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.

Middle Percy Island

We almost didn't stop at Middle Percy Island, despite its great fame among the sailing community ("you MUST stop at Percy!") The main anchorage on Percy, while beautiful, has a reputation as an uncomfortable anchorage - as our cruising guide puts it diplomatically, "no one would describe it as the most comfortable anchorage they've ever visited." After three nights of big tides, surgy anchorages and sleepless nights we were seriously considering bypassing MPI and starting on the 2 day trip to Mackay. We are so glad we decided to stop as it was one of the great highlights of our trip so far.

Middle Percy has a long and interesting history and has long been a popular stopover for sailors heading north to the Whitsundays, largely because since the 1960's the leaseholders have welcomed yachties with open arms, offering fresh produce like honey, fruit, vegetables and goat meat for sale. In recent times the island has been subject to a great deal of controversy and a protracted legal battle after the elderly and ailing caretaker was conned out out of his lease for just $10 before he passed away. The island's facilities were left to deteriorate, animals died, and yachties were no longer welcome. Thankfully in 2008 courts awarded the island back to the family of the original leaseholder. His cousin, Cathryn, has returned the island to its former glory as a wonderful, welcoming place for sailors to meet, socialise and enjoy their own little slice of paradise.

(There is an interesting article here which details the dramas of the island's recent history: The possibility of an island).

The caretaker Cate was happy for us to spend the night on the island so we packed up our camping gear and mozzie coils and camped out by the beach under a full moon. We and the other boats in the anchorage were invited by Cate to meet at the fire-pit behind the A-Frame for a dinner of peacock stew! I'll try just about anything once and the peacock stew was delicious. The closest I can compare it to is a strongly flavoured version of turkey. 

The island is a long boat ride from the mainland (two days sail if you stop overnight on the way) and so the residents have to be pretty much self sufficient. Like many other QLD islands, goats were introduced to Middle Percy in the 1800's to feed passing mariners, and the homestead also keeps bees, peacocks and chickens. Interestingly kangaroos were also brought to the island for food, a native introduced species.

We had a great night socialising with the other yachties and the island residents, and were talked into staying an extra day and visiting Cate in her homestead at the top of the island the next day. 

In the morning, after waving off the visiting replica tall ship Joshua C from the lagoon, Cate offered to drive me up to the homestead in her ute, saving the poor pregnant woman the steep hour long walk. There have to be some perks to being up the duff, right??? We met the resident goats which, having been on the island for so long, are a really pure genetic strain which Cate is very proud of. She gave us tea and biscuits while we checked emails - you can access precious internet and phone reception from the mainland at the top of the island. We picked limes with backpacker Sarah who a week earlier jumped ship and has decided to stay for a while. We waved goodbye to Cate and the goats and went to visit resident Steve at the nearby "Rondavel", a circular stone house hand-built by previous residents of the islands. The steep but beautiful walk back down to the beach topped off a fantastic day. Not since visiting Three Hummock Island in Tasmania have we been to such a unique place so welcoming to sailors. Middle Percy's website is: http://percyisland.com.au/

The next day, getting very low on supplies, we reluctantly upped anchor and started the passage to Mackay, stopping overnight at Curlew Island. We're now stocking up on supplies and getting a few boat jobs done before we head into the southern Whitsundays over the next few weeks.

Paradise

The famous Middle Percy A-Frame - the Percy Hilton" - full of decades of memorabilia left by visiting yachts. We added our own little sign and felt suitable communal!

The beautiful replica tall ship Joshua C careened against the jetty in the Middle Percy lagoon. Unfortunately the huge tides in the area mean only catamarans and boats able to careen up against the jetty are able to enter the lagoon and escape the swell outside!

Cute MPI goats

A goat that thinks it's a dog

Michael with resident Steve and visiting backpacker Sarah

Rows of coal ships off the Hay Point port South of Mackay

 

Flowering cane fields

North Keppel Island - Island Head Creek - The Percys

After leaving North Keppel Island we made our way slowly to an anchorage called Freshwater Bay, part of the Army's training grounds which stretch around to Shoalwater Bay. While it's a convenient place to stop for the night you are not allowed to make landfall. There was some confusing activity involving three vehicles on the beach in the dark.

The next mooring we made for Island Head Creek and one of the most comfortable and beautiful places we have been in Queensland so far. With lots of mountains and lush mangroves it really was a great wilderness. Again being part of the Army's training area you can't go on land but we spent five days enjoying the fishing and very comfortable water. The weather was perfect each day and the fishing wasn't too bad except that the mud crabs seem to be hiding somewhere?

Leaving Island Head Creek we made for Hexham Island for a short overnight stop. The next day we made for South Percy Island. A very beautiful island with a great beach and rock pools. Unfortunately the Anchorage was very prone to surge with the 5 - 6m tides we were experiencing at the time. Moving to North East Percy Island the next day didn't improve much.

Island Head Creek

Hexham Island

Keppel Islands

This morning we set sail again after a week back in Yeppoon to sit out some less-than-perfect-weather and to have my 19 week ultrasound in town (baby is doing well, BTW). Before our return to the dock we spent a week out at Great Keppel Island, about 9 miles off the coast of Yeppoon. GKI has a reputation among yachties for beautiful but sometimes uncomfortable anchorages.

It didn't dissapoint on both counts. The main anchorage at Svendson's Beach on the north coast was very attractive with clear water and white sandy beaches. In calm conditions it was quite comfortable, but with any developed wind the swell strangely wrapped around the eastern point of the bay and caused all the boats in the anchorage to lie beam-to the swell. The pendulum motion of the mast working with the counter-weight of the keel is enough to make the more delicate among us despair!

We rate the comfort of each anchorage is by how "cat-slidey" it is, i.e. by how much Kitty slides back and forth across the cockpit floor! Our last night on GKI was appallingly uncomfortable with the cat-slidey rating way off the chart. Being pregnant doesn't help, and in the end my only choice was to move into the v-berth where I could wedge myself in with pillows and lee-cloths and resign myself to fitful dreams of buying a catamaran.

Anyway, we are now on a mission to perfect the technique of "bridling" the boat to turn the bow into the swell - this makes things MUCH more comfortable. There is a good diagram on this blog to describe how this works: www.sailblogs.com/member/ashiya/?xjMsgID=45509

So tonight we are spending the night a few miles north of GKI on North Keppel Island, and debating whether to push off tomorrow towards Island Head Creek, or to spend an extra day here, getting some more work done and exploring.

There's a fair chance that we will be out of mobile range on and off for the next week or two as we make our way north through the uninhabited Shoalwater Bay area, through the iconic Percy Islands, and on to our next stop in civilisation - Mackay. 

Yachties have set up a fantastic picnic/campfire area on the beach at GKI with a big sign saying "Everyone Welcome". I got lots of work done there, even with the view to distract me.

Bass Voyager and friends at anchor at Svensons Beach

GKI has some fabulous walks. We did a 3 hour circuit walk from Svendsons Beach to Butterfish Bay and Wreck Beach taking in gorgeous views and meeting wild goats along the way.

 

Southern GBR to Yeppoon

Well we finally left Hervey Bay behind after 7 months! Great to be back out here again. First stop was just up the road at Platypus Bay to scrape the layers of barnacles from poor old BV's hull and for some reason the entire rudder. We will have to haul out very soon, antifoul not looking so good anymore.

The weather looked pretty good for an over night passage to Lady Musgrave Island so we packed up and left at about 3:00pm to get to the Island. Over night winds we a bit hit and miss with waves and slight swell making for a slightly uncomfortable trip but at least it was only about 90NM.  We decided to do 3 hour shifts instead of our normal 4 hour shifts for a change but later we both decided that wasn't successful - we both prefer the 4 hours on/off. We find 4 hours is just long enough to get a good rest even if you don't sleep.

Lady Musgrave Island is a small island formed inside of a coral reef with a lagoon deep enough for boats to anchor and escape the swell and waves just outside. It's like a small boat haven 50NM off shore and attracts a lot of boats (13 when we got there!). The entrance was man made and depending on which story you prefer it was either done by the Japanese during WWII (this seems to be the local legend) to provide shelter for their subs or by guano miners and/or fishermen in the 1890's. Either way, it's a pretty safe entrance with a well marked channel and plenty of water. Once inside you need to proceed cautiously as there are numerous bommies and good daylight (or a steel hull) is essential.

The weather wasn't great but we needed a few days to relax anyway and sort out some small issues on the boat (mainly to do with lack of storage for all this stuff we have). Six days later we found our selves wondering what happen to the last six days and decided it was time to push on. We needed to be at Yeppoon for Caitlin to fly to a work meeting in Melbourne in about a week. Fitzroy Reef was our next stop and like Lady Musgrave it is a lagoon with a great anchorage inside. Unlike Lady Musgrave it has no island and a natural entrance which is somewhat trickier than LM but once inside there are no bommies to dodge to get to the main anchorage area.

We had planned on staying at least two nights here but the weather forecast via VHF wasn't looking great (20-30kn with possible 35+ in a few days). Previous experiences (re Fortesque Bay TAS) had taught us that we needed to move now and stay ahead of the weather even though it would mean arriving a 3 or 4 days earlier than planned at Yeppoon. After one night at Fitzroy Reef we pushed on to North West Island to stop for the evening and rest. We then packed up at about 10pm and pushed on overnight to Rosslyn Bay Marina just near Yeppoon cruising past the Keppel Islands at first light. It's a very beautiful coast line here, much more dramatic than the Fraser Coast.

So here we are in Keppel Bay Marina just waiting for the stronger winds to die down and doing some more work on the boat. It's a very good marina fro the price and has great staff and very good amenities - highly recommended. Yeppoon is a small town just 10mins on the bus and has most of what you need. We are planning to head out to the islands on Saturday and spend about 10 days exploring the area.

Sunset at Lady Musgrave Island

Lady Musgrave Island coral beaches

Inland on Lady Musgrave Island

Apparently the sun sets every day at LMI and has to be captured every time

See...

Spotted Mackerel - about 85cm - good eating, pretty fresh!

Kitty agrees.

Dawn while passing the Keppel Islands

Keppel Bay Marina.

Huge (eagle?) nest atop a light pole at the marina