Whitehaven - Is this the best beach in the world.

November 14-15, 2015

Here’s a tip for any cruisers who need daily prescription medication. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ADEQUATE SUPPLIES BEFORE YOU LEAVE PORT. Unfortunately Rob forgot to pick up a new supply of his hypertension tablets before we left Abell Point so now we had to cut our time at Bait Reef short and faced a choice of returning to Airlie Beach or calling into Hamilton Island which has a pharmacy by the marina. Despite having ridiculously high marina fees, Hamilton won the day as we really didn’t want to back track to Airlie Beach again.

Motoring over glassy seas with the Whitsunday Islands ahead.

We all enjoyed one last snorkel at Bait Reef in the morning before we carefully made our way out between The Stepping Stones and pointed our bow south away from the outer Great Barrier Reef and back to the Whitsunday Islands. We can report on the wind because there was none. We motored over glassy calm waters for the first few hours with the only excitement being timing our run across the main shipping channel between two fast moving ships.

We slowed right down to let the first ship pass then scooted across the lanes ahead of the next.

 

By the time we drew level with Hook Island a northerly breeze had sprung up and we were able to silence the engine and sail by Border Island across to Tongue Bay on the eastern side of Whitsunday Island. By now the 15 knot northerly had blown up a bit of a choppy swell which made picking up a mooring a bit of a challenge. Our Dreamtime’s bow was bobbing up and down fairly energetically and the wind doing its best to blow us off and away as we picked up the float. Karen did a great job on the helm as Rob and Marc combined to finally get the boat secured after a couple of attempts. Fortunately the wind eased and swung to the north west about sunset making our anchorage a bit more comfortable for the night.

 

Border Island ahead and the wind arrived.

Bait Reef to Tongue Bay -26.9 Nautical Miles - 4 Hours 20 Minutes
Average Speed 6.2 knots Highest Speed 9.0 knots



Where we picked up our mooring in Tongue Bay

The swell calmed down overnight fortunately and was very pleasant by next morning.



Next morning we lowered the dinghy and went ashore to make the short climb up to the magnificent viewing platforms on the point that look out over Hill Inlet and Whitehaven Beach. Stunning, magnificent, breathtaking, awesome, any of these words are really inadequate to describe the scene that nature laid before us from these vantage points.

Paradise!

Karen and Rob soaking up the Whitsunday's most dramatic views.

Looking across Hill Inlet to Whitehaven Beach.

Marc with Hill Inlet in the background

 

After quite a while just trying to soak it all in we returned to the boat and got underway. The northerly was back so when we rounded the point we simply unfurled the genoa , turned the engine off and glided downwind along the length of Whitehaven’s stunning white silica sand beach. We anchored for a while near the southern end as we wanted Marc to experience the unique feel of Whitehaven’s ultra fine sand underfoot. He and Rob swam into the beach so he could get his Whitehaven experience. He quickly agreed the sand was both the whitest and most powder like he’d ever experienced.

Marc on his way into Whitehaven Beach.

 

Many travel writers describe this as the best beach in the world. If it’s not we would definitely like to know where the better ones are so we could put them on our bucket list.

 

Solway Passage ahead.

 

After our quick stop to play in the sand we continued on south through Solway Passage while we still had the tide with us. This piece of water gets very angry when a north flowing tidal current runs into a northerly wind such as we were experiencing and we were happy to get through before the tide changed and the associated overfalls and whirpools formed.

 

We then had a great sail west in the shelter of Whitsunday Island before we did face a bit of disturbed water getting around the northern tip of Hamilton Island Fitzalan Passage. We had rung ahead and booked a berth for the night in Hamilton Marina and were soon tied up nice and secure.

Wind over tide standing the water up in Fitzalan Passage.

Tongue Bay Whitsunday Island to Hamilton Island - 14.8 Nautical Miles

After getting his prescription filled at the pharmacy Rob serviced both of our outboards while he had a dock to work on. That was his penance for making us have to come here in the first place. Karen tried to top up our fresh fruit supplies but found almost nothing available and what was on the shelf was far from fresh and three times the price of the mainland.

Quite frankly Hamilton Island is outrageously overpriced at every turn. Compared to the $45-55 price range all other Australian marinas have charged for our boat Hamilton was $125 for the night. The prices in every shop, restaurant or bar are way higher than anywhere else we have travelled on the Queensland coast and for your hard earned money you get the privilege of being regularly bashed by the wash of big ferries and charter boats, surrounded by high rise apartments and almost run over by speeding golf carts at every turn wherever you walk. Hate the place. One night there was one night too many.

 

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The Paradise that is Australia's Great Barrier Reef

November 13, 2015

When the weather presents an opportunity you take it. The forecast indicated we were going to be in for a some very mild northerly breezes which would be perfect for a trip to the outer Great Barrier reef. We were up early and dropped our mooring in Butterfly Bay on Hook Island’s northern coast and got underway for Bait Reef twenty miles distant.

Early morning in Hook Island's Butterfly Bay

It was nice to have the security of a well maintained mooring. A coral bombie was clearly visible in the crystal waters close to the boat but far enough away the we couldn't swing onto it.

 

An early morning visitor was one of the descendants of goats released onto islands along the Queensland coast by the British in the early 1800s to provide food for any sailors who may be shipwrecked.

There was no chance of sailing in the almost non-existent breeze so it was going to be a morning of motoring. Our course took us straight across the main shipping lane which is used by many container ships and bulk carriers full of coal headed for Japan, China, India and beyond but in our case we had a clear run across.

Our track took us across the main shipping lanes.

We then settled in for a boring few hours as the 80hp diesel pushed us a long with Ben and Gerry (our B&G autopilot) steering the boat. The monotony was broken momentarily when we passed by a huge sea snake lazing on the surface which unfortunately disappeared into the depths before we could get a photo.

Then Rob spotted a flash of silver as what looked like a good sized fish took the lure on our trailing line. Then it was game on as what revealed itself to be a very large Wahoo vigorously  resisted our attempts to haul it in. Rob did manage to get it to the stern and Karen quickly hooked the gaff through its gill but then found it too heavy to lift up and over the safety rail. Rob couldn’t help as he was keeping tension on the line to keep the hook set in case the fish fell back into the water. Marc was standing on the stern, holding  the landing net  frozen into inaction by the sight before him. The net was patently useless given the size of our catch anyway but Rob’s loud urging finally broke the spell and Marc came to Karen’s aid on the gaff. Together they lifted the struggling monster out of the water up level with the pushpit safety rail where it hung with its tail thrashing the water for what seemed an eternity before a final effort saw the fish hauled over onto the stern deck.

This wahoo did not give up easily

It may have been landed but was still not going to give up without more fight. A good shot of straight rum poured into its gills had a miraculous calming effect on our Wahoo before Karen’s deft work with a sharp knife cutting it through the gills ended the struggle. The fish measured just on 1.5 metres and at 50kg (110 lbs) was the biggest we have ever caught since we began cruising. Clearly our trip to the outer reef was no longer boring.

Karen and Rob with the largest fish we have landed on Our Dreamtime - yet.

Marc's turn to get in the picture with our wahoo.

Karen gutted and carefully bled the wahoo as we approached our destination at Bait Reef then we left it with a wet towel over it to keep it cool. The job of slicing it up and bagging the fillets for the freezer would have to wait until we were secured inside the coral lagoon.

Being a fisherman's daughter Karen has a very useful skills set for life on the boat.

We approached Bait Reef’s western side and carefully picked our way through the entrance between a string of coral pinnacles known as The Stepping Stones.  Each of these 18 or so circular pinnacles rises straight up from between 15 to 25 metres to less than a metre from the surface.  They have absolutely vertical sides covered in coral of all varieties and are surrounded by swarms of colourful fish of all shapes and sizes making this an outstanding dive and snorkelling spot.

Bait Reef is part of the extensive series of reefs that form Australia's 2,300 kilometre long Great Barrier Reef

This image locates Bait Reef and the Great Barrier Reef for our overseas readers.

The lagoon anchorage and The Stepping Stones on the western side of Bait Reef are clearly visible in this image sourced from the internet. The tip of Hardy Reef can be seen at top of screen

Once through the entrance we picked up one of the public mooring that are rated for monohulls to 20 metres or catamarans to 18. Like all the public moorings in the Whitsunday region, they are regularly checked and well maintained. We have no qualms at all about trusting Our Dreamtime to them.  The outer reef is out of bounds to the huge fleet of bareboat charter yachts, catamarans and motorboats that operate in the Whitsundays so things are definitely a lot quieter than back amongst the islands. We were the only boat in the place and while the solitude was fantastic, it was a little surreal to be sitting on a mooring totally out of sight of land with nothing but blue water visible all the way 360 degrees around us. Marc commented it reminded him of the Nicole Kidman movie, Dead Calm and he was hoping a mad Billy Zane wouldn’t suddenly appear in a dinghy.

Hanging off our mooring with nothing but flat water in every direction

Once we were settled in, Karen went to work on filleting the Wahoo.  As any piece of offcut went over the side the water around the stern boiled with large fish racing to get their portion of the free lunch we were providing . We soon had some huge turrum and a couple of small reef sharks camped under our hull waiting for the next morsel.

Time to get a bigger BBQ

Marc about to feed our waiting fish

They were quick

After enjoying the free feed one very large turrum camped at our stern for our entire stay hoping for more.

As we’d provisioned the boat only a few days previously, it didn’t take long before we couldn’t fit another ziplock bag of fillets in the freezer and even the fridge was at its limit. Five nice pieces were earmarked to go straight on the BBQ for lunch so that provided a partial solution. In a very timely arrival, a large catamaran entered the lagoon and picked up a mooring not too far from us. It was their lucky day as Rob zoomed over in the dinghy with the last eight or ten fillets we couldn’t fit anywhere. The gratefully accepted our offering of fresh wahoo. Their skipper then asked. ‘Would you like some potatos?’ It seemed like a strange question until he explained they had done an online grocery order before leaving Abell Point and had ticked ‘3’ in the ‘Large Potatoes’ box expecting to receive three large potatoes in their order. When the delivery arrived at the marina it included three large bags of potatoes. Hence Rob returned with five kilos of potatoes to add to our ship’s stores. Then it was time cook.

Nothing smells better than big chunks of very fresh fish on the BBQ

Marc and Karen ready for lunch on the aft deck

 

After our outstanding lunch of our fresh wahoo we couldn’t wait to don our snorkelling gear and explore the reef. We quickly discovered Bait Reef is very healthy with an abundant range of soft, hard and plate corals. The teeming schools of every imaginable coral fish bore testament to the fact no fishing is permitted here at all. Unfortunately the back of our el cheapo underwater camera came unfastened so it died a very inglorious death. Rob was extremely frustrated at not being able capture the sights for the blog but will never forget what we saw. It was the best snorkelling we’d experienced for many, many years.

Unfortunately our underwater camera died so we sourced a couple of pics taken at Bait Reef from the net to give you a peek at the type of sights we were able to enjoy under the surface. These are very indicative of what we found at every turn.

We carry a scuba kit on board and Rob would have loved to have dived the Stepping Stones and half  hoped he might find someone to buddy up with but unfortunately neither of the by now two other boats in the lagoon were into diving. So the tank stayed strapped to the rail as diving solo is too risky and Rob doesn’t entertain the idea unless it’s just a matter of cleaning the hull, clearing a fouled anchor or other similar, short, shallow exercises.

Regardless, other than The Stepping Stones, most of the reef is quite shallow, particularly at low tide and there’s very little missed by snorkelling rather than diving. We spent hours floating along with the current taking as much of it in as we could.

Karen kicked back in one of our hammocks on the bow for sundowners after a big afternoon of snorkelling.

Our only two neighbours at Bait Reef



We'd like to think Our Dreamtime is so pretty they all wanted photos of her but the cameras were probably really our for the sunset happening behind us.

That evening the sunset over the water was stunning and later into the night we were treated to the most magnificent sky full of stars you could ever imagine. So many more become visible once you leave the light pollution of land behind.

We have loved our many stops at various islands of the Great Barrier Reef, but tour stay at Bait Reef topped the lot. It may be the first time we have taken Our Dreamtime to the outer reef but it certainly won’t be the last.

Good night from Bait Reef - Australia

 

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Three meerkats back sailing together again.

November 11-12, 2015

It was now time for our stay in Abbel Point to come to end and after topping up fuel, water, fresh food and wine supplies, we cast off and set sail for Stonehaven on Hook Island. It was fantastic to be sailing with Marc again.

Marc settled straight back in aboard almost instantly.

We first met Marc when the three of us crewed aboard the Bennetau 57 Nae Hassle from Cairns around to Darwin then beyond on the Sail Indonesia Rally of 2011. We shared awesome adventures travelling together all the way to Thailand, the full story of which is told in our book, Stuff it. Let's go sailing anyway!  

Below is an extract from the book which explains how we crewmates became the three meerkats.

“On the domestic front the crew’s relationship with the owners could have best been described as strained. Not even sourcing a feed of fresh lobster generated as much as a thank you from Milan while at least Colin acknowledged how well Karen had cooked and served our tasty treat.

On Nae Hassle the master cabin is located in the stern, just below the cockpit. Colin and Milin regularly headed to bed early in the evenings rather than engage in conversation with we underlings. We were expected to follow suit rather than make noise in the cockpit and disturb them. As a result we three crew dutifully locked up the companion way and retired to our cabins, sort of.  Karen and I occupied the port side cabin in the bow while Marc had the starboard. Being a big 57 footer, both were very comfortable and much larger than you would usually find on a yacht. Both also had a large hatch in the roof to reach the deck above.

 

Envisage if you can the sight of a head emerging from a hole in the yacht’s foredeck. It timidly rotates through 360 degrees, nervously scanning the surroundings for any danger in sight before being followed shortly after by another doing the same on the other side of the boat. Said heads then disappear rapidly below. Satisfied no evil owners are waiting to pounce, three bodies then scurry out through the holes and emerge on deck with a bottle of wine or two, plastic cups and, sometimes, even some nibbles.  Envisage this and you will understand why we nicknamed the bow ‘Meerkat Manor’. 

 

By this stage of the trip we three meerkats emerged from our burrows most evenings and spent many very pleasant hours discussing philosophy, bitching about our owners and solving the woes of the world while enjoying a drink and the tropical evenings under a sky full of brilliant stars. If only we could remember next morning all the solutions we came up with the night before and sometimes re-entering the burrow after one too many was not as controlled as the exit. It’s amazing how much noise a person can make when instead of dropping onto the edge of the bunk they miss and land as a tangle of arms and legs on the deck with a loud thud and uncontrolled giggles. What happens at Meerkat Manor stays at Meerkat Manor so no names.

 

The constant challenge of keeping up Meerkat Manor’s wine supply evolved into a great game. Despite the fact that Karen and I had actually bought and paid for the 180 bottles of wine that we had loaded onboard in Australia, Colin and Milin regarded them to be now ‘Ships stores’ and their property. As such they were tightly rationed with a glass or possibly two with dinner the norm. The bottles were all wrapped in newspaper and secured in hidey holes under the decks all over the boat. With great delight we took every opportunity to relocate bottles from the deepest recesses to our cabins while leaving the front rows in place. Karen was particularly adept at mounting successful raids while below alone on her perpetual galley duties and Marc would of return to his cabin to find the ‘Wine Fairy’ had deposited a bottle under his pillow.”

 

Marc, Karen and Rob in Penang, Malaysia following the 2011 Sail Indonesia Rally

 

We reconnected with Marc in London in mid 2012 and embarked on a joint venture which saw us sailing the Jeanneu 43DS Alcheringa around the Mediterranean together for two seasons.

Alcheringa in the Straits of Gibraltar

Now another two years on we were reunited under sail again. This time for the trip back down the Queensland coast to Brisbane.

We enjoyed a gentle, light airs sail across to Stonehaven where we again picked up one of the well maintained moorings provided there to protect the coral bottom.

Marc on the bow as we come into pick up a mooring at Stonehaven.

Abbel Point to Stonehaven, Hook Island - 15.9 Nautical Miles - 3 Hours 14 Minutes
Average Speed 4.9 knots - 7.7 knots

Once the boat was all secured we fired up the BBQ for a fine meal, drinks and hours more catch up chat sitting out on the stern watching the sunset then marvelling at the millions of stars that are only visible when you get well away from big town lights.

Meerkat Manor has moved from the bow to the stern.

The next morning one of Air Whitsunday’s float planes landed nearby and taxied close by us to pick passengers up from the charter yacht moored beside. They were off on an hour flight over the islands and outer reef while the co-pilot was left with dinghy minding duties. We called him over to the boat with the offer of a coffee while he was waiting and had a great old chat.

 

Once our unexpected guest departed, we dropped the mooring and motored the very short distance over to show Marc Langford Reef and it’s sand cay that emerges at low tide. We didn’t stay long but were able to hand feed a school of huge fish that circled the stern competing for the next morsel.

 

 

Next it was around to the northern side of Hook Island and into the delightful anchorage at Butterfly Bay where we picked up the mooring ball closest into the shore and fringing coral reef.

Birds nesting on a marker just off Hayman Island.

Karen had the sketch pad out as always

 

Sea Turtle beside the boat in Butterfly Bay

Beautiful Butterfly Bay

We had a fantastic snorkel in the clear waters surrounded by fish of all sizes and colours and masses of beautiful coral. Butterfly Bay really is one of the best snorkelling spots in the whole Whitsunday Islands. It is also extremely well protected from the prevailing south easterly winds. Not that it was much of a concern for us this time as the breeze had not reached double figures all day and dropped out completely ensuring a very peaceful night’s sleep for the three tired meerkats onboard.

 

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If you have only recently discovered our blog and would like to read how it all started, or work through our previous adventures, click the link to go back to our first blog entry. Stuff it. Let's just go sailing anyway.  We hope you enjoy reading the previous posts to catch up on our story.