Whitsundays to Townsville

As we close in on the end of this particular segment of our adventure it seems appropriate that Mother Nature would give us a last-minute reminder of who's in charge.

After a couple more weeks exploring and relaxing around the Whitsunday Islands, including a really fun visit from my Mum and step dad, we once again headed north, spending a few days around the Woodwark Bay and Double Bay areas, and at the beautiful Gloucester Passage.

Our passage from Queens Bay (near Bowen) to Cape Upstart was frustratingly windless with only 5 or 6 knots on the stern, forcing us to motor-sail in order to make the 40+ nautical mile trip before dark. So when, just an hour or so after we dropped anchor, the wind finally piped up to a steady 15 - 18 knots from the east, Michael and I looked at each other with the exact same thought on our minds... "should we just go for it??"

"Going for it" didn't seem like that big a deal - an overnight sail of about 70 miles would get us all the way to Magnetic Island, only a stones throw from where we were hauling Bass Voyager out for maintenance in Townsville in a week's time. While we don't make a habit of changing plans at the last minute OR heading to sea just before dark, the seas had been so benign for the rest of the day, it seemed like a pretty safe bet.

And it was fine, really. Just uncomfortable. Monohulls, especially heavy, full-keel designs like Bass Voyager, are comfortable on most points of sail (i.e. most directions of wind) but when the swell is coming from off the aft quarter (i.e. hitting the boat on the side towards the back) they get this rolling motion going which makes things pretty yucky. I guess Ive become pretty soft since we got to Queensland. We tackled much more challenging seas in the southern ocean and around Tasmania, but (and being nearly 7 months pregnant is surely a big part of this) I really struggled on this trip. It was the first time in a really long time that Ive not just felt seasick, but was actually sick. This coupled with the tiredness from having already sailed 40 miles earlier that day, meant I was totally miserable.

Michael was amazing, taking on the lion's share of the night watch (guzzling energy drinks to stay awake), keeping me hydrated and comfortable as possible with pillows and blankets, and giving me lots of hugs and encouragement. I love my husband so much!

Anyway, we made it perfectly safely to Magnetic Island at around 10am the next morning, dropped the anchor and promptly crashed into bed for a long sleep. Funnily enough it was one of the best sails we've had in a long time - over 70 miles of consistent winds propelling us along nicely at around 5 knots, even under shortened sail (we always reef our sails at night, just in case the wind decides to get suddenly stronger.)

Now, a few days later, we are comfortably tucked into a berth at the very nice Breakwater Marina in Townsville. We're getting the boat all packed up and ready for her haul-out next Monday. I fly back to Adelaide on Friday (where we'll get sidetracked for a while by a - literally - little thing called having a baby). Michael, the trooper, is staying on to do the hot, hard and dirty work to antifoul and repaint Bass Voyager ready for her stay at Magnetic Island over the summer. Kitty has agreed to keep him company providing she doesn't have to lift a paw to help!

Its been an amazing 4 months since we left Hervey Bay and its hard to come to terms with the fact that we're stopping for a while, especially as it feels like the sailing season is only half over. But on the other hand there are exciting developments in our near future, not least of which is greeting our newest little crew member in just 8 or 10 weeks time! 
 
Airlie Beach ... beach

Stunt plane over the anchorage at Airlie Beach. It was fun being at Airlie during their annual race week - lots going on with markets, live music and the chance to watch fireworks from the deck of our boat - very memorable.

Tourists spill on to Whitehaven Beach. Mum and I caught this boat out to this beautiful and justifiably famous beach and spent a few hours lazing in the sunshine with 100 or so of our closest friends. It was a great day!

Whitehaven

Us three at Shute Harbour (thanks for the photo John)

A few days after Mum and John's visit we took Bass Voyager back around to Whitehaven Beach, this time exploring the Hill Inlet (northern) end. We took our tender around from the adjacent bay and landed at this tiny cove - like a private mini version of the main beach. Spectacular.

Goanna in the bush at Whitehaven

Bass Voyager anchored at Whitehaven

Caitlin at Whitehaven

The Whitsundays are the most popular cruising destination in the country, and it is "crowded" (although its nothing compared to the Mediterranean, I'm told) but it 100% lives up to its reputation - it's completely beautiful and you are spoiled for choice when it comes to comfortable, picturesque anchorages and places to explore on water and land. And, if you look, you can always find a peaceful, quiet anchorage to hide away from the crowds in relative seclusion.

Michael exploring in the tender

Kitty was impressed.

After stocking up for a final time in Airlie Beach we explored the bays north of the town which were very beautiful and comfortable. This photo is of Double Bay East.

We then moved to beautiful Gloucester Passage and enjoyed drinks and lunch at the low key Monte's Resort.

Its very rare to get a photo of yourselves under sail (for obvious reasons) but now we have we have one, thanks to our friends and fellow South Australians Cheryl and John on Gypsy Lover. Thanks guys! Bass Voyager leaving Gloucester Passage for Queens Bay.

View from the top of Castle Hill in Townsville. Magnetic Island, which will be Bass Voyager's home while we're in Adelaide, is in the distance - about 4.5 nautical miles from the city.

View to Townsville CBD. Townsville is very dry by QLD standards, and the landscape is totally different to adjoining regions to both the north and south.

We love exploring inland and getting away from the (yaaaawnnn!) seascapes, pristine beaches and sunsets for a while, so this week we hired a car and drove north of Townsville to Wallaman Falls - the highest single drop waterfall in Australia apparently, although Im sure I heard that about another one we've visited along the way..... (just checked back in our blog and that was Ellenborough Falls in NSW - "one of the highest single drop falls in the southern hemisphere." So not "the" highest.) It was beautiful, and so cool and peaceful up in the rainforest, such a contrast to the dusty heat of Townsville.

I don't know what it is about Townsvillians and gelati but there are three artisan gelati shops within walking distance - one a very dangerous 5 minute walk from the marina.

Whitsundays and Bait Reef

Well, we finally feel like we have made it to the Whitsundays. The weather has been nothing short of perfect most days with light but sailable winds and mostly sunny days. The anchorages here are very good and very close together - makes for lazy cruising. It easy to see why it is so busy here with boats but you can get away from the crowds if you forget about public moorings (which are rarely available even with the "two hour" time limit*)and go to places where charter boats aren't allowed.

One such place was Bait reef, only 18Nm from Hook Island and simply stunning. The water was so much clearer then any of the water we have see so far on our trip. The reef is very healthy and being protected from fishing has a great range of wildlife even just under your boat. We had several GT's and Bat fish join as immediately when we arrived. On day two we were treated with perfect weather and our own whale show. For much of the day whales were hanging out just outside the reef. We took the tender out to explore the reef at one stage and were surprised by a whale launching itself completely out of the water only 50m from us - no camera with us of course. Later that day a pod of whales came into the lagoon anchorage and swam about coming within 15m of our boat. It was our best whale experience to date.

Anyway, I need to get back to enjoying this weather so that's it for now.

* In Queensland "Two hours" is anything between two hours and two days. Similar to the car hire in Mackay Marina where half day hire is actually four hours, very short days in Mackay.

Stonehaven Anchorage

Small manta ray by the boat at Stonehaven

On a mooring in Butterfly Bay

Great photo of Bait Reef showing The Stepping Stones and anchorage - from http://mskiana.com, the dive boat we met there

Perfect conditions at Bait Reef

 Bat fish by the boat at Bait Reef - moored in 10m of water - check the water clarity!

Pod of humpback whales right by the boat at Bait Reef

Whales between us and the only other boat on the reef

The slick in the foreground is disturbance made by a whale less than 15m from the boat

 Snorkeling and diving at Bait Reef

Returning through the passage between Hook and Hayman Islands

 

View to Black Island near Hayman Island

Mackay to Hamilton Island

Here we are at Hamilton Island, smack bang in the middle of the Whitsunday Islands. Being here feels a little like coming full circle as it was in the Whitsundays that we first caught the sailing, scuba diving and all-things-boaty bug (bugs?) on our honeymoon back in 2002. It was, in a sense, the beginning of the journey that has brought us back via 4000 nautical miles and more than 10 years.

You can stay in the marina here for $105 per night which is really expensive as marinas go but - here's the clincher - you have full access to the resort facilities. Cocktails by the pool for us!! (Well, mocktails for me, but I can pretend...) When others are paying many hundreds of dollars per night, even thousands, we feel a bit like we're cheating but then our whole lives feel a bit that way these days... We keep expecting someone to come along and tell us its not allowed and we have to go back to reality!

OK, a quick recap of the last few weeks. Our short stop in Mackay was much longer than planned as the weather came in and we couldn't seem to motivate ourselves to battle strong winds and choppy seas. This QLD cruising is making us soft! Oh well, it gave me a chance to break the back of a work project and Michael to do some much needed painting and boat projects. We were also able to scope out a nearby boatyard where we will most likely haul out Bass Voyager and leave her over the summer while we're off in Adelaide having a baby.


Finally we sailed from Mackay about 20 miles north to Brampton Island. Its a very picturesque spot with a public jetty and walking trails around the island, however it had an eerie atmosphere as the resort on the island is all boarded up and off limits - another apparent casualty of the struggling QLD tourism industry. From there we stopped for a few days at Goldsmith Island, another beautiful anchorage with none of the uncomfortable surge and swell that we'd come to expect in the southern islands. The tides are getting smaller as we head north and that seems to make a difference to the comfort at anchor.

With strong winds in the forecast we scoured our cruising guide for the area and chose nearby Shaw Island as a place to hole up for a few days. Its an excellent anchorage, again totally swell and surge free, even in developed trade winds. Just a few of the notorious Whitsusnday "bullets" (where the wind rockets down the gullies and makes the boat dance around the anchor for a minute) to contend with. Not in any great hurry to be anywhere, we settled in and waited for the weather to improve. All the other boats in the anchorage seemed to have the same idea and, like us, not many seemed inclined to get off the boat while the weather was so blustery. We did manage to do some exploring on land though, and as you'll see from the photos below even "bad" weather in the Whitsundays is pretty spectacular!
 A few hours north of Shaw is Hamilton Island. We expected the worst of Hamilton and so have had our expectations exceeded by quite a lot. I had this image in mind of a noisy, over-the-top resort stuck in the 1980s, probably run-down because of the GFC, and horrendously overpriced. Instead its very tidy, beautifully landscaped and ... dare I say it ... fairly classy as these things go? Perhaps I have been away from civilisation a little too long...

Generally we like to eschew the crowds and built-up resort-iness of places like Hammo but after a few weeks getting back to nature we get a real kick out of the opportunity for a restaurant meal and a bit of people-watching. Plus there is an awesome bakery here and we were also able to get an order from Coles sent over on the ferry saving us having to go in to Airlie Beach for another few weeks.

Tomorrow we'll head out again and bum around the islands for the next week and a half before we meet family in Airlie Beach!

Views around Brampton Island

Whale near Goldsmith Island

Views of beautiful Shaw Island

Rare picture of pregnant Caitlin. Back-burning a few weeks earlier made it possible for us to climb a hill for spectacular views over the anchorage.

Checking out the facilities on Hamilton Island

Spot salty old Bass Voyager among the superyachts at Hamilton Marina.