Career Break Central

Nov 30 – Dec 2

On Day 3, we woke up early and set sail for Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island, one of the top ten most beautiful beaches in the world.

From Whitsundays

We had our best sailing day yet

From Whitsundays

and made excellent time, reaching Whitehaven by 10:30AM where, to our surprise, we saw that “No Ties” was already anchored a few hundred metres from the beach. As we dropped our own anchor and jumped into our dinghy to join them on the beach, we noticed that the swells were unusually high and we were almost swamped as we motored in to the beach. The kids greeted Griffin and Taylor with joy and they scampered off to play in the sand while we socialized with Mo and Warren. The beach was amazing with a 5 km stretch of pure white silica sand that squeaked when we walked on it. We rubbed it all over ourselves like an exfoliating spa treatment and cleaned our rings with it. After about two hours, Mo commented that our boat looked like it was a lot closer to the beach than when we had first anchored. She was right! In the huge swells, our boat had dragged its anchor and was in serious danger of running aground on the beach. We quickly grabbed our things, arranged to meet up with Mo and Warren in Tongue Bay for the night and jumped back into the dinghy to head back to rescue our yacht. The waves had gotten bigger and we got completely soaked us as we battled our way back to the yacht. Thank goodness the tide was rising, because we were in less than 2 metres of water by the time we raised the anchor – a little too close for comfort.

We met up with “No Ties” in Tongue Bay and took our dinghies onshore to hike up to the lookout overlooking Whitehaven Beach.

From Whitsundays

From Whitsundays

It was worth the hike and we were stunned by the view. It was now almost high tide and we could see the kaleidoscopic swirls of white sand that occur as the water rushes into Hill Inlet, which is dry at low tide.

From Whitsundays

We could see dozens of stingrays darting about in the shallows and climbed down to the beach to get a closer look. While wading in the shallows, Mo and I inadvertently trapped a tiny reef shark in a small in inlet. When it decided to escape, it darted right between us like a bolt of lightning, scaring us both half to death. We stayed there on the beach taking pictures as the sun got lower in the sky and tried to imprint this moment in time on our memories forever.

From Whitsundays

From Whitsundays

From Whitsundays

As I cuddled with Claude on the sand while we watched our children play, I felt so happy that I thought my heart would burst. This moment made it all worthwhile – I felt like the luckiest woman alive.

When we finally made it back to the dinghies, we discovered that we had underestimated the rising tide and hadn’t pulled them high enough on the shore. Luckily, the ropes had held, but they were completely swamped and we had to recruit some help from a group of backpackers to flip them over and dump out the water – yet another close call. That night, Mo and Warren invited us over for dinner on their catamaran, which was like a floating house. Alexa and Simon quickly disappeared with Griffin and Taylor and Claude & I were able to relax and enjoy an evening of adult conversation with Mo and Warren. Two kid’s movies, one delicious meal and a few bottles of wine later we reluctantly headed back to our yacht for the night. Unfortunately for us, a predicted shift in the wind did not happen and we were buffeted by rolling swells all night long. Claude and I were both so exhausted and seasick that we were up at the crack of dawn and set sail by 6:30AM. We both felt better once we were underway and enjoyed the early morning sail – we even saw dolphins leaping alongside us as we headed for Solway Passage and Turtle Bay.

For the past few days we had noticed that our fridge and freezer were not as cold as they had been and the batteries didn’t seem to be charging, no matter how much we ran the motor. When we arrived in Turtle Bay, we radioed our charter company who immediately dispatched a mechanic to meet up with us. He diagnosed our problem as a faulty alternator and arranged for us to go to Hamilton Island, the Whitsunday’s only inhabited island, for repairs. “No Ties” had followed us to Turtle Bay and we were forced to say a hasty goodbye to our new friends before heading to Hamilton Island. The kids were tearful as they waved from the deck and it broke my heart to see them making and losing friends so quickly. Our unexpected repair turned out to be a mixed blessing because we ended up spending the night in the Hamilton Island marina on Queensland Yacht Charters’ nickel and got to enjoy all the resort facilities on the island free of charge.

From Whitsundays

The kids had a blast playing in the huge pool and we enjoyed a great barbecue on the beach. Because of the delay caused by our alternator repair, QYC allowed us to keep the yacht until 4PM on our last day instead of the usual 10AM return time. This allowed us to go to Cid Harbour and relax on the beach for a few hours before starting our final sail back to Abel Point Marina in Airlie Beach.

As we glided through Unsafe Passage (so named by Captain Cook), the kids got busy scrubbing the decks to a gleaming white and Claude and I reflected on our adventures of the past six days.

From Whitsundays

We agreed that the splurge had been worth every penny and that the sailing trip had lived up to or exceeded all of our expectations. We were already beginning to look forward to our planned flotilla holiday in the Greek Islands next May. We had certainly gained a lot of confidence in our sailing skills and were proud of having managed to navigate our way successfully through the Whitsundays. We had made new friends and had grown to love this beautiful corner of the world. As we cruised into the marina we reluctantly packed up our belongings and bade farewell to Amadeus, our beloved yacht. I think we are now completely spoiled and no other sailing trip will be able to live up to our Whitsunday experience – although we’ll do our best to enjoy the Greek Islands.

To see the rest of our Whitsunday photos, visit our web album:

Tags: Australia, Sailing, Travel, Whitsundays

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