Whitsunday whip around!

12/10/2016

We finally escaped from Mackay on 10^th September, heading for the Whitsundays. Our first  32nm leg was to Goldsmith Island, where we anchored for the night. The following day it was on to Shaw Island and the Kennedy Sound. 

Not the best pics, but all we managed!

The sound had a mother and calf Humpback Whale pair: a combination we saw almost every time we moved around. The moms appeared to be teaching their offspring all the behavioural “ tricks”…breaching, flipper slapping and lobtailing!

"Hammo" as the locals call this island which hosts the reknown Race Week

From Shaw, we sailed up the Dent passage, where we passed the big Hamilton Island Marina complex, on to the Fitzallen passage, before doing a right turn through the Hull Channel into CID harbor, where we anchored off Sawmill Beach.

CID Harbour

Once there, I could not resist the urge to climb to the top of the Whitsunday Peak (at 434m), from where one gets spectacular views. It was a 3-4 hour slog, and Mary elected to give her heart a rest instead!

After 2 days, we headed into Nara Inlet, on Hook Island, which is a well protected anchorage, and quite lovely.

Sulphur crested cockatoos visited every evening

With the wind turning south, we took the opportunity to sail over to Airlie Beach….. famous and expensive! We anchored for the night, and went exploring the town, the market, and topping up on provisions at the local Woolworths.

Disgraceful mainsail trim!! But was a speedy crossing nonetheless

Airlie Sunset

After lunch, we sailed back to Nara inlet for the night, as the weather forecast looked good for a visit to Tongue Bay and Whitehaven Beach the next day.

Sundown in lovely Nara

So, with the tide being right for our transit through the Hook Passage,  we managed the often turbulent passage easily, and picked up a mooring buoy in Tongue Bay, on the north east corner of Whitsunday island. We took the dinghy ashore, and walked up to the lookout platform on Tongue Point, which offers splendid views over the iconic Whitehaven Beach, down to the Solway Pass, which separates Hazlewood Island from Whitsunday Island.

Turbulent Hook Passage

  With the 5-6 mt tidal range, the tidal current created in the passages and passes, can be anything up to 5-6 knots!  The direction of these tidal streams also reverse with each change of tide, so keeping track of tides is the No 1 priority in the Log!  The flooding tide (incoming) generates a southerly stream, and ebbing tide, a northerly current. Tide against wind situations can produce nasty overflows, which can at times dangerous, and  should generally be avoided!

From Tongue Bay, we moved on around to anchor off the famous Whitehaven Beach for the day. I enjoyed (?) my first swim off the boat in Australian waters. After the Fijian waters, it felt like Clifton!

Sheer Tenacity at Whitehaven Beach

The winds were predicted to turn north overnight, so we waited for the slack tide to negotiate the Solway passage, so that we could anchor in Chance Bay, (protected from North winds), and from where we could make an early start to our journey back south.

Solway Passage

Chance Bay

 We decided to use the winds on offer, and elected to do a 180nm overnighter to Port Clinton. It is not a port at all! More like a muddy, mangrove swamp hideout full of bitey bugs!

Port Clinton

Reflections......amazing!!

Nevertheless, it gave us a nice peaceful night, before we set off back to Great Keppel Island, 50nm further south.

We enjoyed a couple of days there, and were able to change anchorages as and when the wind clocked around.

Free from the sea on the way to Bundy

When the wind turned Northerly again, we again did an overnighter to Bundaberg, where we hoped to talk to the Customs people about our Cruising Permit and Visa situation.  

Thankfully, the Director in Bundy reviewed our records and had no problem with extending our cruising permit for another year. We just needed to get past the 3^rd November expiry, so this really relieved our pressure!