whitehaven beach

We have made the Whitsunday islands.  Lots of photos in this post both from above and below.

We are often greeted by a big blow when we reach the Whitsundays. Sure enough wind and heavy rain were forecast.

So after a quick stopover at Shaw Island, where we received a freshly caught coral trout from Milan on Blue Pearl (my absolute favourite fish), we decided to sail to Gulnare Inlet, sit out the weather and then sneak around to Whitehaven Beach for some ‘r and r’ once the blow went through. I was also very much looking forward to using my drone and getting back in the water for a snorkel.

Whitehaven Beach was busy!  Seaplanes, boats, day charters, day trippers, music, helicopters … and Georgie the Groper. Neville spotted Georgie (our given name).  Whoa! She was huge, at least 1.3 metres long we think. She hung about for ages and was even still there lazing in the shade of the bridgedeck after our hike up to the Whitehaven and Solway lookouts. I managed to get a few random pics with my underwater camera by dipping it in & guessing the angles. When she was still there after a kayak and swim, I jumped in for a better photo.  She obviously wasn’t too keen on that idea and swam off, probably to the next boat.  And yes, a swim!  Not too warm, but it’s the first time we’ve actually felt like the warmth has finally arrived.

I did get the drone up after the seaplanes and helicopters left for the day. It was Abbey’s 30^th birthday so we toasted her on the beach with a glass of bubbly.

A few sailing seasons back, Jo and Kevin from Vivacious went exploring in their dinghy from Whitehaven Beach and found some reasonable snorkeling in Pig Bay which is off Solway Passage, ‘just around the corner’ from Whitehaven. So time for a snorkel.

The water was reasonably clear at low tide and it was around lunch time so the light was perfect. The soft corals were abundant and healthy, but the fish life scarce. The shapes, the detail and the texture of coral all fascinate me so this collection does feature “close ups”.

Next stop Hill Inlet.

Hill Inlet is at the northern end of Whitehaven Beach. Whitehaven is an amazing expanse of pure white silica sand, and right at the end is Hill Inlet. It’s a very long estuary of shifting sand flats and mangroves. We’ve been visiting the Whitsundays and the very special Hill Inlet for many years on various yachts (since 1987 actually … eeeek …. we are SO old … that’s 35 years ago!!). Including on our trailer sailers in the early days.  We would enter Hill Inlet on a rising tide, dry out with the outgoing tide, explore, swim, fish and enjoy fires on the beach. Special memories.

This visit, we packed a picnic lunch and took the dinghy in for some drone photos. It’s an amazing panoramic from the air. We have no plans to enter on The Bossa though. We are not too keen on negotiating a flat bottom for our 7.3 beam to dry out nor provide the local sandflies and mosquitos with an additional food source.

Here’s a slideshow of a ‘few’ more drone photos …

Townsville will be our next passage after some reprovisioning in Airlie Beach and a catchup with Anui, Skellum and some friends from home.