Whitsundays I
Nov 27-29
After an exhilarating afternoon of sailing, we spent our first night in the Whitsunday’s in Nara Inlet.
 |
| From Whitsundays |
It turned out to be very easy to navigate in the islands as our charter company, Queensland Yacht Charters, had provided us with a books of charts entitled “100 Magic Miles” which mapped out every rock, shoal and buoy in the entire islands. As we anchored, we marveled at the beauty and tranquility of the place and, within moments, a sulphur-crested cockatoo flew down and landed on our halyard to welcome us.
 |
| From Whitsundays |
The kids were having fun exploring the boat and,
 |
| From Whitsundays |
when I asked Simon if he was bored, he proclaimed, “Bored! How could we be bored?” After we tucked them into bed, Claude and I laid on the deck and marveled at how lucky we were. We were in bed by 9:30 and slept with the hatch open so we could see the stars. The night sky was spectacular as the stars twinkled like diamonds in a black velvet sky. It was all very surreal.
Our first night was a rather eventful one. We hadn’t given our dinghy enough rope and it kept bumping into the hull at irregular intervals all night causing me to bolt upright in a panic thinking we were being boarded by pirates. I was also nervous about our anchorage and kept waking up to check the landmarks on shore to ensure we hadn’t drifted. On one of my visits to the deck, I noticed that one of our brand new beach towels had blown away (I told Claude not to hang them on deck) and had to bring in the other one to rescue it from a similar fate. At 2:30am, Simon came to tell us that he had soaked his bed and the clean-up took 20 minutes. After all the excitement, I wasn’t able to sleep and had to read for half an hour before drifting off again. Next, it seemed that just after I fell asleep it started to rain and we had to run around closing all the hatches. However each and every time I woke, I couldn’t help but pinch myself to make sure this was all real.
On Day 2, we explored the shores around the inlet and hiked in to see some caves with aboriginal art (more like graffiti if you ask me) and then set sail for Stonehaven Bay where we anchored for the night. There wasn’t much wind so it was slow going until we rounded the point when it picked up to about 10-15 knots. We were pretty proud of ourselves for making it this far without incident. We successfully raised and lowered the sails, dropped and raised the anchor and were even tacking and jibing as a team. Claude left me at the helm to go in to make lunch and had just finished preparing a lovely platter when a nice 20 knot gust caused us to heel over and put most of it on the floor. However, when sailing, the five second rule applies and we chowed down anyway. We settled into Stonehaven Bay for the night and took our dinghy to the beach to go snorkeling (while wearing our lovely stinger suits).
 |
| From Whitsundays |
Our only company was two inquisitive goanna lizards on the beach and a stingray in the water. Back on the boat, we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset
 |
| From Whitsundays |
while eating supper on deck and retired early to be rocked to sleep by gentle waves. I didn’t wake up once all night.
On Day 3, we headed over to Hayman Island to go snorkeling in Blue Pearl Bay. This was, by far, the most spectacular snorkeling we had ever done. There was so much beautiful soft and hard coral to look at it was like sensory overload. And the fish! There were thousands of brightly coloured fish, clams and anemones everywhere. I stayed out for over an hour. On the beach, we met a couple, Mo and Warren, from Toronto, of all places, who were vacationing in Australia with their two kids, Taylor (8) and Griffin (6), for two weeks. The kids were ecstatic to have playmates and Claude and I enjoyed connecting with a couple of Canucks. Mo and Warren were on a catamaran called “No Ties” and their kids wanted our kids to come for a playdate. We agreed to try and hook up at Whitehaven Beach the next day and then set sail for Langford Island where we had lunch on a sandbar called One Foot Island (same as in the Cook Islands) before heading to Macona Inlet for the night. That night, as we sipped wine and stared at the night sky, we marveled at our good fortune and discussed buying a sailboat when we retire to do this full time.
To see the rest of our Whitsunday photos, visit our web album:
Tags: Australia, Sailing, Travel, Whitsundays
tambour
This is pure envy!
This is my kind of trip. How did you like the boat?
Nicely done!
Greg