12 days …

We have just enjoyed 12 days of glorious weather, but more importantly, 12 days of family time with Abbey on board.

First stop … Whitehaven. THE best beach!

After many visits to the Whitsundays over the years, on our last visit here in 2016 we actually visited a bay we hadn’t been to before. Waites Bay is between Hazelwood Island and Lupton Island. It’s really only a northerly anchorage so when the northerlies were forecast, our second stop was Waites Bay. We walked over the Lupton Island hill looking for the bay behind where we were told we’d see some turtles from above. There were a few turtles but it seemed that phone/internet coverage was more important, particularly for our guest!

We tucked in to Waites Bay on Hazelwood Island where we had some reef and snorkeling nearby. While the hard coral showed signs of damage, the soft corals looked healthy and the fish life around the fringing reef was encouraging.

Even us oldies seek out phone coverage these days!

Some stunning plate coral amongst the silt

The soft corals are looking so healthy

Not so many big fish here, but plenty of small ones

It was time for some exercise. Neville had a major job to do so Abbey and I decided to take on the challenge of the Whitsunday Peak walk on Whitsunday Island … 2 kms up and 2 kms down. Oh to be 26 again! It was a challenge but I made it (with lots of rests along the way and my trusty walking stick!). The view from above is brilliant. On one side of the Peak you can see across to Hamilton Island and the surrounding southern islands of the Whitsundays, and on the northern side, Whitsunday Passage, Hook Island and Cid Harbour.

And she doesn’t even looked puffed!

I made it!!

Just calling for the helicopter!

Oh … that “major job”? One engine bay inexplicably filled with water as we entered Cid Harbour, well, half filled with water, and it was fresh water. So no, we weren’t sinking. So where was the water coming from? Our nifty gulper kept pumping away so the water level was dropping, but water was still squirting in from ‘somewhere’. We seemed to be jinxed as we then ran out of fresh water in the galley. No problem, switch to the second tank. Empty. Didn’t we fill that tank??

Back to engine bay. So where was this water coming from? Then the penny dropped. It’s fresh water. The transom shower hose had touched the hot engine and had somehow sliced or burnt through. This coincided with the transom shower having been mistakenly left on. So all that fresh water came from our water tanks. It emptied the first tank then when we switched tanks, that started emptying too. Neville swapped the inside shower hose (which is metal) to the transom shower and the now shorter plastic transom hose to the inside shower till we can replace it. No damage to the engine so a very good outcome considering what could have been.

These turtle photos were taken by Abbey on my TG4 while snorkeling and the Hump-head Maori Wrasse photos were taken from our dinghy, both in Luncheon Bay, Hook Island. Both the turtle and the Wrasse were particularly friendly. Well fed I think.

The Hill Inlet /Whitehaven Beach Lookout walk is always a must and with Abbey flying out of Hamilton Island, we spent two nights in their marina enjoying eating out and the pool. Twelve days of warm sunny weather and gentle breezes were timely for a Melbourne winter escape. Miss her already!