Well today had such great potential: a lovely sail in fair winds across the passage to Airlie arriving mid-morning when we would let the boat dry out on the beach so we could scrub her underside clean, righting herself on the incoming tide late afternoon ready for us to motor out a little way and anchor happily for the evening. What could possibly go wrong?
- No wind. We had to motor all the way over.
- The beach is called ‘Muddy beach’ for a reason. There are rocks in that mud! And sharp things to damage the hull and hurt our feet as we walked around scrubbing her.
- The beach is beside the VERY popular Airlie Beach Markets, and it’s Saturday morning. We had an audience watching us squelching around in mud.
- All day staying in our stinky, sweaty, muddy clothes waiting for a cold wash onboard this evening is not appealing.
- Can’t leave the boat unattended to go and get something to eat.
We abandoned the plan after about an hour and just in the nick of time before the whole bay dried out. We had lunch onboard then booked into the marina (Abell Point Marina) and beat a hasty path to the showers!
While the day had improved it didn’t get a lot better. A walk into Airlie was needed to settle our frazzled nerves, and both being tired we stopped at the first place for dinner – the pub! We ate the worst steak and the worst chips we’ve ever had.
Back to the boat for a very early night.
No photos from today – they wouldn’t have been pretty!
Sunday:
We reprovisioned today. The marina has a free car you can book for 90 minutes. We’re now full up with food, booze, water and fuel, ready to leave tomorrow.
Had dinner tonight at the Barcelona Restaurant with Norbert and Marlene who are the locals who are kindly looking after our car and trailer while we sail. It’s a Spanish restaurant, obviously. We enjoyed some tapas and a paella.
I like Airlie. The walk around the foreshore from Shingelly Beach (the marina site) to Airlie is very pleasant, and there’s lots to see and do at Airlie.