12 –
17 July 2016
The weather
reports were showing some potentially very strong winds on the way. A real
problem was that none of the forecasters were sure exactly what was going to happen but
all agreed some fairly serious weather
was likely. As much as we were absolutely loving our time at Thomas Island, we
knew the anchorage in Cid Harbour on Whitsunday Island’s north east shoreline
would be a far safer and more comfortable place to ride out whatever may arrive.
It was time to go.
A number of the boats anchored with us were heading for the shelter of the
marina at Hamilton Island but it’s far from our favourite place. Priced at $130
a night to berth our 42 foot boat its more than double what we pay in any other
Queensland marina while everything ashore is also outrageously priced. All for the privilege of being surrounded by thousands of holiday makers intent on running you over in a golf buggy. No thanks.
A well known feature of the
Whitsunday region is the very strong tidal flow experienced here. The outgoing
tide runs north so we timed our departure for the twenty four nautical mile
passage to arrive at Cid Harbour before it turned mid morning. Yep! We were up and underway in
the dark again but were rewarded with an absolutely awesome sunrise.
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We were treated to this amazing sunrise as we made our way towards the western tip of Shaw Island. |
The
new day brought a modest southerly breeze blowing in the low teens providing us
a reasonable wind angle for the run across to the southern tip of Dent Island. Here we would turn and run up the Whitsunday Passage. With full main, mizzen and
headsail set, the current assisted us to get along very pleasantly above seven
knots.
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Sailing conditions were extremely pleasant |
Through
the morning the wind did ease and progressively swung more to the south east. As
we passed the Dent Island lighthouse and altered course towards the entrance to
Cid Harbour we found the wind directly on our stern. We then left the mizzen and
headsail out to starboard but switched the mainsail to the port side and made
our way gently wing on wing dead down wind.
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The Dent Island Lighthouse |
|
The boat sails wing on wing very nicely. |
|
Hamilton Island in the distance. |
By
the time we gybed the Mizzen and Genoa to run through the Hunt Channel between
Whitsunday and Cid Islands the wind had eased even further but it was really
pleasant ghosting through slowly with the last of the outgoing tide. We were
enjoying the sail so much we didn’t want to stop but resisted the urge to
continue on. We sailed all the way to Sawmill Beach before furling sails and
finally restarting the motor to anchor.
|
Thomas Island to Cid Harbour – 24-5 Nautical Miles – 4 Hours 59 Minutes
Average Speed 4.9 Knots Max Speed 7.7 Knots |
See
our full track and details here Navionics
|
Cid Harbour is a very secure anchorage in winds blowing anywhere from North through East to South West |
|
We anchored in our favourite spot off Sawmill Beach |
We
were surprised to find there was plenty of space in the anchorage despite the
forecast blow coming. We were able to anchor right where we wanted to reasonably
close to the beach. We made sure the anchor was well dug in and laid out forty metres of chain with plenty of swing room
around us. The sunshine and beautifully calm conditions provided no hint of the
weather on its way.
We got settled in
before enjoying a nice afternoon catch up with Geoff and Daphne on board Wai Whare anchored in front of us followed by sundowners with Sheryl on her catamaran Sub Zero along with the crews of a
few of the other boats around us. You can certainly entertain a lot more people
on a cat than we can on our mono.
|
The Cid Harbour population continued to grow as the strong weather approached. |
We
arose next morning to more mild weather however the change was now due to
arrive through the night. The population of the anchorage had swelled
considerably by now and a continual stream of boats arrived all day. We decided
to make the most of the temporary weather reprieve and headed ashore to do the delightful
walk from Sawmill Beach through the rainforest over to Dugong Beach.
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The walks on Whitsunday Island are well maintained by National Parks staff. |
|
Karen with one of the beautiful big pine trees along the way. |
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The trail is cut into the headland and through the rain forest. |
|
A glimpse of Cid Harbour through the foliage |
It was very
relaxed and much less strenuous than the four hour return trek up to the
magnificent views from Whitsunday Peak Rob had done on our last visit here. You
can read the story and see those photos here Cid Harbour-Whitsunday Island.
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A group of ocean kayakers were camped under the trees at Dugong Beach. |
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Karen beach combing on Dugong Beach. |
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Our Dreamtime is second from left in this view back towards Sawmill Beach |
Sundowners
that evening was quite an affair with Sawmill Beach covered in dinghies as over
forty cruisers converged for drinks nibbles. Along with meeting many more new acquaintances
it was fantastic to also catch up with mates Linda and Bill Frylink Anderson
who were in the Whitsundays celebrating a friend’s birthday with a group on a
chartered catamaran.
|
Linda, Louise & Karen enjoying sundowner bubbles on Sawmill Beach. |
|
Thursday dawned a very different day with wind and rain. |
The wind did begin to arrive overnight and we awoke to a wet and windy morning. Courtesy of the excellent weather site Willyweather, we could see that it was blowing consistently in the high twenty knots region just a few miles to our south at the Hamilton Island Airport. Tucked into the high hills of Whitsunday Island we were quite comfortable only seeing low to mid teens. There was nothing for it but to spend most of the day with a good book or in Karen's case, do some baking. Yum.
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Carrot cake for morning tea. |
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Spinach & Feta Fillo for lunch. |
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Spicy Tex-Mex Rolls for sundowners |
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Salami Roses also for sundowners |
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Apple & Berry Strudel with toffee sauce for desert. |
A
good friend from Ipswich, James, had his motor cruiser berthed in the Hamilton Island
marina and was flying in that afternoon. Before he left home we had suggested
to him that his choice of boating weather left a bit to be desired but he was
not to be dissuaded. He was coming up to attend a SICYC (Shaggers) charity ball that
weekend at Airlie Beach and was determined to get a couple of nights out of the
marina along the way so he decided to visit us at Cid. The reality of fast
cruisers was driven home to us when just after messaging us to say he was
leaving the marina we picked him up on our AIS doing almost 23 knots. Just
minutes later we spied his huge bow wave charging through Hunt Channel towards
us. His big Maritimo had taken just over twenty minutes to cover the 8 nautical
mile trip that normally takes us a couple of hours to sail.
|
There goes the neighbourhood as James' stink boat moves in amongst all the sail boats. |
Conveniently
there was room for him to anchor in front of our bow but the rain
began to fall in earnest soon after so we decided catching up could wait until morning. By
now the anchorage was reasonably crowded but, with the exception of a charter
yacht that anchored a little close to our starboard side, we were very comfortable
with the space we had for the stronger weather to come. The weather gurus were
all agreed that a very unseasonal upper level low was developing that would
bring gale force winds and very heavy rain but what they weren’t clear on was
where exactly it would form.
|
Cid Harbour is the green marker while our planned next stop at Abell Point is the red on this Predictwind forecast chart. |
Luckily
for us it eventuated just to our south making Cid Harbour the perfect place to
ride it out. We did experience heavy rain throughout the night and while the
wind piped up into the 20+ knot zone with individual gusts reaching 30, we were
clearly better placed than Hamilton Island. Rob was up quite often during the
night making sure that neither us or the boats around were dragging anchor. He also
kept an eye on the weather station at the airport which was recording winds consistently
near 40 knots with gusts above that. The system did head further south with conditions
easing through the following morning for us but bringing high winds and flooding rains to areas
from Mackay to Yepoon.
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The wind gauge at Hamilton Island Airport showing 39 knots with gusts to 44 at 7am Friday morning. |
In
the daylight Rob did discover one little thing he forgot to do in preparation
for the weather. We had taken the sensible precaution of raising our dinghy
onto the davits before the blow but he had neglected to take the drain bung out.
The fuel tank and various other odds and ends were now floating around in our
poor dinghy which held about 30 centimetres (a foot) of fresh water adding who
knows how much weight. Oops. At least it was easy to drain by just pulling the plug.
On
Max Sea Lady James had lowered his dinghy when they arrived the previous evening
and looking over it also appeared low in the water so we sent him a message to
have a look. Turns out where Rob had forgotten to remove the bung when we
lifted our dink, James had forgotten to put it in when he lowered his. Double oops! Out came
the bucket for some serious bailing.
|
Bail, bail, bail your boat. |
|
James caught his first fish for the trip. It was swimming around in his dinghy. |
Once
all was sorted we went across for coffee and cake with James and Chris – which turned
into Canadian Club and pizza about lunch time before degenerating to liquors
and whatever was left in the galley by sunset. We know we laughed a lot but that’s
about as much as we can remember about Friday.
|
A lunch for champions on board Max Sea Lady |
|
By late morning the wind was gone but the rain stayed. |
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We got these shots of Our Dreamtime from Max Sea Lady's flybridge. |
Next
morning James got a couple of cool pics of a seagull on their stern with our
boat in the background before coming aboard Our Dreamtime for a visit. As they
were heading off to Abell Point later in the morning, we resisted temptation this
time and stuck to the non-alcoholic beverages.
|
The Whitsunday locals are inquisitive. |
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Not so welcome once they poop. |
Later we also hosted a return
visit from Geoff and Daphne off Wai Whare before settling in for a very full
afternoon of doing nothing as the drizzle continued.
Sunday then came and went exactly the same way. Such is life.
|
Good night from Sawmill Beach, Cid Harbour, Whitsunday Island. |
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