Whitsundays Week 3 - 18 July 2008

Week 3 vanished like the first two but with a new group of Adelaide friends sharing there school holidays in the Whitsundays. Sadly the weather wasn't the best but the company was great and the cocktails certainly set the scene and soothed the crew at those not so quite anchorages. Attached are some photo's - The Cabin of a 14 year old - Whitehaven on a quite day (the Whitsunday's only real beach) - Not so sunny Whitsunday sailing - How we stayed warm (Cocktails) - Our 1st Hamilton Island Visitor (and the sun thankfully came out!!).

Enjoy - We are...

Whitsundays – Week 2 (12 July 2008)

Whitsundays – Week 2 (12 July 2008)

Dear followers of the Erica Blog please don’t fret that every week you will have to endure a new post but these first few weeks in the Whitsundays have been just so full of many new experiences for Erica and her weekly rotating crew, that we invite you to sit back and enjoy the latest week with us!

Our daughter and one of her friends joined us in Airlie Beach on Saturday 5 July. After dinner with friends at the local yacht club we spent one more night in Abel Point Marina before setting sail for the islands once more. A brisk 20-25 knot sail out to Stonehaven Beach was followed by a walk and an enjoyable afternoon of swimming and snorkelling – we were entranced to see 20 relatively small sting rays scatter at the approach of our dinghy.

The famous Whitsunday “bullets” (sudden strong wind gusts) visited us at lunch time and there was a small swell in the bay to rock us to sleep at night. Next day we set off once more and picked up a mooring in Luncheon Bay, enabling us to take the dinghy around to Manta Ray Bay – one of the best snorkelling locations in the Whitsundays – we were not disappointed - It was like swimming in a large tropical fish tank (see photo) with a beautiful multi coloured coral garden backdrop. A fitting finale was our final 30 minute swim with a huge (1.5 metre) green and turquoise Maori Wrasse fish that was so friendly it almost kissed us. Exhilarated, we headed back to Erica and made our way to Tongue Bay for an overnight anchorage. We were delighted to meet up with “Rose” and her crew once more, and to go ashore for a small walk to the lookout where we enjoyed a scenic view (see photo) over Hill Inlet and along the length of Whitehaven Beach.

Despite a little rain, we anchored at Whitehaven Beach the next day and the girls enjoyed a long walk along pristine sand before we farewelled this beautiful location with its friendly unassuming turtles, helicopters, seaplanes and passing parade of boats of all shapes and sizes...

Then it was on to the famous Cid Harbour, anchoring overnight in the very calm Sawmill Bay and catching up with fellow cruisers, admiring the 120 ft. super yacht “Bristolian” anchored nearby, and marvelling at the spectacular sunset. Some of us became mountaineers the next day, walking and climbing to the peak of the rugged 434 metre, steep hillside, and being rewarded for our 2 hours of toil by the most magnificent sweeping panorama of the Whitsunday Islands (see photo) – it took our breath away...and along the way we had encountered a 1 metre monitor / goanna and a slithering brown snake! Our youngest crew member did the more genteel 2 km beach and rock walk to Dugong Beach before retiring to read onboard Erica and await our triumphant return.

Sailing off to Border Island the next morning we again enjoyed a brisk 25 Knot sail but were disappointed that conditions did not favour snorkelling in this location. When a nearby charter boat started to drag anchor in our direction we were easily persuaded to return early to Cid Harbour for another beautifully calm night. Our friend free dived and harvested deliciously fresh plump oysters off the rocky shoreline for our enjoyment.

Friday was upon us before we knew it, and it was time for “Erica” to farewell “Rose” for now and to return to Abel Point Marina, to prepare for the next change of crew, visit downtown Airlie Beach and enjoy sundowners with the crews of “Imagin” and “Say No More”.

Whitsundays – week 1 (30 June 2008)

Whitsundays – week 1 (30 June 2008)
After several weeks in Mackay Marina doing general maintenance on Erica our 3 new crew members arrived on Saturday 28 June. We spent a merry night on Erica before casting off the mooring lines and heading out into a fresh 20 knot southeaster bound for Goldsmith Island (located at the southern end of the Whitsunday region).

After nearly 400 nautical miles weaving up the east coast of Australia from Brisbane we felt that we had finally arrived! Our first real fishing success was also not far away - once we were well clear of the Mackay Harbour the new crew had the trolling line over the side and soon the first spotted Mackerel was on board (see photo). This fish was estimated to cost $600 but if we catch another one, they will be only $300 each!

Goldsmith wasn’t the comfortable anchorage we were looking for (Phil is still a beginner at this part of cruising). So we set off for Thomas Island and the promise of smoother waters and better swimming - the weather was certainly on our side and as the week progressed it just got better. As expected everyone fell in love with Thomas and its relaxed pace (see photo) and other friendly boaters (thanks Tonto for spare parts for our running repairs). Thomas also has a great sandy beach and an easy walking track to the windward side of the island - both young and older crew loved this sunny flat anchorage. Turtles again visited us in this pretty little bay.

After 2 days we decided to make the most of the great conditions and upped anchor to head for Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island and were overjoyed to see a Humpback Whale with a new calf close on our starboard bow heading south. A rare highlight which we hope will be repeated often. Whitehaven is the most popular, tourist focused, place in the Whitsundays and soon after picking our “quiet” spot on the beach we were horrified when a large tour boat unloaded several hundred tourists close by. We walked (see photo) and swam on the crystal white sandy beach under an equally crystal clear blue sky – a great day.

That night we proceeded to Tongue Bay for a quiet night, only to be greeted by an anchorage with 27 other boats - sadly we realised our days of anchoring in a bay with only 1 or 2 other boats was over for a few months. However, we were again fortunate to catch up with our friends on Imagin, who provided a hearty meal of oysters freshly harvested and a close encounter with a very unusual sea star / starfish (see photo) for our adventurous young crew to examine.

From Tongue we sailed on to Nara Inlet (see photo) via Hook Passage, for a quick lunch and a short climb to visit a cave with Aboriginal paintings, before sailing on to Stonehaven Bay for our last night at sea this week. Here at the Southern Beach of Stonehaven Bay we rendezvoused with our close friends who had left Goolwa 4 years earlier for a 1 year sail to Queensland and never quite made it back – we are fast realising why. A fantastic evening of sunset drinks was enjoyed on “Say No More” with the crew of “Imagin” and “Erica”, before a long dinner back on Erica.

On Friday the 4th of July we enjoyed one of our best sails of the trip, reluctantly returning to Airlie Beach and the realities of life as we squeezed Erica into her berth at the Abel Point Marina!