After getting itchy feet to get back out to the islands after only 2 days on the mainland, we left late in the afternoon where we made the most of the dying breeze to try and get to as close to Hook passage as we could. Just on dusk, we coasted into our anchorage for the night at the entrance of Nara Inlet. Anchoring in the dark in a small cosy bay with a deep sandy bottom and reef close by, taught us a valuable lesson, but thankfully without any repercussions. Checking off the stern with our head torches after anchoring we could see colourful corals and fish swimming uncomfortably close... shortening our anchor rope we managed to get through unscathed, but this was the first of our anchoring lessons for the coming week!
Heading out early from Nara Inlet (and waking the charterer boat next to us, haha) we got catapulted through Hook Passage into the whirlpools on the other side, and from here we sailed down the coast. We passed many bays and tempting spots as we moved south, and realised how much there is to see and do here. Our destination, Hill Inlet, on famous Whitehaven Beach came along up quickly, and so did the increase in wind, perfect for trying to navigate through the sandbar and waves to get into the inlet! Luckily, another small yacht was heading in at the same time. By hanging back a little, we were able to follow them in, and watch to see where they got stuck, so we could try to avoid the same area. Moving up and tucking into the lee of a sand dune, we managed to beach ourselves before going ashore to explore. Whitehaven is unique in the Whitsundays in that the beach is made up of fine silica, which makes its very soft and very very white! We had a walk on the beach with hundreds of other tourists lying on the sand like lizards (they come out in droves from helicopters, floatplanes and charter boats). As they can only come out in the middle of the day, we decided to wait until the masses left so we could have it to ourselves.
Hill Inlet dries extensively leaving a white sandy expanse, and there is also a fair bit of current as the tide races in and out with four metres of tidal variation, add the fresh wind trying to blow you in the opposite direction, you get a rather tricky situation for anchoring. After trying different spots and using the stern anchor we motored further up the channel and hid behind some mangroves.
At low tide we could explore the white tidal flats where Rob discovered the thousands of Soldier crabs which march around the sand in groups of hundreds at low tide. They are slow and easy to pick up and their only defence is to bury into the sand. It is amusing to see hundreds of them disappear all at once into the ground. There were three other boats in the inlet and we were able to meet them all. One had a couple who have spent years in the islands, and know many spots, even showing us two secret “gunk holes” (Anna informs me these are actually pleasant sheltered spots ...). They also loved fishing, and were nice enough to give us a couple of fish.
The fishing couple recommended a good sheltered spot, (although the name begs to differ) at
This was the next spot to test our anchoring skills with the stern anchor in order to keep ourselves perpendicular to the shore. After a couple of trial and error attempts (including using a different type of anchor), we managed to set it in a way that we could tighten it off easily, to align ourselves. The next morning from Windy bay, we were able to take a short walk over the hill to a massive fringing reef, which is significant in the area, in terms of coral spawning and recruitment. We went for a walk over the drying reef (where Rob got a fright from a large clam spurting water as he walked close by), and then a drift snorkel through a narrow channel. The waters of The Great Barrier Reef have been divided into zones each with a set of conditions attached to it. Thirty three percent of the waters are Green zones, (which are similar to marine reserves in NZ, in that no fishing is allowed) this snorkel was in one such place, and it showed with lots and lots of fish. In the 20 minutes we were in the water, we saw turtles, massive schools of fish, beautiful corals, a Lionfish, a Wobbiegong shark, stingrays, a reef shark and a couple of crayfish. At night we had a fire on the beach and cooked our leftover fish, beneath the crazy shapes of the native hoop pines towering over us. Anna gleefully brought out the marshmallows she has been wanting to eat for the last month... we also took the guitar ashore and had a sing along.
On our journey back to Airlie we were sailing late and the horizon was getting dark, as we approached our destination, we could see what looked like a black silhouette of a person fishing out of a white dinghy, in the middle of the ocean... surprised at what this person was doing so far out, late at night and with rising swell and winds, we kept an eye on them. Not until we saw the puff of “smoke” did we realise, the person in the dinghy was actually a Humpback whale with its tail up in the air. It was unusual to see a tail in the air for minutes on end.
We spent a quiet night at Dumbell, a small rocky island covered in native pines, on a mooring, it felt like a wild place with the whale, turtles and sea eagles patrolling over the reef.
Early the following morning, eager to get through the notorious Hook passage again with the slack tides and minimal headwinds we set out on another clear day, to get there just as the tide turned. Motoring just above 5 knots, we were only just getting by at 2.5knots through the passage as the whirlpools boiled around, veering the boat off course quite abruptly. And all this when the currents and winds were at their lightest! It must indeed chaos if you choose the wrong tide and wind.
Sailing back to Airlie with a beam wind at close to 7knots with only fair winds was brilliant, and another whale and calf sighting just added to allure of this magical place.
With another set of jobs ticked off and more added to our busy schedule, we soon plan to head north (with the wind behind us!!!) to one of the lesser visited bays around the mainland and then across to some of the best snorkel spots in the Whitsundays.

Nara Inlet

Off we sailed to our first Whitsunday Destination, the Fiord-like Nara Inlet, situated at the southern end of Hook Island. We decided to base ourselves on a small beach, drying out at low tide. It is an unusual feeling (but fun) to jump off our boat onto solid ground to go for a walk. We were amused by the antics of the many stingrays that surrounded our boat as the tide came back in. As well as the squid that would be rapidly changing colours to blend into the background. Rob decided to occupy himself by fishing out of the dinghy, catching numerous little cod... unfortunately though; he can’t seem to be able to land fish that will be the right size for two!
We went exploring to see some ancient aboriginal artwork (thousands of years old) in a cave at the base of the inlet. The history of the Whitsunday Islands is quite amazing, and it’s weird to know that when the aboriginals first occupied the area, the sea level was low enough that the Whitsundays were still attached the mainland. The isolation that occurred as the islands ‘sunk’ caused different tribes and cultures due to aboriginals having to live off the sea rather than off just the land. Here, Anna did some more beach combing finding more fishing lures to add to our ever growing collection (the container has changed from a small lunchbox to a bag...), and a ‘new’ cutting board, which she convinced Rob was essential for the boat.
The phosphorescence (little bits of plankton transmitting light, which they also do so if they are disturbed in any way, giving them an appearance like glittering stars) here was amazing too. If you pulled the anchor chain a bit, a ring around it would light up and you could see 10 metres of chain light up with a halo around it.
We also got our eyes accustomed to the world of bareboat chartering. This is where anyone (which means anyone!) can hire a top of the line monohull or catamaran and sail around the Whitsundays. Their regular reports, or scheds as they call them, are broadcast over the VHF radio and can be quite entertaining (“um....our engine won’t start...”). Nearly every bay that they are allowed in, is packed full of them as they play follow the leader. Luckily there are still a number of secluded areas that they aren’t allowed near, or that we can sneak into with the tide thanks to our shallow bottom. They are distinctly recognised by their bright yellow inflatable dinghy’s and also their snobby reluctance to associate with/or even wave/make eye contact with people living on smaller catamarans.
When the wind died down we headed back to Airlie Beach, Rob reefed the sails as it got quite windy and had to start the motor as we were headed for some rather suspicious white water....overfalls are common around here, where the tide moves the water at such a rate, it causes rapids around headlands and through tight passages. It was funny seeing some charter boats heading out under full sail and others with full reefs and some just motoring with no sails. Others were chinking bottles and celebrating while steering apparently not caring what kind of sails they had up. We got back in time to watch the soccer world cup on a big screen at Airlie Beach, we watched the game with passionate European backpackers who at 4.30 am were trying to outdo each other with loud chanting.
We have a clear weather window now, so we are going to be heading back out this arvo, so until then... ciao

Townsville to Whitsundays

Well we made it! Hello the Whitsundays, the world famous cruising grounds off the East coast of Australia. Although we did have a few challenges on the way. We started this little leg south from Townsville to Airlie a week ago by having an unexpected reunion with our Wharram Catamaran friends before our departure.

Getting away at 2 pm, a bit later than hoped, thanks a lot to Australia Post, who have managed to lose a book posted to Anna in the post (and we learnt they lost it again completely by the time we got to Airlie Beach), we needed to make reasonable time to get to our first anchorage.
Once we did arrive to the first of the capes that separated us from the Whitsundays, Cape Cleveland, around 6pm that night, we decided we could save a day if we sailed under the full moon, and made it to the following Cape, Cape Bowling Green the following morning. So instead of our now normal customary procedure of relaxing and watching the sunset, we instead quickly made some hot soup for the thermos (which rob managed to consume all of before Anna got a chance) and a quick Anna stirfry special to keep us going while we still had a bit of sunlight. As only two nights before we had witnessed the lunar eclispse, we were lucky to get the moon rising almost at the same time that the sun set, which was rather handy in keeping our nav accurate as we slid between a couple of rocky islands and the headland just on dark. It was then a gorgeous night and 15knots of wind to get us down to the next cape, another 20miles southeast. Rob did the first shift at the helm, using the adventure racers not so secret diet of lollies, chips and some more lollies to stay awake. At which point Anna was to awake from her slumber (somewhat later than planned...). From here, Anna had the glory of sailing around the 2nd of 2 capes, Cape Bowling Green as the sun dawned, but not before waking Rob to ask about a boat at anchor that had its full navigation lights on (we couldn’t work out where it was trying to go!).
From here we sailed close by to a very long 35mile stretch of sandy cape towards the final Cape of the 3, Cape Upstart. We arrived here around 4pm after passing the normal 3 or 4 boats heading north, very fast, under full spinnaker. Not satisfied with doing one all night sail, we decided to press on past Cape Upstart towards Bowen and Gloucester Island over night to hopefully arrive there around midday the following day (at this stage I was sure Anna was really missing adventure racing). So leaving Cape Upstart around 6pm, Anna took the helm again to claim the “rounding of the 3 capes” title before I took over for a few hours as we snuck down the side of this cape towards Australia’s biggest Sugar cane exporting port. With the helm changed at midnight to Anna, which coincided perfectly with the person who had to try and sneak across the channel between huge ships (that are scaringly fast!). Anna managed to do this with relative ease, before we finally made our way towards the sheltered Bona Bay off Gloucester Island. So we finally arrived, 48 hours later and over a 100 nautical miles into the wind. We were anxious to get some relaxing done, which was easy to do at the serene spot we had chosen. From here we sailed an excited 12 miles to Woodwark Bay where we managed to sail into 20knots of wind and through a narrow reef- littered channel. I also managed to catch a 15kg Tuna and a got a cut finger to boot, although the fish was released as it would have taken a week to eat it, and we don’t have a fridge!
I have also secretly captured and included Anna’s 3 step guide to launching a dinghy from the beach (not always the quickest method, believe me!). 1st, push until tired or hungry, whichever comes first, 2nd inspect that the manicure has not in fact been damaged, and 3rd proceed by pushing, not pulling, much more elegant...