Whitsunday Cruising

Saturday 26 June to Friday 2 July

After purchasing fuel, ice and supplies, topping up the water and doing the washing we headed off from Hamilton Island Marina for Whitehaven Beach under blue skis and a gentle breeze – where was this weather last week! After the 2 weeks on the go to get to the Whitsundays and then the non-stop action of the rally, it was nice to put down the anchor with no real plans for the next week.

We sailed or motored from Whitehaven to Hill Inlet, Tongue Bay, Macona Inlet (see pic), Butterfly Bay, Blue Pearl Bay and Stonehaven. We fished (2 keepers only), crabbed in Hill Inlet (no luck but we did find an anchor chain and line), kayaked, collected oysters and snorkelled. Life is tough in the Whitsundays. We saw lots of charter boats (big, small and massive), some cruisers and another Navy patrol boat (HMAS Bundaberg).

We saw turtles, dolphins and schools of brightly coloured reef fish while snorkelling at Blue Pearl Bay. Note the spectacular rock faces on the cliffs on the North side of Hayman Island.

We read, watched Patton (again although Warren says it is the first time this century!) and slept at least 8 hours a night. Altogether a great week and we are really starting to get into cruising mode. Our eldest son, Ben, joins us tomorrow for 9 days so we are looking forward to showing him the best of the Whitsundays. The weather has been great all week although it is windier today 15 – 20 knots and gusts up to 25 and more is predicted for tomorrow. Ben is hoping for warm weather after a cold spell in Melbourne.

We are currently anchored off the VMR ramp at Airlie Beach to stock up at Coles for the coming week. It is a short walk from here which is just as well as we probably will need several trips. Print this post