Wednesday
The rain had stopped although the wind was still blowing between 20-25 knots. We took the opportunity to go ashore and stretch the legs. Meeting up with Peter and Sal we took a path that skirted around the derelict buildings that used to be the Happy Bay resort to Palm Bay. We met a lot of people on boats doing the same thing. Palm Bay resort is still operating but there didn’t seem to be a lot of people around. We spent a few hours playing beach games and then went and had a coffee at the resort. We walked back to Happy Bay and walked past one of the swimming pools and were amazed to see that the cane toads had taken over, they were everywhere and they were huge! There are only a small number of islands that offer shelter from the strong south easterlies that have walking tracks and internet available, so we decided to stay in Happy Bay to sit out the worst of the strong wind.
Thursday
The wind continued to blow at 25 knots through the night and into the morning. We were starting to get a bit frazzled by the constant wind, to clear the mind and exercise the legs we went ashore for an 8km walk to Sandy Bay at the southern end of the island. We were amazed at the number of goannas along the track, thankfully there were no snakes, but we did see some huge mounds of dirt, upon further research they belong to the brush turkey.
Brush turkey nests or ‘mounds’ are the size of a car and are made up of soil and plant material. Built by the males to attract a mate, they are like huge compost heaps.
Friday
At 0800 in 25 knots of wind we started pulling up the anchor. We got to within 10 metres of the charter boat in front of us – who had anchored too close and were now floating over the top of our anchor. Mark was tempted to ask them to pass him a coffee before our anchor started to drag and we were able to reverse back with the wind assisting us.
The voyage back north towards Airlie was slightly uncomfortable with a following 1m sea. We put up the genoa and managed to reach 5.5 knots. We anchored at Airlie with 0.8 metres under the keel. The anchorage at Airlie is not overly comfortable and soon enough we were rolling back and forth with a north easterly swell. After disposing of our rubbish, completing our laundry and re-provisioning we took Lucy for a walk.
We found that we could not go shopping without running into other boaties that we had met along our journey, so often a job that would normally take an hour could take 2 or 3. A bit like going to the supermarket back home and running into people you know, the worst thing was trying to remember our fellow cruiser’s and vessel names.
Saturday
After getting our 2nd Phizer injection Mark had to pick up some parcels from the Airlie Beach Post Office so with Lucy in tow they set off on the 10km return trip. Meanwhile, Georgie and I made sure we had all the ingredients required for Fathers Day dinner the following night.
On our way back to Escapade we passed a super yacht which had a huge mast. Mark made the comment that the mast was that big he would be worried about putting all the sail up!
We picked up anchor shortly after lunch and sailed over to CID harbour for the night.
Sunday
The weather has been overcast and windy, although there was one day where we could whip around to Whitehaven prior to another strong south easterly forecast for the next week. We picked up anchor at 0630 and along with Music Maker motored the 2 hours around to Whitehaven Beach.
Peter from Music Maker was missing his two kids in Victoria, with COVID lockdowns it had been a few months since he had seen them. Under normal circumstances he would fly home to catch up, but this had not been possible. Georgie was making butter chicken for dinner for Mark for Fathers-Day and feeling sad for Peter asked if Peter and Sal would like to join us. Georgie did a great job catering for her first dinner party, calculating what additional ingredients were required and preparing the meal by herself. The meal was delicious.
Monday-Tuesday
We picked up anchor at 0700, turned north and sailed around the top end of Whitsunday Island, passing through Hook Passage and anchoring in May’s Bay in 5 metres of water with 45 metres of chain out.
The south easterly wind ramped up again, the Hamilton Island weather station recording 35 knot gusts.
For the first time the charter companies announce on the morning radio scheds that there was to be no voyaging on the south or east side of Whitsunday Island. Sails were not to be used and when anchoring all available chain was to be deployed.
Wednesday
Peter and Sal had booked into Hamilton Island for a couple of days of R&R (a Father’s Day gift from Peter’s children). May’s Bay was not a great anchorage with the swell starting to wrap around the point, so we made the executive decision to relocate to CID harbour. Arriving 1 hour later we could not believe our luck as there was a great position which offered good shelter, but we soon realised why it was vacant as we could not set the anchor which kept dragging. Admitting defeat, we picked up and relocated 200 metres to the north.
Getting sick of the rolling around aboard Escapade we took the dinghy ashore for a walk up to Whitsunday Peak.
We have met many people with different stories. At the summit we met a retired gentleman named Peter (SV – Olivia) who lives in Perth but leaves his boat in Brisbane. Each year he and his wife Liz fly over to sail around the Whitsundays. This year was a bit different though, his wife had to return home to care for her parents and could not get back to QLD, so he was planning to sail their vessel single handed back to Brisbane. His phone had died, and he was given a spare phone by another yachtie, but his sim card did not fit, we were able to help as we had a spare sim card adapter that he could have.
Once back at the beach we were approached by another gentleman (kayaker) who asked if we had any spare water. He and two others had paddled from Shute Harbour and had ran out of water. We gladly assisted as with the water maker we could easily replenish what we gave away.
The boating community are fantastic for helping each other out. You just need to ask one person and if they can’t help you, they generally find someone who can. It is comforting to know that if you were ever in the same situation there is a good chance help wouldn’t be too far away.
The wind was still gusting to 30 knots as 20+ people made their way to shore in their dinghy’s at 1530. Chris and Helen off SV Jimmydog had a bad experience when they were visiting another yacht for a coffee, they had tied their dinghy alongside and were inside the yacht when a strong gust of wind flipped their dinghy submersing their outboard. They had drained the fuel, and oil but realised they had no 4 -stroke outboard oil on board so were asking around if anybody else had some. Unfortunately, nobody could help but it was suggested they use diesel in the interim until they were able to go to Hamilton Island and purchase the oil the following day.
Thursday-Friday
There were about 5 sailing vessels in CID harbour that were waiting for a weather window to head south to Victoria. Each afternoon we would meet at 1530 on the beach and discuss possible routes to make the most of the opportunity to get as far south before the next trade wind settled in.
CID harbour was a good anchorage to be stuck in as there was the Whitsunday Peak walk which was challenging and got the blood pumping. Our fastest time to date was 55 minutes (from the beach to the summit), but we smashed it today summiting in 39 minutes. Although maybe not so good when compared to people (in their 60’s) who regularly run the challenging track in 29-33 minutes!
The wind was forecast to start easing to 15-20 knots, and then further on Saturday to 10-15 knots. This was the opportunity we had been waiting for to head further south. Friday morning we picked up anchor at 1100 and motored around to Beach 25 in preparation for departure on Saturday morning to Thomas Island which would take 4 hours.
