whitsundays wanderings

We’ve spent the last few weeks wandering around the Whitsunday islands, and enjoying the best weather!  We’ve also had guests aboard for a week.  They told us they ticked every box on the ‘brochure’ and I think maybe we just we nailed it … apart from the sailing box (no wind!).

There’s plenty photos from our Whitsunday wanderings throughout this post, but in no particular order. One of the first steps of editing photos is culling. I have. Hmmm.

First up … this amazing sunrise (yes sunrise) at Whitehaven Beach. I happened to open my eyes at 5.30 am and saw the colour.  Wow!

The appeal of the Whitsundays is obvious, but the weather at times can be challenging.  While the sun is always shining and the temperature perfect, the winds can be strong and therefore gusty around the many islands. We often only get a few days of calm before another SE blow strikes again.  But these last few weeks have been a dream. It has been hot and humid, so lots of swimming and snorkeling, and social as always, catching up with our friends on Vivacious, Illakai, Adagio and Bushy Tales.

We stopped by Airlie Beach to reprovision for our upcoming guests (wow, so much shopping for four people), fill up with water and fuel and wash the boat. We also enjoyed a meal out at the Coral Sea Resort (a lovely meal but a big blister walking there … too long without shoes!), along with catching up with our ‘young’ friends on Lakoa (new sailors), who’d we met at Lady Musgrave on our way north. Talking to ‘newbies’ reminds us of just how many times we have been up this way and the knowledge we have actually accumulated over the years. We enjoy sharing our experiences and passing on helpful info’ to those who are visiting places for the first time.  Hmmm … experienced? Or old??!!

Airlie was hot! So was the shopping.

Did we need a reminder of how you can spend several hours on a boat but actually achieve very little?!

Bottlemart double-charged us for one bottle of gin! Big deal, no, but we have no car and the thought of another bus trip in to town in the heat and humidity wasn’t too appealing, so easy, we’ll give them a call … well … if only they answered their phone!!  After several phone calls to neighbouring businesses and Bottlemart’s head office, we finally established this shop didn’t have an active phone number.  What the??!! A call to the Centre’s management (brainwave) confirmed the inactive phone, but they very kindly offered to walk to the shop and tell them to call us.  Which they did. Our overpayment was refunded over the phone so all was well again.

There goes an afternoon in ‘paradise’ that we can’t get back!

The school holidays have made the last few weeks crazy busy. After the last two years of tourism struggling up here, it is great to see the local businesses enjoying such trade. Mind you, not being able to book a restaurant four weeks out is rather frustrating. Moorings have been tricky to snatch and anchorages crowded, but nevertheless the short distances between islands and calm anchorages have been appreciated.

I had several snorkels around the islands – Waite Bay and Chalkies Beach on Hazelwood Island, Black Island, Blue Pearl Bay on Hayman Island, Pig Bay near Whitehaven Beach and Manta Ray Bay on Hook Island. Note the captions for their location.

Waite Bay is always a favourite anchorage in northerlies. We snuck in a visit and snorkel before a big storm warning sent us to a more secure anchorage. (The storm missed us fortunately.)

I do like trying to capture that “here’s looking at you” moment with tiny fish … always tricky …

Then it was time for some guests.  John and Denise flew in to Hamilton Island from Melbourne.  We managed to secure a one hour spot in the marina (yes crazy busy there too) to collect them. It was so amusing seeing those funny long things covering their legs … oh jeans! It has been hot and humid so no long pants up here for some time. Good to see they took my advice and packed lightly as bathers and shorts were the go. The goodies were appreciated too.

There has to be a stop at Whitehaven Beach and Hill Inlet …

We dropped by Manta Ray Bay for a snorkel with the Yellowtail Fusiliers and Humphead Maori Wrasse.

Black Island was a favourite this trip as I’d discovered a new snorkeling spot (thankyou Vivacious and Ilakai) and it’s such a pretty anchorage. This aerial photo is looking over Black Island towards Stonehaven.

These photos were taken on the eastern side of Black Island.  Some great textures amongst the coral which caught my eye. Sometimes it’s all about looking closely and finding something new.

After a week of socialising (with even more eating and drinking) with John and Denise, it was back to Hamilton Island.  We haven’t had guests aboard for two covid years so it was fun to share our boating life with our land friends from home. They enjoyed a week of hot, calm and sunny weather so apart from the lack of sailing, we hope we signed off on all their ticked boxes.

We are now planning our departure south from the Whitsundays.  If only the wind would oblige.  Yes it is now windy and it’s all from the direction we want to go of course.  Think we will be doing a bit of bashing in to headwinds over the next few days.

Next stop is the Mackay Marina where we will leave The Bossa. We are flying to Byron for a 4-day catchup with our kids and little Ava.  Can’t wait!