Airlie Beach - July 23, 1999

Airlie Beach - July 23, 1999

All got up early to get to the marina in time to meet the dive boat at 8:15am for my older son and I.  Then My older son and I found a short cut and walked into Airlie Beach.  After a windy game of "Uno," my wife and younger son caught the bus to "Barefoot Bushman's Wildlife Park."  It was a short 10 minute ride.
At the wildlife park my wife and younger son saw the crocodiles being fed.  They saw shows on koalas, snakes, wildlife, bird feeding as well as crocodiles.  It was too cold to swim so the pool was closed.  My younger son liked the tomahawks, digeradoos, placemats with animals, and other neat stuff at the shop, but they only bought a postcard.
My younger son got to feed a kookaburra and a frog-mouthed bird.  He also pet a koala twice, pet and hold a squirrel-glider, held a big snake.  My younger son discovered (was shown) that crocodiles are ticklish and can be safely sat on, if the rider is about 2 meters back of a 3 meter or longer crocodile.
After my wife and younger son returned to Airlie Beach, they bought a small magnetic chess set for the family.  They even saw a video at the shop about the wildlife park.  My wife had time to set a doctor's appointment for tomorrow at 10am.
My older son and I rode a 50 foot trawler, "Whitsunday Diver," out to Hook Island and Hayman Island.  It was supposed to take us to Bait Reef, but the 25 knot winds were pushing 2 meter waves on the way between the islands and the outer reef.  They decided to snorkel and dive on the fringing reef and avoid the rough trip to the outer reef.
My older son and I decided to stick to their snorkeling and declined the offer to learn SCUBA, although they did agree to wear wetsuits due to the wind and cold, approximately 70F.  Our first anchorage was Luncheon Bay between Manta Ray Bay and Maureen's Cove on the north side of Hook Island.  The snorkeling was very nice.  Although we had a little excitement when my older son lost the valve on his snorkel after the first five minutes.
Fortunately, the guys on the dive boat loaned my older son one of their mask and snorkel sets.  It was a great site for snorkeling.  The variety of fish was astounding.  We saw thousands of fish and every color of coral.  After an hour of snorkeling we were making our way back to the boat when the guides on the boat pointed out a giant manta ray!  My older son and I saw this giant ray with a 6 to 8 foot wing span and a one foot wide mouth swim within 5 feet of us!  It was truly exciting.
The guides served up sandwich "fixins" including fresh rolls, turkey, ham, mustard, lettuce, peppers, beets, and vegemite!  My older son actually tried the vegemite at the urging of the pilot.  My older son allowed that the taste was "interesting" and shared the uneaten portion with the fish.  :-)
We then motored through the pass between Hook and Hayman Islands past Stanley Point and the very large reefs south of Hayman.  Since we were at low tide at the time, a great deal of the reef was exposed above water.  We rounded Akhurst Island and anchored in Blue Pearl Bay of Hayman Island.  Due to the brisk wind and cool weather my older son and I were late getting into our now very wet suits and finally snorkeling.  It seemed as though it was a terrific reef but the waves and foam and bubbles limited visibility dramatically.  After about half an hour we called it quits.
Soon after, the trawler prepared to weigh anchor and head back to Abel Point Marina.  Instead, the anchor windlass failed and they spent 15 - 30 minutes fighting to repair the windlass and retrieve the anchor.  All this within a few feet of the reef and even sliding over the anchoring limit bouy!
We were finally on our way, but now had to battle 3 foot waves and 25 knot winds.  This meant tons (literally) of water over the bow, even against the pilot house windshield and onto the flybridge where my older son and I rode the "bucking bronco" across the Whitsunday Passage to Airlie Beach.  It was a blustery, wet ride, but we made it shortly after 4pm.  My older son and I showered, laundered the salty clothes and met My older son and I on the dock near the dinghy.
Everyone repaired to Abel's Bar to play chess, cards, have dinner and tell stories about their day's activities.  Finally about 8pm they braved the dark, rainy, windy anchorage and rode the dinghy back to "Temptress."  The boys played chess and cards while my wife hit the sack in an effort to wipe out her continuing cough.  Dad wrapped up the last two days in the journal.

Hill Inlet - July 22, 1999

Hill Inlet - July 22, 1999

We got up early and motored the tender to Hill Inlet around Tongue Point.  The breeze was still quite fresh, about 15 knots from the southeast.  We faced the wind and waves as we left Tongue Bay and dinghied south into Hill Inlet.

Hill Inlet at low tide

Hill Inlet is mostly sand.  We had gotten up about 6:15am to get there at high tide (6:41am).  Dad thought we'd have enough water to explore the Inlet with the dinghy.  As it turns out, even at high tide there is less than 2 feet of water at the entrance to Hill Inlet.  Instead of using the dinghy, we anchored in the now-falling tide and hiked on the beach.
While Dad was anchoring the tender, he literally walked into a group of 15 or 20 small rays, about 18" to 24" wing tip to wing tip.  They were slowly cruising  the shallows off the beach at Hill Inlet.  Although it was hard for the others to see the rays as they looked east into the reflection of the rising sun, my sons and wife all saw some of the rays swimming off the beach.  My older son and I found sand dollars on the same beach.
My older son piloted the dinghy back to "Temptress," still anchored in Tongue Bay.
We tried sailing with both reefed main and genoa, but the main seemed to be blanketing the jib.  We then copied the other boats and dropped the mainsail to sail under the full genny alone.
We motored through Hook Passage and across Macona Inlet.  With the wind now on our beam, we raised the double-reefed main and the double reefed jib.  We were now off on the most exhilarating sail of the Whitsunday's trip!
In breezes of 20 knots with gusts to 25 knots, we sailed from Hook Island to Abel Point Marina, about 14 miles, in about 2.25 hours!  We were frequently sailing at over 7 knots and even hit 7.8 knots at one point!  Since we were double reefed, we were never heeled more than 20 degrees.  It was a bouncy ride, but the waves were choppy at 1 to 2 feet, never more than 3 feet.  It was a grand sail!
After being directed by CCY to a mooring, we dinghied ashore.  My wife and I made sure all took showers, did laundry, then made plans.  We "organized" a dive trip for my older son and I while my wife and younger son were setup for a day trip to "Barefoot Bushman's" wildlife park.
A cab took us the short ride to "Charlie's," a pizza pub in Airlie Beach.  After a nice, cheap dinner, we walked through the main street of Airlie Beach.  My older son, wife and I each checked our email at an internet café.  Since it was only half a mile, we walked to the marina.
The moon was quite bright, so finding "Temptress" at her mooring in the dark was pretty easy.

Tongue Bay - July 21, 1999

Tongue Bay - July 21, 1999

We awoke to a fresh breeze and raised sails soon after raising anchor; OK we really just cast off the mooring.
Anyway, the sailing was boisterous so we dropped to the first reef and kept the genny reefed.  Soon we put in the second reef.  Even so we were heeled about 15 degrees.

Seagulls hitchhiking on our dinghy (above),

Our anchorage in Tongue Bay

Our course took us east past Pinnacle Point with a destination of Tongue Bay, Whitsunday Islands.  We sailed past our waypoint to try to get a layline for the waypoint between Border and Dumbell Islands.  Unfortunately, our tack brought us perpendicular to our intended course.  When we tacked again and later checked the GPS we discovered we had sailed an irregular circle offshore of Pinnacle Point and Double Rock.  This spent two hours of our morning so we dropped sail and motored the distance to our anchorage at Tongue Bay.  After confirming our overnight anchorage at the 1pm "skeds," we dinghied over to the beach on the northern shore of Tongue Bay.

Just before leaving, Dad sighted a sea turtle just 30 yards off the anchored bow of "Temptress."
All went ashore to the beach and hiked & explored the rocks.  My younger son cut his hand on a rock, so my older son and I took the dinghy back to "Temptress" to get the first aid kit for my wife.  While there, my older son and I got the snorkeling gear to check out the reef just off shore from the beach.  On the return ride, my older son and I saw the sea turtle again.
my younger son was tended to by the nurse, my wife, while my older son and I snorkeled long enough to decide the reef was too muddy and did not deserve further snorkeling.

Our neighbor in Tongue Bay

My younger son and I found two "caves" formed from large boulders that leaned against each other on the beach.  There were nifty gaps that enabled Dad to look into "Our Cave" through the gaps and see my younger son as he crawled around.  For a time we thought the two caves were connected, but a little exploring proved they were not.  The first cave we found was dry, but as the tide came in, we found it becoming filled with water.
It was a breezy night, but less rolly than Whitehaven Beach.

Butterfly Bay Beaches and Snorkeling - July 20, 1999

Butterfly Bay Beaches and Snorkeling - July 20, 1999

My older son handled the motoring for over two miles as we negotiated our exit from Nara Inlet.
Dad handled the radio "skeds" and confirmed our plans for Maureen Cove in Butterfly Bay.  It was early and the winds were light so we motored until we turned east past Dolphin Point.  Then we sailed in very light breezes (0-5 knots) for about an hour.

In the shallow cove just west of Maureen's Cove we found a public mooring for yachts up to 20 meters so we took it for the night.

We enjoyed snorkeling as good as Cateran Bay, Border Island or the Great Barrier Reef.  Butterfly Bay was highly recommended by Ann of "High Noon" just as Cateran Bay was.  My older son pointed out a 5 foot sting ray with a 15 foot tail while they were snorkeling.  

We spent almost two hours snorkeling and visiting the beach near "Temptress."  Afterwards, we dried off then dinghied to the deepest part of Butterfly Bay where there are seven public moorings.  We motored past them all until we got to the furthest shallows and wandered along a rocky beach near the end of the bay.  We then went to another beach on the western side of the bay to play "footy" before returning to "Temptress."  

My younger son built a city from dead coral and seashells.  Dad caught up on the journal (this blog) while my wife and the boys played board games.  My wife has been suffering from a bad cold and cough since the flight to the Great Barrier Reef so all retired early for another big day on the water tomorrow.

Return to Hook Island - July 19, 1999

Return to Hook Island - July 19, 1999

To make an easy day of it, we planned to sail to Macona Inlet at Hook Island.  Since the switch for the cabin lights had failed, we delayed our departure while they tried repairing it.  That proved not possible so we were loaned additional lanterns and batteries so we wouldn't have to return to Able Point Marina for repairs.

During the delay, my older son and I refueled the dinghy and topped off the water tanks.  The diesel was only down 1/4 to 1/3 so we let it go as is.

Cumberland Base asked if we would agree to have pictures taken of us sailing "Temptress."  We agreed and on the trip from Hamilton Island to Hook Island we raised sail and the photographer on "Rocket Man," a catamaran, spent about 15 minutes taking photos.  Unfortunately, they only used our photo briefly until they could install the new canvas dodger and bimini, then replaced our picture on their website with the new one.  We didn't look to download the photo until after CCY had switched to the newer picture below.

The new photo of "Temptress" that replaced our photo

We were advised against anchoring overnight in Macona Inlet, our original plan that morning, because it is open to the prevailing southeasterly and southwesterly winds.  So we decided to return to Nara Inlet for the night.

My older son and I read books while my wife and younger son took an extended ride on the tender to a beach at the far southeastern side of Nara Inlet.  It was such a neat trip, they came back to "Temptress," picked us up, and all four returned to the beach.  It was over half an hour or greater than two miles away.

An excellent beach

The stars that night were spectacular again but now the moon was nearly a half moon.  We began our trip several days ago on a new moon with no light except the stars.

Hamilton Island - July 18, 1999

Hamilton Island - July 18, 1999

My wife handled the radio "skeds" (scheduled radio calls to the charter base) to confirm our slip at Hamilton Island.  My older son negotiated Solway Passage about an hour and a half before high tide.

Hamilton Island has the airport (above), Fish seen in the marina

While my older son read and My wife rested below, my younger son and I sailed for Fitzalan Passage between the island of that name and Hamilton Island.  We enjoyed about an hour of sailing in 7 to 8 knots of wind before motoring through the passage, past Plum Island and into Hamilton Island Harbour.

My wife got instructions for placing the lines and fenders and the harbormaster met us on his tender to guide us in and help us tie up.

My wife and younger son got fresh showers right away while my older son and I got the dinghy and lines secured for the night even though it was 11am.  Dad even rigged a simple step on the beam of "Temptress" so it was easier to climb on board.  He used an extra mooring line.

Dad and older son showered and joined my wife and younger son for lunch while they did the laundry.  Later we hired a "buggy" for transportation.  It is a golf cart.  Although the wheel is on the left, the regulations require driving on the left, just like the cars.

Hamilton Island (above, postcard showing the flying foxes we saw in the trees around the marina

We all went to the beach on Cats Eye Bay, but it was so rocky that we swam in the fresh water pool just above the beach.

My wife and I chickened out quickly but the boys stayed in the pool from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm.
After a dinner at the Yacht Club we got more provisions at the General Store and goodies, gifts, etc., at Trader Pete's.

Before provisioning, the boys played pool and watched "footy" on the "tele."  It was rugby on TV with New South Wales vs South Africa.

Great Barrier Reef & Whitehaven Beach - July 17, 1999

Great Barrier Reef & Whitehaven Beach - July 17, 1999

We left soon after 8am to get to  Whitehaven Beach.  We had "organized" a trip with Air Whitsunday to visit the Great Barrier Reef.  It was a beautiful morning for a sail, but the minimal breeze was dead ahead so we motored the two hours to Whitehaven Beach.

Whitehaven Beach and Hill Inlet, courtesy of Cumberland Charter Yachts

After a short visit by tender to the famous beach, we prepared for our seaplane ride to the Reef.

Although we could see it, we couldn't raise the seaplane on channel 81.  But it soon landed next to "Temptress" and we learned from Dan, the pilot, that he was trying to reach us on channel 74, oh well.  We got on board via the dinghy and were off to the Great Barrier Reef.

Pilot takes our family for a seaplane ride

Dad took the first video since Sydney, and hopefully captured one or two whales from the plane.  Dan also pointed out a large sea turtle from the air.  It was a terrific flight including a circle over "Heart Reef." 

Heart Reef

My wife and older son saw a giant ray from the seaplane.  We landed at the south end of Hardy Reef and taxied to a small pontoon boat where another seaplane was tied up.  The other pilot welcomed us aboard.  They tied both seaplanes to the mooring and set the boat loose to motor to another portion of the reef.  We sat below and watched the fish and reef through the submarine glass in the bottom sides of the pontoon boat.

We quickly arrived at the reef's edge and they let us don our snorkeling gear.  The other seaplane had brought a mom, dad, daughter as well as a couple so there were nine of us snorkeling with the two pilots.

There was a tremendous volume of fish and underwater life.  Dad loved seeing the number of giant clams including one that was 18" to 24" long.  Mom enjoyed the long, silver "barracuda-like" fish as well as the parrot fish and many-colored fish.  The boys really enjoyed the giant clam and the fish also.  Since there was only a foot of water over the reef we were told to swim along the edge.  Near the end  of the visit, about an hour later, there was almost a meter of water over the reef, so they let us swim carefully over the top.  Since the water was so shallow and it was about 1:30pm the sun was directly overhead and we could see the reef very clearly.

On the flight back Dan flew us over Border Island, Hook Island, Hayman Island, as well as Hill Inlet, and Whitehaven Beach, before landing and letting us off onto our dinghy.

Hardy Reef (above), postcard similar to our goggle view

Mu older son and I sat on "Temptress" and read books while the younger boy and my wife took the tender to Whitehaven Beach for a couple hours.  At the beach they buried my son's feet in the sand.  They listened to the wind whistle through the pine trees on the beach.  They confirmed that the sand is "baby powder soft."  My wife found the words "Then I carried You," from the poem about Jesus' walk with us on the beach.  They had been written in the sand.

Cateran Bay Snorkeling - July 16, 1999

Cateran Bay Snorkeling - July 16, 1999

It was a late morning start after a brief tender ride to Refuge Bay.  We motored from Nara through Hook Passage and caught a nice 7 knot breeze for a 3 mile sail across to Cateran Bay at Border Island.  We first anchored on "High Noon's" starboard side.  She had sailed from Nara about and hour or two before we did.  After three tries at getting our anchor to set, Peter dinghied over to advise that we should lower a lot of chain over the side and let the anchor gradually set itself.

We took his advice and we were anchored well enough to take the tender to the beach and climb the "saddle" to look at the view across to Hazelwood Island.  It was a nice beach and a steep climb through grass that turned out to be like miniature palm trees.

We saw that a mooring ball had been vacated so we moved "Temptress" to pick up the mooring.  Unfortunately, it was for a max of 10 meters so we were too big and dropped back to anchor again.

Then we took the dinghy to snorkel on the western side of the bay.  It had a great spectacle of color, fish, rocks and was very nice indeed.

That night we enjoyed the stars as we did every night.  One of the first constellations we see every night is the Southern Cross.  Later the Milky Way is seen in its full glory.

We had gone below for some time when we heard many splashes in the water.  When we took a flashlight to the cockpit we could see multiple fish jumping and splashing around our sailboat.  It was a tremendous sight to catch the silvery glint of the fish in the light of the "torch" from the boat.

We had to agree that Ann's ("High Noon") recommendation of snorkeling at Cateran Bay was a great one.

Nara Inlet, Hook Island - July 15, 1999

Nara Inlet, Hook Island - July 15, 1999

We spent all day at anchor in Nara Inlet.  After a leisurely breakfast, we took the dinghy to the waterfall at the head of the inlet.  In fact, the inlet is like a fiord with its very steep sides and deep water to the very end.  It was shallow along the sides, but only because of the fringing coral reef.

We climbed up the dry waterfall, it only has water falling after a rain, and found the trail toward the aboriginal cave paintings.  We passed two couples on the trail and spoke at length with the older couple.  Their boat is a steel-hulled ketch painted a deep blue with an after cabin under the cockpit that seemed like a small version of the old sailing barq's captain's cabin.

After visiting the aboriginal cave and seeing the paintings, we ran into Peter and Ann.  They are the couple with "High Noon," the steel, blue hulled ketch, that we met on the trail an hour earlier.  When we explained we were hiking back to our dinghy at the waterfall, they said they'd like to see the waterfall, but the hike to the water was shorter going below the cave and following the path.  We had to agree since we had hiked overland without a path until we were almost at the aboriginal cave.  Peter and Ann offered us a ride in their 12 foot "AL-you-MIN-eeum" dinghy which is big enough for all six of us.  So we got a nice ride with them back to our dinghy.  Our dinghy is a bright red NAIAD, made in Australia.  It has inflatable tubes around the gunwale with an aluminum hull and a 6 hp motor.

After lunch aboard "Temptress" we took the dinghy south to the reef at Refuge Bay off Nara Inlet.  It was our first snorkeling since the Florida Keys a year ago, so we enjoyed ourselves.  We saw a nice variety of coral and fish, but not the color of the Molasses Reef in the Keys.

Dinghy in Refuge Bay

We are pleasantly surprised at the weather.  Since arriving in Queensland, it has been sunny, little or no clouds, temps seem about 65-75F.  Although the sun is very bright, warm and very directly overhead, it is just warm enough.  The breeze is variable from 0 to 10 knots.

Dad plotted our course to Cataeran Bay for tomorrow and programmed the waypoints into the GPS.

Sailing the Whitsunday Islands - July 14-21, 1999

Sailing the Whitsunday Islands - July 14, 1999

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Today's the day we begin our sailing charter of the Whitsunday Islands.  We arrived at the Proserpine Station a few minutes after 4am.  The cab was not there waiting for us so we called to have him come get us.  After talking with the cab driver we decided to wait at the shopping plaza for the BiLo grocery to open.

A nifty little coffee shop was our source of breakfast, including pancakes with ice cream.  We learned about this breakfast treat on the train out of Brisbane.  They served it at "Tea" time, 9:30am.

Mom shopped for provisions at BiLo while Dad got chicken and burgers at the butcher shop next door.  The burgers were heavily seasoned and fashioned into 1/4 pound balls.

We got another cab, a small van.  We needed the van since we had our 5 bags plus 3 grocery carts (trolleys) of food.

The people at Cumberland Charter Yachts were great.  They immediately introduced us to Peter who helped us load all our gear and food into a large trolley and wheel it immediately to "Temptress", our Beneteau 361 (12 meter) home for the next ten days.

"Temptress" was a brand new Beneteau, only used by one client before us

After we got everything stowed, Peter showed us around the yacht, including flushing only 2 squares of toilet paper at a time.

Peter took us out of the dock for a "test spin."  We raised sails in about 8 knots of breeze and tacked once.  Then he jumped into a spare dinghy he had tied alongside earlier and the Murphy's were SAILING!

We sailed across Whitsunday Passage

Courtesy of: http://chachaetjojoenaustralie.blogspot.com/
2013/11/la-mer-bleu-turquoise-des-whitsundays.html

from Abel Point Marina and found our first excitement was a rusty old freighter that was on a collision course with us from the north.  We changed course for five minutes to let the freighter pass, then continued on to Nara Inlet in Hook Island for our first anchorage.

My wife loves the electric windlass for raising and lowering the 35pound CQR anchor.  We anchored 2.17nm into Nara Inlet per the GPS.  It was glass smooth with absolutely no swells or waves.