The Whitsundays (29th June)
Hamilton Island definitely lived up to expectation and we had a great couple of days enjoying ourselves in the resort like facilities. We enjoyed an evening at the sports bar in the Tavern and got to watch a good game of footie (even though Carlton didn't get the win) and some great cricket,
Mark took me out for a very lovely meal at the Beach Club Restaurant which was very yummy and the service exceptional and found many ways to remind me that it was my birthday :)
As we have some lovely weather forecast for the next week our first stop is around to Whitehaven Beach which is chaos as always with a large number of tour boats dropping in each day. We got the kayak out and did plenty of paddling around the anchorage and also did the walk over to Chance Bay with a stop over at the lookout.
After a few nights at Whitehaven we sailed up to Cateran Bay at Border Island. Last time we were here was in 2003 on Windward II. They have put in an excellent walking track up to the lookout and we also went for a snorkel. Next stop was up to Butterfly Bay at the very top end of Hook Island.
Unfortunately much of the north end of the Whitsundays was destroyed by Cyclone Debbie back in 2017 including most of the coral and reefs but there are plenty of signs of it coming back and lots of fish still in the anchorages. Fat Albert, the Maori Wrasse, is still hanging out in Manta Ray Bay along with a number of his friends and many of the tour operators have permits to feed the fish so despite the lack of the beautiful coral there is still plenty to see which was great.
Over the next couple of nights we either stopped at Butterfly Bay or down at the Stonehaven anchorage as we were travelling the very short distance across to Langford Island in the hope of getting is some kite boarding. Although it is not the perfect spot to kiteboard due to the gusty conditions we did manage to get out on a couple of occasions and shake off a few of our kite boarding cobwebs. It was also kind of fun to the kiting in a shallow lagoon with a depth of around 0.5mts with a selection of wildlife including stingrays, one shark and a turtle.
We are both very excited about moving north as the expectation is to get in lots more kiteboarding.
We were lucky enough to meet Alan, Dianne and Bob (the dog) on Dreamagic during our stay at Stonehaven and enjoyed some social get-togethers. Alan is hosting a facebook page this season called Cruising Queensland 2019 and whilst he was expecting modest interest now has over 500 yachts registered which is quite amazing. We look forward to catching up with them again at some stage this season.
With the forecast going a bit sad and big winds predicted we booked ourselves into the Abell Point Marina at Airlie beach from the 26th June for three nights. On the 25th we sailed over and anchored in the very popular Muddy Bay just off Airlie Beach and found out all about the muddy bit when we pulled the anchor up.
Airlie Beach is always fun and we used the opportunity to get some laundry done and stock up the boat again with both food and diesel and also did some sight seeing as well. We are very pleased we decided on a brief stop in Marina world as the winds have been very unpleasant with readings of up to 40kts and more at Hamilton Island.
Today the 29th June and the weather has settled down nicely so we departed Abell Point this morning and are now anchored in Bona Bay on Gloucester Island. Getting through the passage was a bit interesting as it is a very shallow pass and we came through just before low tide but we managed to get through with no troubles.
One thing we have noticed this season are the number of Manta Rays in many of the anchorages. During our stay at Stonehaven we regularly had three of them around the boat. We also saw some at Langford and there are at least six of them enjoying the company of Mustang Sally at Bona Bay. We also spotted our first whales for the season just on approach to our anchorage for the night. and hope to see some more over the next few days.
Tomorrow the trip north continues and expect to be in Townsville or Maggie Island later in the week.
Mark took me out for a very lovely meal at the Beach Club Restaurant which was very yummy and the service exceptional and found many ways to remind me that it was my birthday :)As we have some lovely weather forecast for the next week our first stop is around to Whitehaven Beach which is chaos as always with a large number of tour boats dropping in each day. We got the kayak out and did plenty of paddling around the anchorage and also did the walk over to Chance Bay with a stop over at the lookout.
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| Moonrise at Whitehaven |
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| Whitehaven Beach Local |
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| Cateran Bay - Border Island |
Unfortunately much of the north end of the Whitsundays was destroyed by Cyclone Debbie back in 2017 including most of the coral and reefs but there are plenty of signs of it coming back and lots of fish still in the anchorages. Fat Albert, the Maori Wrasse, is still hanging out in Manta Ray Bay along with a number of his friends and many of the tour operators have permits to feed the fish so despite the lack of the beautiful coral there is still plenty to see which was great.
Over the next couple of nights we either stopped at Butterfly Bay or down at the Stonehaven anchorage as we were travelling the very short distance across to Langford Island in the hope of getting is some kite boarding. Although it is not the perfect spot to kiteboard due to the gusty conditions we did manage to get out on a couple of occasions and shake off a few of our kite boarding cobwebs. It was also kind of fun to the kiting in a shallow lagoon with a depth of around 0.5mts with a selection of wildlife including stingrays, one shark and a turtle.
We are both very excited about moving north as the expectation is to get in lots more kiteboarding.
We were lucky enough to meet Alan, Dianne and Bob (the dog) on Dreamagic during our stay at Stonehaven and enjoyed some social get-togethers. Alan is hosting a facebook page this season called Cruising Queensland 2019 and whilst he was expecting modest interest now has over 500 yachts registered which is quite amazing. We look forward to catching up with them again at some stage this season.
With the forecast going a bit sad and big winds predicted we booked ourselves into the Abell Point Marina at Airlie beach from the 26th June for three nights. On the 25th we sailed over and anchored in the very popular Muddy Bay just off Airlie Beach and found out all about the muddy bit when we pulled the anchor up.
Airlie Beach is always fun and we used the opportunity to get some laundry done and stock up the boat again with both food and diesel and also did some sight seeing as well. We are very pleased we decided on a brief stop in Marina world as the winds have been very unpleasant with readings of up to 40kts and more at Hamilton Island.
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| Shute Harbour |
One thing we have noticed this season are the number of Manta Rays in many of the anchorages. During our stay at Stonehaven we regularly had three of them around the boat. We also saw some at Langford and there are at least six of them enjoying the company of Mustang Sally at Bona Bay. We also spotted our first whales for the season just on approach to our anchorage for the night. and hope to see some more over the next few days.
Tomorrow the trip north continues and expect to be in Townsville or Maggie Island later in the week.
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