Wonderful Weather & Whitsunday Cruising 17th - 24th August

 

The weather forecast looked better than it had for weeks so we spent Sunday morning stocking up on food, water, Rene and Lily fuel, gas etc at the Abell Point Marina before heading off to Long Island for the night. Long Island is next to the mainland, not far from Shute Harbour and has three resorts and some very lovely walking tracks connecting the bays and resorts. Finding an anchorage was not necessarily easy as Happy Bay is dotted with resort moorings. Once outside of these the water quickly becomes deep and along with the strong currents of Long Island Sound swirling past just outside of the bay, it took us a while to find a spot where we anchored in 9m. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the Happy Bay Resort and then walked along the track to Palm Bay Resort which has very pretty gardens and is set in the most beautiful little bay. Our night at Happy Bay was comfortable and as the next day dawned it was obvious that the weather was going to be perfect for Whitehaven Beach.

 

Whitsunday Peak from Long Island

We motor sailed across to Hamilton Island where we planned to travel through Fitzalan Pass and on to Solway Pass, a narrow passage between Whitsunday Island and Haslewood Island.
As with most of the passages between the islands it is best to judge the tides to be running with you as they can be turbulent and strong making forward movement difficult if timing is wrong. Hamilton Island Race Week was on and as we motored up the Fitzalan Channel we were able to see the start of one of the races. Peter, thinking that the race would be a windward start had us placed for a front row view, but then they all turned and sailed downwind towards us, spinnakers set and bearing down quickly. We made a hasty run for the shore to get out of the way. It was a colourful sight.

Whitehaven Beach

Location! Location! Location! This is it! What an amazing place to spend a few days. We had two nights here, anchored close to the beach and listening to the murmur of the water lapping at the white sand all night long. This is a very white beach (for the east coast - they are whiter on the south coast) which stretches along the island for several kms. Many boats were anchored in the bay and we found a good spot in the south eastern corner near C Dragon and Magnetic Attraction, two yachts from Townsville. We had met these two crews in Cid Harbour one day when we all decided to climb Whitsunday Peak, where we introduced ourselves and had a good old natter. Later in the day Peter and I, with Jenny and Milton from Magnetic Attraction, walked across the island to Chance Bay. It was an easy walk which took about an hour, with some time spent on the beach admiring the view. Whilst chatting and walking we discovered that Jenny and Milton knew Clive (Peter's brother) well. It's a small world.

Liz, Val, Ric & Peter on Whitehaven Beach

A dozen or so people congregated on the beach as the sun sank towards the distant hills for sundowners. It was a relaxed and happy bunch of people on shore as the crews from C Dragon, Magnetic Attraction, Arkaydes, Rene and one or two other boats enjoyed the sunset. Arkaydes was anchored close by and Tige, unhappy at being left on board (National Park) howled and yapped, not understanding why he had been left out of his favourite pastime all of a sudden.

 

Poor ol' Tige has to stay home

The next morning Peter and I were up early and walked the length of the beach to Hill Inlet and back. It took two hours and we felt we had done a decent amount of exercise. Boats were anchored all along the bay. Everyone was taking advantage of the fine weather to spend a few days at this lovely spot. During the afternoon Dave and Sue from Duet turned up and --- guess what, we all adjourned to the beach in the late afternoon for another sundowner session. This is a hard life!

Butterfly Bay, Hook Island

Early on Wednesday morning we pulled the anchor and set off in glorious weather for Tongue Bay, just around the corner from Whitehaven Beach. We set the anchor and walked up the track, along with many people from the tourist boats, to the lookout to view Whitehaven Beach from above. Border Island was not far away so motored over there, picked up a mooring and had lunch next to some colourful coral bommies. The wind picked up a little so we motor sailed, with just the headsail along Whitsunday Island and were able to find an vacant mooring tucked well into Butterfly Bay out of any swell. Mountains surround this bay and it is quite spectacular. We spent the rest of the day exploring Butterfly Bay and Maureen's Cove nearby. In the corner of Maureen's Cove we found a rocky creek and climbed up a short way where there was a steep cliff face and a fresh water pool at the bottom. Unfortunately it wasn't clear. Probably because of the recent rain. As we clambered up and over the boulders in the creek we disturbed thousands of blackish/blue and white butterflies. Now we know why this is called Butterfly Bay.

Back to South Molle Island

Having nearly completed our circuit, we decided to spend the night at South Molle Island so we could do the Mount Jeffrey's Walk the following day. We set off on Friday morning, at high tide to dinghy ashore before the fringing reef was exposed and then set off up the hill behind the resort. Peter and I were walking quietly along admiring the scenery when all of a sudden he leapt aside shouting, "Snake!" I wasn't far behind and the poor thing, trying to get away from this noisy monster, slid straight in my direction. I screeched and yelled and leapt in the air as it slithered between my feet and over the cliff and into the bushes and grass below. I don't think I have moved that fast for years. It was about a metre long, quite skinny and black with a yellow belly. From then on we kept our eyes peeled, but no more surprises, thank goodness. The view from Mt Jeffrey's is beautiful as expected and after an enjoyable walk we had lunch and pulled the anchor and made our way to Airlie Beach to do the chores ready for our trip to Gloucester Passage and on to Townsville in a week or so.

Mt Jeffrey's summit

 



Abell Point Marina

We have booked three nights in the Abell Point Marina to catch up on housekeeping chores and for Peter to give Rene an oil change. Yesterday Clive drove down from Townsville to spend the day with us. Together with Di and Russ from C Dragon we decided on a surprise lunch together. They hadn't seen Clive for some years and wanted to catch up. We all had a very nice lunch at Sorrento's at the marina. A very enjoyable day.