Since my last post, we went home to Melbourne for a few weeks to catch up with family and friends. In particular, we celebrated our daughter reaching a major birthday milestone. We also spent time with our children who are expecting babies, to share the excitement and anticipation.
It was also an opportunity to start preparations for bringing Debonnaire back to Melbourne in October. Catherine spent a few busy days in the kitchen cooking and cryo-packing 66 dinners for the crew. Phil was busy doing neglected chores around the house, on the roof, and – worryingly – under the floor.
We returned to Airlie Beach, our other “home”, at the end of June, happy to leave behind the chill of winter in Melbourne. We planned to cruise around the Whitsunday islands for a couple of nights, but we only got as far as poking our bow into Whitsunday Passage when we were hit with strong 30 knot gusts. We decided to return to the marina and wait for better weather.
We took a bus to explore Shute Harbour, which is slowly recovering after significant damage from Cyclone Debbie in 2017. We had a nice lunch at a café overlooking the water. We also spent a lazy afternoon beside the pool at the Coral Sea Resort, now part of the Coral Sea Marina where Debonnaire is berthed. And, as always, there were some boat maintenance chores to cross off the list.
The two of us slipped away for a cruise from July 5 to 9. We visited Woodwark Bay, a quiet anchorage on the mainland. It was a calm night, with a clear sky filled with beautiful stars. We then cruised to Tongue Bay where you can walk to a lookout for a spectacular view of Hill Inlet and Whitehaven Beach. The next day we went to Chalkie’s Beach for the first time. We have always wanted to visit Chalkie’s, and it was a highlight of this trip. It has not only a beach of soft, white silica sand, but also a coral reef for snorkelling, making it a unique destination offering both features. We saw turtles swimming by, too. For our last night out, we sailed to picturesque Luncheon Bay on the north of Hook Island. It was a long trip in a fresh 18-23 knot breeze coming from behind. It was reasonably comfortable with 0.5m seas, other than a couple of rougher areas passing Border Island and Pinnacle Point. Along the way we saw turtles and dolphins.
We finally saw our first whales this year on our way back to Airlie Beach. We had started to hear reports of whales in the area during the preceding week. We expect to see more and more whales for the next few months.
(I forgot to include a map of our voyage, so I have updated this post to include the following to show our track.)
Debonnaire 