Sailing the Whitsundays

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Arrived in the Whitsunday islands after a very long journey. We left Kota Kinabalu early on Tuesday morning and flew down to Singapore via Kuching. We then had a 7 hour stop over before we caught the flight from Singapore to Brisbane. Brand new plane which always helps the confidence, a bit bumpy in places but was so tired and trying to sleep that it didn’t seem too bad. Arrived in Brisbane and then had a couple of hours wait before we could take the plane up to Hamilton Island. Overcast when we arrived and had been raining. Met the skipper, Jeff, got some basic provisions, there are white cockatoos all over the place, locals don’t like them as they trash everything, any way off we went. Overnighted in a bay called Cid Harbour. Turtles popping up everywhere to breathe. Bay was over shadowed by tall hills mainly comprising of rock, covered in Hoop pines and scrub, really strange as we have only seen turtles in tropical landscape and this looks more like Scotland or how I imagine New Zealand to look. Lots of showers, they have squalls here called bullets and every so often one will come over the top of the hill and whistle around the boat making it roll, most disconcerting when you are asleep as the anchorage was very flat and calm. Apparently it always rains here as the hills surrounding the bay are quite high.

Woke next day, both having slept for 11 hours, and saw a couple of small rays leaping out of the water, obviously being chased by something. More turtles. Set sail for Airlie beach, a 3 hour sail, to provision for the week, so ended up cooking and eating breakfast on the run. Overcast and lots of short, heavy showers. Airlie beach is a small little town on the mainland, one of 2 places in this area where you can provision. We also picked up some stingers suits. 1mm thick wetsuits that they advise you wear whenever you are in the water. There are some small jelly fish called stingers that are prolific and give you a sting that is bad enough to hospitalise you, as if there wasn’t enough to worry about with the sharks! I can assure you that they are not the most fetching thing I have ever worn and no there aren’t any pictures!! We then set sail for Stonehaven Anchorage where we were to spend the night. Fantastic sail, boat heeled over on her side, 21 knots of wind and we were doing 8.4 knots through the water. Got there in record time. Al ended up Bar B Q’ing in the rain; there is a gas barbie on the back struts of the boat, all very convenient.

Woke next day to clearing skies and sailed a short distance to Maureen’s cove on Hook island. 4 Big Bat fish arrived swimming around the back of the boat waiting to be fed. Beautiful little spot where we went snorkelling. The sea bed looks like an underwater garden, Lots of different corals in varying colours, lilac, blue, purple, yellow etc probably the best we have ever seen anywhere and in really good condition. Lots of different sea anemones too, some like huge clumps of spaghetti, their fronds moving in the current. A reasonable number of fish and some nudibranchs. Moved on to Manta Ray bay. Into the water again, didn’t see any rays however the fish life here is as good as the Maldives, staggering variety and you can hear this constant ticking in the water where they are nibbling the coral. A huge Napoleon Wrasse with cleaner fish on his back moved in under the boat, beautiful thing and a big loggerhead turtle swam by. Then round to Blue Pearl bay, Al went snorkelling and I went for a sleep, worn out, can’t remember when I last spent so much time in the water. Weather has been dry and the cloud is clearing, odd spots of blue sky and even the odd peep out of the sun!! Then off to a sand spit only visible at low tide, lovely walk but then the heavens opened, took refuge under a tree but still got absolutely soaked, sundowners on another little island and then off to a quiet anchorage to spend the night. The stars are unbelievable. You can see the Milky Way there are thousands of them.

We had 2 huge dumps of rain last night and woke to very heavy skies. Lots of calls to base and various dive operations to try and get Alan booked in on a dive. We were successful and we will meet the dive boat this afternoon at Luncheon Bay. Got ready to sail and found that the boat had managed to spin at one point and trapped the mooring line under the keel. 5 minutes later and a bit manoeuvring and we sailed back across to Blue Pearl bay so that I could snorkel. Once again superb snorkelling, saw a giant clam this time in addition to everything else. Then on to another bay to meet the dive boat. We were alone in the anchorage, sun came out so time for lunch and spot of sunbathing. Dive boat arrived but they had some people on board who had been very sick as in sea sickness (sea isn’t rough at all, bit of chop but nothing out of the ordinary) so they didn’t want to stop there as the boat was rolling a bit. Jeff took Al across to the dive boat and off they sped back to Blue Pearl bay. We then followed sailing back and met them just as Al had finished his dive. After all that the visibility wasn’t that great and you could see just as much if not more snorkelling. Then a 3 hour sail to Dumbell island (the profile of the island looks like a dumbell) to spend the night. Sailing through a channel and spotted a black shark’s fin on the surface. Skipper confirmed it was definitely a shark. Moored up quite late but still managed to spot a few ore turtles. Terrible night, the wind changed direction so what should have been a really flat anchorage turned into rock and roll. Spent the night rolling all over the place, waves slapping the side of the boat and at one point where we were moving so much the mooring buoy started hitting the boat. It sounds like something is crashing into you. Not a happy bunny, don’t respond well to sleep deprivation.

Got up about six, no point in staying in bed and moved straight away to a more sheltered anchorage for breakfast and then a short sail to Tongue Bay. Sun had come out and the bay looked beautiful, I felt dreadful. Went ashore in the dingy and walked up a small hill to a lookout point overlooking Whitehaven beach and Hill Inlet, wow. Whitehaven beach is 4.9km of pure white sand, helicopters and seaplanes land on the western end dropping people off to spend the day with a champagne picnic. Boats can only anchor at the eastern end because of shifting sands and the odd rock and shoal. Immediately below us is Hill inlet, a very shallow inlet with lots of shifting sands. As the tide goes out it reveals white swirls in amongst patches of small turquoise green water. Absolutely beautiful. Below us was a tiny bay that can’t be reached by either boat or foot. In the shallows you could see about six small rays lying on top of the sand. We then took another path down to the inlet, lots of huge butterflies flitting about in the vegetation. The sand is like white powder beneath your feet, as good as anything we have seen in other places around the world. The sun is out so off we sailed to Whitehaven beach to have lunch, lots of day trippers on the beach and very hot so we decided to take the boat out for a long sail, going nowhere. Lots of wind so she was heeled over nicely racing through the water. We eventually sailed into Chalkies, another beautiful white sandy bay opposite Whitehaven, but we had it all to ourselves. Lots of huge turtles here. Went for a stroll along the beach and then sundowners on the boat in time for the early evening downpour. Weather has been really good today, long may it continue and Alan’s has turned a dark shade of mahogany.

Left Chalkies early and motor sailed for a couple of hours back to base to top up with water and sort a couple of minor issues with the boat. There were rain showers around us and we sailed straight through a complete rainbow with all the colours visible. Then off to Billbob island which is in the southern area of the Whitsundays, previously we have been in the more central area. The day boats don’t come to this area so there are even fewer boats, not that we have seen a huge number as it is the low season here. Yet another lovely spot, sand is yellow here, coarser, but still ok. These islands get a hit by trade winds at certain times of the year, so consequently a lot of rubbish gets dumped on them. Took a dustbin bag with me and filled it and could probably have down it 10 times over. Donned the suit again and went for a swim off the beach, bliss. We then went exploring and found a small waterfall which fell into several rock pools just above the beach. Had a wallow to get rid of the salt water, refreshingly cool. Then off to Goldsmith island, a long sail to anchor for the night. Wind was aganist tide so some interesting times through some of the channels. Water was swirling around, and we were going up and down and surfing some of the waves if the boat caught them right. Alan was helming, he is very good at it fortunately. Will probably have to drag him away from the wheel when the holiday finishes. Arrived at our bay, the tide goes out miles here, so we took the dinghy in and did the usual rubbish collection whilst walking the beach. On the back we saw little armies of small light blue, cream and white crabs marching along the beach. There looked really funny and if you came up behind them they all started climbing over one another to get out of the way. Back to the boat for drinks and dinner and then the best night’s sleep yet. Sea must have been like a mill pond, we were able to leave the hatches open all night, as it didn’t rain, normally you get woken by the rain and have to get up and shut them all and you could see the stars whilst lying in bed.

Early start again as this is our last full day and we have quite a distance to go. Motor sailed to Thomas island where we had breakfast. Weather looks like it is turning for the worse. Great big rain clouds scattered around, only one has hit us so far. Motor sailed to Thomas island as there wasn’t any wind around at 7am. Clouds are disappearing and it has turned into a beautiful day. Went to drop the anchor on the automatic winch and it didn’t work so had to drop it manually. This wasn’t looking good as it meant we would have to haul 30 metres of chain up manually. Tried to radio the base but were out of signal range. Another Sunsail yacht was also having trouble with their anchor chain, so the skipper went across in the dinghy and let the boat drift until base could be contacted. The other boat rafted up to us whilst we waited for the chase boat to arrive. In the meantime Alan and I took the dinghy across to the beach across to the beach for a swim. I went off to explore amongst some rocks at the end of the beach, the tide was on the way out and the water was quite shallow. Stepped into a sandy space and to small rays and a small black tip reef shark swam passed frightening the living daylights out of me. Small shriek and Al came over to see what was going on. Then looking more carefully around me we could see another four rays lying in the sand in the shallow water. The little shark came back for round two but soon swam off again. Chase boat arrived; anchor chain was fixed after they had dismantled several panels in our bunk. Great sail up to Boatport anchorage on Lindeman island where we were going to spend the night. Arrived earlier than expected so went to off to explore as usual. Had just got back to the boat when four dolphins appeared in the bay, one breached. Lots more turtles popping up again. Started to rain just for a change.

Set sail early for Turtle Bay. Sea was like a millpond, not a ripple anywhere, so ended up with the engine on unfortunately. Arrived and I started to cook the boys breakfast. The stove is a two burner so had one on frying the eggs, the other was off but had a plate on it keeping the bacon warm. Across the top of the rings run metal rods. Picked the plate up with the bacon, dropped it straight away as the heat had transferred across. Ended up with my hand in the freezer box trying to keep it cold whilst we motored back to base so that I could see a doctor. Burnt my thumb and first finger both had blistered quite badly. The rest is ok. Saw a doctor, that and the medicine cost a mere £90 so won’t be doing that in a hurry again. Hand looks a picture, thumb and first finger bandaged up. Whilst at the doctor’s he mentioned that a girl had been bought in a couple of days previously having had part of her bum bitten off by a shark, first time there has been a shark attack in the Whitsundays. That was the end of our sailing, the best we have had anywhere in the world. The skipper has been to the South Pacific and say’s it beats here so we are really looking forward to that. Left Hamilton island as we arrived, in the rain. Flight was a bit bumpy again on the way back down to Brisbane; Al’s t-shirts are starting to get a bit lopsided where I hang on to them. Picked up the car and got to the hotel. We are now in Brisbane and ten hours in front of you

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