13 – 18th Nov: The final leg

Friday 13th November: Hamilton to Macona

Arrggh! Our marina berth was near the pub! Live music last night till midnight, good muso luckily, then a group kept it up on their boat till 4am! Definitely time to leave in search of tranquility.

We’ve a few things left do before our trip ends. Most of them are much better with south easterly winds and the forecast today is just exactly for that. We left Hamilton after filling the larder, putting dinner in the Dreampot to cook  and waiting for an Express Post envelope that should be here by now and isn’t – marina office staff not very helpful in that respect.

The first two hours of the sail was magic as we ran north with a 10 – 15kn south-easterly and the tide. At 1pm the wind stopped and we were becalmed. At this point we usually pull down the sails and motor, but seeing we’ve got all day we sat it out and half an hour later it came back as a north-easterly – we were now close-hauled tacking our way north – still great sailing. Before we got to Macona it had moved around more easterly, stronger and gusty. Fickle winds!

The new forecast came out this afternoon and it’s now for stronger northerlies – damn, that’s stuffed our plans. Lucky we enjoyed the fabulous sail today so we’re not too upset about being up here now!

Saturday

We tossed up whether to sail all the way back south again to do the ‘northern winds activities’ we still want to do or stay here. We decided to stay, but moved to Curlew Beach, a tiny sand beach just inside Macona Inlet where we spent the day reading, hull cleaning and swimming. Heaven.

On Curlew Beach, Macona Inlet

On Curlew Beach, Macona Inlet

As the tide ebbed we motored around the corner intending to pick up a mooring at False Nara and dispatch more of those oysters, but all moorings (ie all 2!) were taken so into Nara Inlet to settle for the night. The problem with Nara is that it is deep its entire length. If we had a windlass to pull up the anchor, as has every boat bigger than us, we wouldn’t care if we have to put out 60 meters of chain, but when it’s poor Steve pulling it in we prefer shallower anchorages!

Sunday

With south-easterlies forecast for later tomorrow we thought we’d jump the gun and get out to the good snorkelling site at Border Is early, before any wind arrived, then head up to the northern Hook anchorages to enjoy the best snorkelling there when the southerlies come in.
We left Nara at 5.30am – once through Hook Passage the swell at 1 – 1.5m hit us broadside and the northerly wind was already up. We persisted for a while, hating every minute then decided the plan was flawed and turned around.

We stopped at an unnamed beach in Hook Passage (anchorage #2), anchoring just off the fringing coral, de-stressed, ate breakfast and had a lovely swim and snorkel over the corals, admiring the fish. So not a complete waste.
Just as we were about to leave the damn painter got caught in the prop stopping the engine. Down went the anchor again in a hurry and Steve spent the next 10 minutes upside down in the engine well trying to unravel it. Lesson learnt!

We motored back to Curlew Beach, pulled up the keel and rudder and floated Top Shelf just off the beach with a stern anchor, enjoying the 4 or so hours around high tide. Back into Macona for a peaceful night.

A sea eagle and her nest on the starboard beacon coming in to Macona. We could see at least 2 chicks.

A sea eagle and her nest on the starboard beacon coming in to Macona. We could see at least 2 chicks.

Monday:

We’ve given up waiting for the right winds for Border Is and the northern snorkelling sites. Today we planned to pick up a mooring at Bauer Bay on South Molle Island and do all the walks there.

It started so well sailing out of Macona with a reefed main to handle the forecast gusty northerlies, turning to strong south-easterlies. The winds weren’t initially too strong, but the swell from the north-east was annoying. The tide across the passage was very strong – we were pointing 30 – 40 degrees off course and being carried directly to our destination.

South Molle Island - our destination. Look at those choppy seas!

South Molle Island – our destination. Look at those choppy seas!

Bauer Bay is a good anchorage only when winds are from the south-east. It was obvious just before we got there that the south-easterly change hadn’t yet arrived and the swell would make the anchorage just plain miserable. We decided to go on to Shute Harbour instead, but stopped for lunch and a swim at Cockatoo Beach on North Molle Island – rudder and keel up to float over the fringing coral to shore. Delightful stopover.

The trip from there across the Molle Passage to Shute Harbour was horrible with a swell that was easily 1 – 1.5 meters rolling us around. Once anchored in this very protected harbour, along with the other 50 or so boats, we took the tender ashore to see what there was to see – which was nothing. All the shops have closed since Port of Airlie became the main tourist hub. Another ‘failed’ tourist area.

While there are a lot of boats moored, many of them don’t appear cared for, far less taken out occasionally, there’s a few ‘live-aboards’ getting cheap accommodation and one of the bare-boat charterers is based here. It’s a sad place Shute Harbour.

Shute Harbour is a huge anchorage. It's shallow - we were anchored in 2.5m at low tide - and very well protected from swell and winds from all directions.

Shute Harbour is a huge anchorage. It’s shallow – we were anchored in 2.5m at low tide – and very well protected from swell and winds from all directions – just as well by the look of those clouds!

Tuesday

The new forecast is out and it’s depressing – south-easterlies at 15 to 30kn for the next 5 days. We don’t sail in winds that strong. So last night we made the decision to finish our trip. It does mean that we’ve left some things we wanted to do undone, which sounds like a great excuse to come back again another year.

We left Shute at about 6am to catch the ebbing tide north and before the winds get up too much, motoring all the way to Airlie Beach. There was plenty of wind, but it was dead on the nose. At Abell Point Marina we had to hang off the public pontoon for a couple of hours until the office opened. We both felt a bit down today – we’re tired and the trip ended a bit abruptly. No cleaning or packing today – today is just for recuperating and reflecting on all the fantastic times we’ve had.

Steve collected the car and trailer from Norbert who has kindly kept them in his backyard.

Wednesday

With the thought of our lovely home awaiting us it was with renewed enthusiasm that we cleaned and packed up the boat and I prepared meals for the trip home. To give the car batteries a good charge we went for a drive to Laguna Quays. This is a mainland ‘failed’ resort, about 20 minutes drive from here.  It was opened in 1992 and covers many acres fronting onto Repulse Bay with a world class golf course, a marina, condominiums and the resort itself. It closed in 2012 and is now owned by a Chinese developer who has not done anything with it since it’s purchase several years ago. The buildings, golf course and marina are in disrepair.

Back to the boat and we de-rigged on the water; so much easier and less fraught than doing it on the trailer as we usually do.

We de-rigged on the water this time. So much easier than doing it on the trailer.

No more sailing. Top Shelf is nearly ready for the long drive home.

For our final night we took a walk into Airlie and had dinner at the sailing club. An appropriate place to finish a wonderful 10-week sailing adventure. We’ll retrieve her first thing in the morning and begin our journey home, arriving on Saturday.

Airlie Beach from the walkway at Abell Point.

Airlie Beach from the walkway at Abell Point.

To see more photos from this part of our trip CLICK HERE

 

26 Oct-3 Nov: Cid, Waite, Chance, Cid

Monday 26th October: Airlie to Cid Harbour

Borrowed the marina courtesy car again to take the tender to repairers this morning. We’ll pick it up on our return in a week or so. In the meantime we can use the kayak to get to shore.

Left Abell Point marina at 1030 our destination Cid Harbour via North Molle Island. A very light easterly wind saw us motoring until we passed the Molle group, then motor sailing most of the way to Cid to counter the very strong north flooding tide. Bad planning – we shouldn’t have left until the tide was turning!

Enjoyed a lovely couple of hours this evening sitting in the cockpit listening to Dean Martin’s beautiful voice floating over the water from a neighbouring yacht.

Some of the islands are exactly the same today as when Captain Cook first saw them, and this could be him now.

Thanks to our wonderful National Parks some of the islands are exactly the same today as when Captain Cook first saw them, and this could be him now.

Tuesday

Cid Harbour to Waite Bay, Hazelwood Island

Phew! Today was a big day.

The several narrow passages between islands around the Whitsundays are notorious for striking fear into the mariner who would dare to traverse them with a contrary tide and wind. Fitzalan Pass on the northern side of Hamilton is one such passage.  We left our anchorage at 7am anticipating a two hour sail to reach the pass at slack tide.
If we’ve learnt nothing else sailing it’s that plans rarely work out as anticipated. No wind this morning but we caught the tidal stream of the flooding tide. With the outboard barely above idle we flew down Hunt Passage and around the corner towards the pass at up to 7kn at times, arriving an hour earlier than planned. Fortunately the pass was mellow as what little wind there was was going with the tide.

Fitzalan Pass. One of the many narrow passages that has a bad reputation. Luckily it was well-behaved today.

Fitzalan Pass. One of the many narrow passages that has a bad reputation. Low rocky outcrops extend for quite a distance from the little island. That’s Hamilton on the right.

We variously motored, sailed and motor-sailed on to Hazelwood Island where we initially anchored for lunch near Lupton Island. This anchorage is deep and surrounded by coral. The trip into the beach without a tender would be a long way and I didn’t want to swim from the boat in such deep water. We upanchored, very unhappily bringing up a piece of staghorn coral the anchor had broken off and moved across Waite Bay to anchor on Hazelwood Island  in a couple of metres of crystal clear water over lovely white sand. Happy now.

Hmmm – ideal opportunity to clean the hull! As the tide dropped we were able to walk around Top Shelf scrubbing off the baby barnacles, slimy growth and even feathery pretty growth. Steve swam under the boat scrubbing the very underneath. It was hard work here for a couple of hours.  We were shocked at how much growth was on her. We won’t leave her that long again. We should fair fly through the water now with all that growth gone.

It’s a full moon tonight. We’re the only ones in Waite Bay – I’m sure this is heaven.

Once more we get to see a full moon rising on this trip - our 3rd so far. This time it's over Lupton Island and we're anchored in Waite Bay on Hazelwood Island. No one else here; an idyllic tropical experience.

Once more we get to see a full moon rising on this trip – our 3rd so far. This time it’s over Lupton Island and we’re anchored in Waite Bay on Hazelwood Island. No one else here; an idyllic tropical experience.

 

Wednesday – Thursday

We had a lovely gentle sail over to Chance Bay on the southern side of Whitsunday Island. After the last few days of predominantly motoring it was good to be able to enjoy the peace of sailing.

Chance Bay is a pretty bay with two lovely white sandy beaches bordered with low growing trees, pandanus palms and crinum lilies which are flowering now. The fringing reef made anchoring challenging until another yacht in the perfect spot left – we quickly took their place.

Steve pumped up the kayak, we paddled ashore and walked another leg of the Ngaro Sea Trail. This 8.5km return walk took us up over the hill, through eucalypts, acacias, large bloodwood trees and grass trees to Whitehaven Beach.

From the lookout on our walk. At the bottom of the cliff is Whitehaven Beach. In the distance is Chalkies Beach on Hazelwood Island.

From the lookout on our walk. At the bottom of the cliff is Whitehaven Beach. In the distance is Chalkies Beach on Hazelwood Island.

We enjoyed a well-deserved swim and chill on the beach watching the comings and goings of the day-tripper yachts, giant catamarans, super-powered rubber ducks, sea planes and huge private motor launches before making our way back to our quiet beach.

These guys give a whole new perspective to Street Food. On Whitehaven Beach.

These guys give a whole new perspective to Street Food. On Whitehaven Beach.

Back at Chance Bay we snorkelled for a while, but other than rocks covered with giant oysters and a few schools of fish, we didn’t see much. It’s supposed to be good snorkelling on the other side of our bay – next time.

Friday

Another perfect day of sailing today. Easterlies at 5 -15kn took us firstly over to Torres Herald Beach in Turtle Bay. We snuck in over the rocks to shore, not quite drying out, lunched and relaxed for a couple of hours. I got a meal prepared for tonight and put it into the DreamPot to cook. This beach is only small but could be the poster beach for any idyllic tropical beach you care to dream about.

Torres Herald Beach in Turtle Bay. This was a delightful luncheon spot for us. We arrived on a rising tide and were able to take Top Shelf right in to shore.

Torres Herald Beach in Turtle Bay. This was a delightful luncheon spot for us. We arrived on a rising tide and were able to take Top Shelf right in to shore.

With strong winds forecast for the weekend we sailed on back to Cid Harbour – again a great sail just sitting back watching the deep turquoise waters of the islands as they disappeared behind us.
We anchored close in to shore just to the south of Sawmill Beach and enjoyed our perfectly cooked silverside and vegies.

Saturday: Cid Harbour

Rained on and off all day today, accompanied by strong gusty wind. We watched movies and read our books.

Sunday: Cid Harbour

Today we climbed Whitsunday Peak. This is one of the highest peaks in the Whitsundays at 450-ish meters and quite challenging. Commencing at Sawmill Beach we followed the dry creek bed initially. It would be spectacular to be here to see it flowing – particularly the waterfalls over some of the huge boulders. The island is heavily wooded with hoop pines and eucalypts which kept us shaded and cool. Leaving the creek the ascent is steep with many zigzags and countless stone steps. A few pauses were needed along the way.

The views from the top were spectacular! We spent about an hour at the top just absorbing the beauty of this magical part of the world. How lucky are we!! It was fun to see places we’d anchored and plan where we’d go next. From up there it looked reasonably close belying the hours of sailing it takes to reach each destination.

The view north from Whitsunday Peak. Cid Island on the left, Cid Harbour the protected area between the island and the headland jutting out from the right.

The view north from Whitsunday Peak. Cid Island on the left, Cid Harbour the protected area between the island and the headland jutting out from the right.

Once back at sea level we washed the sweat off with a swim – don’t know the logic behind that, but it felt good, and paddled the kayak back to Top Shelf.

Monday: Cid Harbour

Today was kayaking day. The inlet looked so enticing from our sky-high view yesterday that we decided to explore it in the kayak. It was a good paddle following the coastline around. In the photograph you’ll see a tiny island in the middle. It has a lovely sandy beach, rocky headland covered in oysters, all sorts of plants, including orchids, and as it doesn’t appear to be named we’ve claimed it for ourselves. Back to the boat another swim and relax after an enjoyable couple of hours paddling.

Dugong Inlet from Whitsunday Peak. Sawmill Beach to the bottom left.

Dugong Inlet from Whitsunday Peak. Sawmill Beach to the bottom left. Top Shelf is anchored just out of the picture on the left.

Tuesday: Cid Harbour to Airlie Beach

Back to Airlie today to reprovision and pick up our tender. This time we planned the trip to perfection and had a lovely sail, despite the winds being south-westerly when the forecast was for north-easterlies. We’re nothing if not adaptable.

Got a big fright coming into the marina. Our allocated berth was amongst the catamarans. As we were about to  turn the corner into the narrow finger to our spot a catamaran was coming out taking up the whole ‘road’. Steve handled it very well with a little forward and backwards, but needed a good stiff drink once we’d tied up.

Another rather impressive boat in the marina at the moment is Hemisphere, the largest sailing catamaran in the world. It’s doing charters up here for the rich and famous. At $360,000 a week we’re trying to get a group together for a trip – we’ll need around 3,600 friends I think – pity it only sleeps 10.

This is the largest catamaran in the world. To get a perspective of how big it is Denise is standing on the pontoon beside it.

This is the largest catamaran in the world. To get a perspective of how big it is Denise is standing on the pontoon beside it.

 

Hemisphere leaves Airlie. For an indication of size, see the catamaran behind her - that's an average-sized cruising catamaran.

Hemisphere leaves Airlie. For an indication of size, see the catamaran behind her – that’s an average-sized cruising catamaran.

For more photos from this week in our travels. CLICK HERE

24-25 Oct: Airlie Beach

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?

  1. No wind. We had to motor all the way over.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. All day staying in our stinky, sweaty, muddy clothes waiting for a cold wash onboard this evening is not appealing.
  5. 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.