for a swim and also decided a bath was in order only to find our later on that perhaps I should not have been using detergent in the source of drinking water for the many walkers that frequent this area - so I apologise for the error of my ways and promise not to do it again.


Zoe Bay

As Zoe Bay is totally exposed to the East we figured it is a better option to anchor up for the night in Little Ramsay Bay which is only a further 5NM north and has much more protected and ended up spending a couple of nights there on the pick which were a bit rolly but certainly worth it to get to spend some time on Hinchinbrook.   The anchorage is quite spectacular as there is jungle down to the beach and has the mighty Mt Bowen as a back drop.  There are also the well known Achtung Signs around warning that Crocodiles have been seen so we are pretty careful when making our beach landings!  The world re-known Thorsborne Walking Trail extends for 32kms along the eastern of the island with camping sites along it length.  Luckily enough we were able to walk on some of this trail from the anchorage at Little Ramsay to the north end of Zoe Bay and return which was fantastic and can see why so many people make the effort to walk this track.  During our stop in Little Ramsay we were also joined by some of those very intrepid Sea Kayakers that were also enjoying their visit to Hinchinbrook.



View of Mt Bowen - Hinchinbrook Island

Not wanting to push our luck too much and with easterly winds forecast we figured it was time to head back down to Orpheus Island (also part of the Palm Group) for a few nights.  This was quite a shock to the system as we actually had to go onto the wind and tighten the sheets which is something we haven't down for a very long time.  Anyhow we managed to deal with the situation and cope with the 20nm trip south and pull up a mooring in Little Pioneer Bay.  We were quite keen to pull up a mooring as our normally very trusty anchor winch has been a little temperamental of  late which we are pretty confident is a problem with the solenoid.  Mark went to work and has given the contacts a good clean and so far it is all looking good although we will give it a bit more time before we make a final analysis on that!

As we are moored right next to the reef we figure it is a good opportunity to hit the water again and enjoy some snorkelling and we weren't disappointed as the bay has some beautiful hard corals.  We also took a dinghy ride down to Pioneer Bay (about 1nm) to see if we could have a look around the James Cook University Research Centre but unfortunately our timing is not good so that one got ruled out however, we did go and have a look at the Giant Clam Garden which was very impressive with huge numbers of clams over 1mt across.  As our visit was at low tide we also got to see the Squirting Giant Clams which very much reminded us of the water feature in the Crown Casino at home - it is worth googling this as their are a number of you-tube clips showing this phenomenon

View from Orpheus Island

This morning (26th July) and we are still at Orpheus and went for the walk to the top of the island which has some great views of the windward side of the island down to Great Palm.
Luckily the good weather is continuing so I think we might be off for another snorkel this arvo or at least a couple of swims.  Tomorrow the plan is to head off early to meet the tide going into the entrance of the Hinchinbrook Channel at Lucinda and head up to Haycock Island for the evening.
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Whitsunday's to Townsville (11th July)

As planned we picked up Amanda at Hammo (aka Fat Island) on Friday 27th of June.  We enjoyed a couple of days at Hammo including a day sunning ourselves by the pool and the highlight of the stay was our trip over to Dent Island which is right next door to Hammo.  They have built an 18hole golf course over on Dent however, for those of us not quite up to playing on this very challenging course, you can take the soft option of lunch and tour of the course which was excellent fun.  You hop on the golf ferry at Hammo for the short trip across the Dent Passage where you are picked up in a mini bus and taken to the club house for a pretty swanky lunch with an awesome view over Hamilton Island.  Once lunch is complete the team all hop into golf buggies for the island tour.  As we were a group of 3 we got to go with the guide and lead the party which meant that Amanda and I, who were sitting in the back, had an excellent view of the golf buggy chaos behind us.  Eventually all 12 buggies made it back just in time to catch the ferry back to Hammo.  As it was such a lovely afternoon we decided that we should finish off the day with drinks at the Bommie Bar at the Hamilton Island YC before calling the day quits.

View from Golf Cart on Dent Island

On Monday it is time to get moving again and our first stop is over the Whitehaven Beach for a few nights before heading around to the top of Hook Island for a bit of snorkelling around at Maureen;s Cove with our overnight stop at Stonehaven on the 3rd of July.  We were lucky enough to catch up with our good friends Bill and Sue on Dilligaf again and naturally dropped in for a few sundown drinks!!

Whitehaven Beach

As the temperatures are now starting get a little cool in the Whitsunday's it is definitely the right time to be heading north again.  Our first stop on our trek north is Gloucester Passage which is well known for the Shag Islet YC, Monte's Resort and also the Gloucester Passage Resort which is where we decided to stop in for drinks and a meal.  As the wind is forecast to abate over the next few days we figure it is better to keep moving north while we can sail rather than going into Bowen so on the 4th July (Independence Day) we are on our way to Cape Upstart for the night and then up to Cape Bowling Green before making it into Horseshoe Bay at Magnetic Island on the 6th. 

Poor Imitation of Noodies

When we arrive at Maggie Island the weather is amazingly calm and as hoped warmer and to make it even better we have the same forecast for the rest of the week!  As we made it north a little quicker than initially planned it means we are lucky enough to spend a few days out at Maggie which always a bonus.  We had a few sunset drinks at the Marlin Bar, had a lovely walk over to Balding Bay (aka Noodie Beach) and Radical Bay (Family Friendly Beach) and also took the bus down to Picnic Bay for a spot of lunch at the pub.

Sunset at Horseshoe Bay

We arrived in at the Breakwater Marina at around 9am yesterday morning (Thursday 10th July) in order to meet the tide as the depth at the marina entrance is only 0.5mts so we need at least 1.5 and preferably 2mts to get in and out!  Luckily you get a lot of big tides around Townsville.

Surprise Surprise  - our cruising buddies Arjuna and Dilligaf  have beaten us in!  Townsville is a really nice spot to spend a few days and after giving the boat a bath it is off for a walk down the Esplanade and then over to the Yacht Club for a meal with Bill an Sue.

Today we are going to head over to the Aquarium which is always worth a visit and may also get to the Maritime Museum if we get time.   Amanda is getting voted off the island tomorrow and is heading back to winter in Melbourne.  We are thinking of spending at least 1 week here and hoping to get up to see Margy and Joseph on their cane property at Mourilyan during our stopover.

Some other highlights during the last couple of weeks:

• Mark caught a fish and we ate it!
• Carlton finally managed another win against the Saints
• Dan Ricciardo got a well earned 3rd in the F1
• Matt Lawrence (Mark's nephew) and Matt Seton finished the Melbourne to Vanuatu Race (~1800NM) last night on Jazz Player which is an awesome effort.  Hope they are enjoying the celebrations which I am sure will continue for a while.  Great to see Adrian and the Geomatic crew make the trip over to Port Vila to welcome in the competing crews  - even though it ended up being in the Flying division. after having to retire from the race.

Matt & Matt - Jazz Player