Whitsunday fun

We decided that we would spend this week and a half or so doing a leisurely lap of Whitsunday Island. After leaving Airlie Beach on Friday 9th September, we sailed to Gulnare Inlet as somewhere to spend the night while the wind swung back around from northerly to the typical south-easterlies. The plan for Saturday was to sail to the world famous Whitehaven Beach.

We arrived at Whitehaven on Saturday afternoon; after a small diversion to Hamilton. We dropped off the 5hp to have some work done on it after a gust of wind in Gulnare Inlet flipped the dinghy with the 5hp still on it. The leg was unceremoniously standing straight in the air and the power head was under water. After giving it some first aid and making some phone calls, we headed to Hamilton to drop it off with a marine mechanic. Anyway, we arrived at Whitehaven on Saturday afternoon (sans the 5hp).

Happy Hour on Whitehaven Beach

We spent most of Sunday at the beach. We had a picnic lunch, then went for a walk and had a look at the picnic areas and campsites, but didn’t bother with the walk to Chance Bay. The tourist boats were everywhere bringing the day-tripper hoards from the mainland, and then there were the charter boats that all seemed to be jostling for the imaginary “pole position” at the southern end of the beach. We often felt that someone was invading our personal space; which is dictated by the swing circle we have at anchor, so is it too much to ask to anchor a little further away? We had to make a quick trip back to the boat at about 4:00pm (after the day-trippers had left) to get a picnic happy hour, which we also enjoyed on the beach as the sun sank lower behind us.

I started Monday with a swim to the beach and a run along it for a few km, before swimming back to the boat. September’s PT complete, we had breakfast and then the kids started their school week with some water sports (ski tube and water skiing). While the 5hp may have been out of action, the 15hp was fortunately running well. Haydee had her first crack at water skiing and did really well, and Cameron is now a veteran (his next step is steering and crossing the wake). When they finally finished their school work I took them back to the beach for some more swimming and a spot of beach cricket.

Lookout over Hill Inlet

On Tuesday we moved around to Tongue Bay, where we walked to the lookout overlooking the spectacular Hill Inlet. Wednesday saw us move up to Cateran Bay on Border Island, before our sail today to Cid Harbour on the west side of Whitsunday Island. We will duck down to Hamilton tomorrow and return to Cid Harbour tomorrow night so we can do the walk to Whitsunday Peak on Saturday. Monday will see us back in Airlie Beach for resupply and some repairs, then we will spend a week or more exploring Hook Island.