We had a fun week cruising around the Whitsunday islands with the Harrisons: Eliz, Richard, Bennett, Myles and Oliver. They were much relieved to arrive in warm Airlie Beach and escape the cold winter in Melbourne. But before we could set sail, we had a busy day in port preparing Debonnaire, doing the laundry and buying provisions. As usual, there was some maintenance, like sail repairs and rigging checks which Dan looked after.
We kicked off the holiday spirit with happy hour at the marina bar overlooking the glistening sea as the red sun set on the horizon.
We spent the first night in Abell Point Marina and then set off on Thursday for Blue Pearl Bay on Hayman Island. The snorkelling was terrific with plenty of tropical fish. We spent the night moored at Stonehaven and then went to Butterfly Bay for more snorkelling. We had lunch back at Stonehaven and then made our way south to Nara Inlet for Friday night. We saw 2 whales along the way, which inspired us to keep an eye out for more whales the following days.
After a peaceful night at Nara Inlet, we went ashore to look at an aboriginal site. It took us some time to shuttle everyone ashore because we can carry only 3 people at a time in our small tender. Fortunately, on the way back a friendly boatie with a much larger tender helped ferry our passengers. Most of the time, however, we had to make several trips between Debonnaire and the coral reefs or beaches to shuttle the 7 of us back and forth. By the end of the week, Oliver did a great job handling the tender and was our ferry-man.
One of the highlights was Whitehaven Beach. We spent a glorious Saturday afternoon relaxing on the fine, white sand and swimming in the warm turquoise water. It doesn’t get much better than this beautiful beach!
We moored in nearby Tongue Bay from where we could see whales in the distance leaping out of the water.
On Sunday morning, Richard, Bennett and Phil got up before dawn and went ashore to a lookout to watch the sun rise over spectacular Whitehaven Beach. The outboard motor didn’t want to start* but we rowed ashore undaunted. Our efforts were rewarded with the most sensational view.
Sunday was a sunny day with a gentle breeze so we set sail and slowly cruised past Hamilton Island on our way to Cid Harbour for the night. We enjoyed beautiful sights and a stunning sunset. That evening, like others, we had fun playing board and card games.
Monday was yet another day of glorious weather and we took the opportunity for one last visit to Blue Pearl Bay to go snorkelling among the tropical fish again. We then returned to Airlie Beach feeling quite relaxed by the leisurely pace of cruising.
We enjoyed spending the past week with the Harrisons, sharing the adventure and having laughs along the way. It didn’t seem to matter that the accommodation was a little over-crowded, with some sleeping on the saloon floor and out on deck in a hammock.
Richard, thanks for letting me use your terrific photos in this log entry.
* Did I mention the outboard was submerged one night at Lizard Island? Although the tender was tied behind Debonnaire, a 30 knot gust of wind must have flipped it over and dunked the outboard. The owner’s manual said to get it to a service centre within 3 hours! That obviously didn’t happen. I did the best I could to save the motor from damage and it has run surprising well for the past couple of weeks. And since the dawn hiccup at Tongue Bay it has continued to run normally. Fingers crossed the outboard survives!
Debonnaire 