Wandering the warm wet Whitsundays with Capt’n Doug

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There will be no Capt’n log this time as Hakuraand I have been cruising around the Whitsunday Islands and there have not been any significant distances travelled. Also, this blog will be different as it deals with five separate cruises each of about a week long (as that is usually how long the fresh food lasted) and each often covered the same anchorages, as can be seen in the two maps that firstly cover two cruises with Fred and secondly the one with Lorraine and the joint cruise with Lorraine and John. I will give a brief outline of each week’s trip plus the highlights.



Many of the islands of the Whitsundays are large hilly national parks with open dry bush on them. Some of the anchorages strongly reminded me of Great Barrier Island, in the Hauraki Gulf in New Zealand, particularly Port Fitzroy though heaps warmer.



The two biggest aspects of the area from a cruising point of view are the tides and the wind.



The area has two tides a day that flow south during the flood (rising) and north during the ebb (falling). The tide ranges are between 2.5 and 4 metres though the range is larger at the southern end of the Whitsundays. These large ranges mean that every 12 and a half hours a large volume of water needs to move south and then north through the group. As the cruising guides frequently point out, there are several locations where these movements of water produce strong currents. Some are in the narrow passages between islands (more on these later) and also off some headlands. In some of these locations the currents can get up to 4 knots, not bad when you are steaming at 5 knots against it and fun when going with it. Also, if the water is moving against the wind direction then short shape seas develop. So in any day half the time the tidal flow is against the wind and the other half with it. This all leads to some very choppy seas, through they are very limited with regard both time and area.



There were two notable tide streams that we encountered. The first was off the eastern end of Working Island that is itself east of Haslewood and Whitsunday Islands. The charts for this area say tide streams of up to 4 knots and they are right. Fred and I were motor sailing south around the headland aiming for White Bay on the southern side of Haslewood Island. This was during one of the infrequent periods of northerly winds. It was a bit lumpy but we were still doing 5 knots through the water. However, whenever I checked our position against the nearly headland we appeared to be making little progress. Upon checking the GPS I found we were only doing 1 knot across the bottom, not too surprising as 5 knots forward minus the 4 knots of tide against us is 1 knot total forward.



The other one was Fitzalan Passage, a very narrow gap between the north coast of Hamilton Island and Whitsunday Island. We went through there with the tide and were doing more than 10 knots across the bottom. Good to be going with the tide for a change.



Off all the islands in the group, I would have to say Hamilton was the most impacted by resorts. It had several multi-storey buildings along the north coast and an airport that takes commercial jets. Not my sort of place at all. Then again, I only went past the once and did not have to go near it, which was more to my liking.



This brings us to the wind. As people on another yacht told us just after our arrival in the area, it is either blowing 15 to 25 knots from the southeast (this being the end of the southeast trades that have been blowing across the wide expanse of the South Pacific) or variable below 10 knots. The consistency of the SE trades means that most of the anchorages haven been chosen with this in mind. When there is a strong northerly a whole new set of anchorages open up.



Unlike Fiji, the water is often deep away from the islands so they are free of outlying reefs, thus travel is possible outside the 9 am to 3 pm window. Most reefs are narrow strips of fringing reefs and do not extend far from the islands. The major exception is an area between Hook Island and Hayman Island, at the northern end of the group. Several extensive reefs occur in this area.



All up, traveling around the group is a mixture of motoring or motor sailing down wind (with headsail only) watching out for the tidal races and trying to work out whether we are being pushed along or slowed by them. Only in a few places have we needed to have a specific lookout for reefs or isolated bombies (those lone coral heads that occasionally ripe open the hulls of vessels that get too close). Such reefs are a major issue around Fiji and can mean that there on cloudy days you stay put and enjoy a day off.



Another impact of the large tides is that the water is often carrying large volume of sediment (well at least I think that is why there are bodies of high sediment waters around the place). This significantly reduces the water clarity and the diversity of corals, thus the snorkelling experience. In some locations it may only be clear during the slack water at the top or the bottom of the tides. These times are also the best as you are not being swept along, and possibly out to sea, by the currents.



Anyway, on Sunday 23^rd of August, Fred and I headed out for our first adventure in the Whitsundays. We had a boatload of fresh veggies, sausages, cheeses and bread (even some “baguette” more about them later). Our first overnight was Cid Harbour on the western side of Whitsunday Island. A great little harbour well sheltered from the SE Trades. It was not really small and certainly not empty, as there were about thirty other vessels in there. There was little movement over night and we both slept well. With a couple of exceptions this was the norm for anchorages around the Whitsundays.



As both Fred and I wanted to do some snorkelling, so after consulting our cruising guides, notably “100 Magic Miles of the Great Barrier Reef” we decided on heading for Stonehaven, where there was reportable good snorkelling. Just an aside here about our copy of the “100 Magic Miles…”, I had picked it up several months before while in the marina in Hobart. Somebody was getting rid of it. I suspect because they had updated their copy, as this one was a first edition from 1985. We had to keep reminding ourselves that it was not quit right about the current state of play regarding resorts or Airlie Beach and shopping. It was though still very useful with regard potential anchorages.



We had a guest while in Stonehaven. A green turtle swam right up to the back of Hakura and allowed Fred to get in the water with it. It was the first of many turtles that we saw around the place including several underwater. The water clarity was not great though I did see some large coral trout, which is a good sign that an area is not being fished.



As the weather forecast was for very light winds over the next several days, we decided to head to the Great Barrier Reef proper, specially to a reef called Bait Reef. This is on the inside of the collection of reefs that make up the Great Barrier Reef and it was 15 nautical miles (nmiles) northeast of Hayman. So after an early start we were off heading into the wild (flat as a mill pond) blue yonder. As you leave the Whitsunday islands behind there is no sign of the reefs further east. They only appear as you get within a few nmiles of them. The first indication that anything is ahead are the masts of the vessels moored out on the reef.



When we arrived there was a mooring buoy available, a good start. The next surprise was the local welcoming committee. After jumping overboard I realized I was not alone. There was a very big black Giant Trevally, three big batfish and lots of smaller fish under the boat. Well not just under Hakura, right next to me. I could have touched the GT. Later a Giant Wrasse turned up and he was a giant. It appears that each mooring has it’s own collection of fish with at least one GT and often a Giant Wrasse as well.



We had several great snorkels over the next three days and saw lots of fish. Many large coral trout, more giant wrasse, some anemonefish and even some sharks. I only saw one, a small reef blacktip shark, who was very interested in us. Fred, who covered more of the seafloor than I, saw some reef whitetip sharks, including a couple under Hakura.



In several patches the coral appeared to be in good health wit, lots of colour and a good diversity, though some locations had been flatten by a storm, albeit with signs of regrowth occurring. Two groups of fish that I still have not seen around were any triggerfish or Moorish Idols.



In one particularly beautiful section of reef we did find a couple of very large giant clams, and no they did not try to suck in my foot and drown me. Overall, I thought this section of reef looked in good health.



After 3 days we headed back into the Whitsundays, and just before passing Hayman Island we caught our only fish (so far and still only one). It was a new species of tuna to me though common on the reef, a long tailed tuna. As we did not have a fridge we had to give away most of the fish. This proved harder to do that I thought. Finally seven young Victorian lads took all we had left and were very grateful. They gave me 2 VBs for Fred (beers), which he enjoyed, mainly because they were cold.



All this time, our friends the humpback whales were still around, frequently seen at a distance. While out at Bait Reef, Fred and I were relaxing in the cockpit watching the divers return to one of the charter boats when there was a load splash. I though somebody was jumping off the dive boat. Nope, two big humpbacks had surfaced right next to the edge of the reef where several divers were. The whales swam slowly past while some of the divers were swimming fast to their boat while others were trying to head on out to the whales. They had no show of catching the whales.



Also, on the way back in from Bait Reef a couple of whales passed within 20 meters of Hakura. At first we thought it was a whale and a dolphin, but as they got closer we released it was a mother and very small calf. The calf was so small that it may have been just days old, a great sight.



The last sighting of the whales was at the end of September with Lorraine and John when we saw a couple of whales breaching in the distance.



The rest of this cruise was spent around Hayman and northern Hook Island before heading back into Airlie Beach with most of the food eaten. Oh yes the baguettes. They were a big disappointment. There was no crunch in them at all. This was so disappointing that Fred would not buy anymore. He had introduced me to the Parisian way of eating soft cheeses. Break off a piece of baguette add a slice of cheese and some jam (French jam is best according to Fred and by chance we had some). It was bloody great and I am hoping to try it when I can get some good baguettes.



Fred left at the beginning of September, on the overnight bus to Cairns, so another quick goodbye and back to no crew. Not a big issue as my next visitors were to be Lorraine followed by John boy. I had a week to fill before Lorraine arrived so stayed in Airlie Beach and do some walking and bussing to areas around Airlie Beach.



Lorraine arrived on 16 September and after restocking with food, water and fuel, we were off on a slow “I need to calm down” cruise. We slowly made our way around several anchorages. Usually staying several days at each.



The next to arrive was John boy, who flew into Hamilton Island (from Hamilton in NZ though via a couple of other airports) on 24 September. We meet John at Able Point Marina and after another restock of food, water and fuel we headed out to the islands again.



We had decided to meet John at Able Point (in Airlie Beach) partly because we needed to restock, but also as Hamilton wished to charge us $18 per hour for either Hakura or EII (the dinghy) to visit to pick up John. No Thanks. John can make his way to Airlie Beach and we’ll meet there.



These trips were great as it had been a very long time since I had these great friends on board Hakura. Whilst it was only 6 months since I had last seen them for a short catch up in Auckland when I was back there to see my mum on her deathbed (which still has not her deathbed, eighty nine and still going strong), it had been several years since we had been able to hang out together on Hakura in the tropics.



One of the reasons they both had chosen to visit me during the latter half of September was that I had a significant birthday on the 28^th. Well I had a great day, with a cake even. We spent that day out at Bait Reef, though this time there were a lot of vessels and pressure for people to move on from the moorings. On the 29^th we moved three times to supposed good places to have two charter boats send us off their moorings and have one lot say it was OK to anchor and the other lot say no anchoring allowed.



I decided that rather than get into a fight we would head back to our spot on northern Hook Island. A decision helped by the poor water clarity. The day before John and I did have a good snorkel and saw lots of fish and one turtle, it was not very clear.



Our last night out in the islands with Lorraine (and as it turned out with John) we ended at a small island between Hayman and Hook Islands, called Black Island. As we were heading into Stonehaven, it was obvious that the other yachts were going to get there before us so I was looking around for another spot when I noticed an empty mooring off Black Island.



This location turned out to be a great place in the calm weather. We even had a fireworks display from the people of Hayman Island. Thanks guys.



Another interesting event we saw while at this anchorage was two, or many three, dolphins swimming past just before sunset. The sea was flat so it should have been easy to watch the dolphins but they were very secretive, spending little time at the surface. After a couple of minutes I released that they were not the usual bottlenose dolphins, rather a distinctive tropical inshore species, the humpback dolphin. I had only seen the species once before, in the 1979 sail on Rebels Riser while passing through the Great Sandy Strait (several hundred nmiles south of the Whitsundays). They have a longer thinner beak, smaller dorsal fin that bottlenose dolphins, plus a small hump on their back. It was good to see these guys again.



This brings me to the subject of dolphins. During my 2 months or so around the Whitsundays, I only ever saw a maximum of 3 dolphins at any one time and than infrequently. I thought that they were bottlenose dolphins and the same individuals but some of the sightings may have been of the humpback dolphins. Thus we saw 2 species and maybe a maximum of only three individuals of each species. Was this normal? If not where were all the other dolphins?



The most obvious form of wildlife were the large birds. Lots of sea eagles (up to 6 in the sky at once in one location. There were also many ospreys, which are smaller than sea eagles, with narrower wings, longer tails and less white. On the land you could hear and occasional see flocks of white cockatoos, and often hear other birds.



In the waters around the islands I was surprised at the small number of seabirds. The occasional brown booby and a few terns. Far less that you would see around Northland’s coast.



As on the 2^nd of October, Lorraine had to be in at the Able Point Marina at 08:00, sharp to catch her shuttle to the airport we headed in on the 1^st and had a farewell dinner ashore. We did drop Lorraine off before time. John was going to stay around for a couple more days before he headed south, but the wind was due to reach near gale strength we decided to move into the Able Point Marina for these days so that we could guaranty that he would be able to get his bus.



This did lead to one of the more amusing events of the past several weeks. As we tided up, with the very able assistance of the person from the marina, he asked us “are we Shaggers?” John was a bit taken back by this forward Aussie. Luckily I actual know what he was asking. Are we members of the Shag Island Cruising Yacht Club?



It turns out that members got nearly 50%!d(MISSING)iscount on marina fees and you can join on line. So a few minutes later I became the Vic-Commodore for Ngunguru in NZ and we got the discount. I also received a pennant for Hakura and a polo shirt for me. Not bad for a cost of about half the discount.



It was good to be in the marina as we were heading into the business end of the Rugby World cup and John and I were able to see a few of the replays. The last one we saw together a reply of the England Australia game, or part there of as John had to head off to his bus.



Again I was solo again, thought I had time before the planned next stage of a voyage to New Zealand via New Caledonia, levelling from Mackay, just south of Airlie Beach.



There were a couple of possibilities from the Find-a-Crew website and one from a notice John put up in one of the local hostels. So while discussing with these people and checking the weather, I stayed on a mooring off Airlie Beach. Over time it became clear that the trip to New Caledonia was not on and an alternative of sailing from Brisbane was the best option. The issues with the former plan were the very high likelihood of strong headwinds and an increasing risk of cyclones developing in the Coral Sea. Unfortunately this did mean that I did loose the one crew I did have.



Thus I was back to no crew and a need to get to Brisbane, but this is the story for the next blog so see you then.



I think the Whitsunday Islands is a great cruising location, with lots of islands to visit, picturesque and safe anchorages to allow a skipper a good night’s sleep. The weather was warm, manly dry (only a few days of rain and then not a lot). The people are friendly, though the charters are not as chatty or welcoming as usual cruisers, though that is because they have not been doing it for as long I suspect.



Would I come back again? Not specifically to the Whitsundays, however, I would stop for a week or so if passing throw.



Overall, I had a great time sailing around the islands and enjoyed sharing it with my friends.

Update: I have been reminded of several important and very disturbing events that occurred whilst we were in the Whitsundays. Each involved desertion from Hakura; two attempted and two (finally) successful.



The first involved my favourite scrubbing brush. When I clean off marine growth off the proper, rudder and other surfaces, I would use this red brush, putting it in a hessian bag that hangs of the back. As the brush floats, the top of the bag in held just above the surface. On one occasion, I wished to remove some large barnacles so I placed a screwdriver in the bag along with the brush. Unfortunately the weight of the screwdriver pulled the bag down and when time came to do the work the brush was gone. Well that is gratitude for you. After all the times I allowed it to be a useful, even valued member of the crew. Well never mind I had a spare on.



So next time, the backup brush went into the bag. A bit later I heard a splash and come on deck to find Fred coming back on board bring the reserve brush. It had tried to escape.



Now you would think I would have learnt my lesson. Well it turned out, nope. Some weeks later I wished to remove more growth so the brush was placed in the bag, but when called on the do its job, it had done a runner, again. This time, I climbed back on board and looked around. There was this little bit of red bobbing around down wind from Hakura so I jumped into EII and off I go on a rescue mission. But the poor brush was never seen again. I think a large fish or turtle came up and swallowed it.



So far, we have had three breakouts of which two were successful.



The next to make a break for it was the red fuel funnel. Well not so much a breakout, more a case of “man-overboard”. After filling the outboard, I dropped the funnel over the side. No problems, I just needed to use EII to go get the funnel. It was just over there.



Well after five minutes of several near misses, including one case of running over said funnel with EII, I did finally manage to get it back on board. I am happy to report there have been no attempted escaped so either those brushes were the issue or it could have been their red colour? The replacements are blue and white, black and white or blue. Much safer colours and slower too I think. Life on Hakura is rarely dull.

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Photos

I finally found him.
At Bait Reef

Our first and so far only fish in Queensland
A longtail tuna