Back To Airlie Beach 8th - 11th May

 

Rene in Moonlight Bay South Molle Island

 

We left Gloucester Passage with the intention of motor/sailing into one of the Double Bays or Woodwark Bay for the night. These bays are approximately10nm north of Airlie Beach and we hadn't visited either of the Double Bays before. However the forecast was for up to 20kn SE so we left our options open. The wind came in strongly as we passed Saddleback Island and with the wind against tide, lumpy seas pitching us around, we decided to explore the possibility of overnighting in one of the bays on the north side of George Point. Our trusty 'Lucas' informed us that Jonah Bay was the best anchorage here and as we drew near it looked calm and peaceful. We anchored in 4m
quite a long way out and took Lily ashore so we could walk along the beach. What a beautiful beach! One of the loveliest in this area, with hard sand to walk on. A dozen or so rough camps have been built under the trees behind the beach and many of these were occupied. Jonah Bay is well worth a visit.

On Saturday we had another go at motoring to Airlie Beach and this time were successful. The wind remained light for the whole trip, although still on the nose from the SE. We anchored in our old position outside of the yacht club rock wall and signed in, paid our $7 and took advantage of the dinghy dock and hot showers. The rest of the day was taken up by the mundane chores of clothes washing and stocking up the larder.

Early on Sunday morning we motored Rene around to the Abel Point Marina to top up the water and buy some fuel for both Rene and Lily. The public jetty here is in need of repair and maintenance as the fender strip has fallen off in the middle and was lying in the water. We had all Rene's fenders out and managed not to bump the jetty. The pontoon is also on a lean which made positioning the Rene's fenders a bit tricky.

A much needed break at Roma Pt

We had decided to motor over to South Molle Island, one of our favourite spots, for a night or two. There are great walking tracks here and in the afternoon we did the hour walk to Spion Cop and back. The views are amazing. This morning we thought we needed a decent bit of exercise so walked to the southern end of the island to Sandy Beach. It took most of the morning as we decided to walk along the beaches as well. By the time we arrived back at Moonlight Bay my feet were letting me know they'd done a good walk. Peter thought we had probably done about 10km. One interesting sight along the way were thousands of pretty blue and black butterflies. The tops of the wings were brilliant blue with a black lace pattern, but the underneath were not as bright. They are of medium size and were feeding on the flowers of the blackboys.

We have checked the weather forecast and it looks like we have two more days of lovely weather and then sometime during Wednesday night a 30kn SE wind blows in. Cid Harbour looks like a good option as it appears that this wind hangs around until Sunday. Meanwhile we will keep a close eye on developments and maybe spend a night at Whitehaven Beach.

Moonlight Bay