Shute Harbour to Townsville

We now feel that we've "done" the Whitsundays (and sailing the Whitsundays is a glamorous holiday that all trendy Australians strive to have "done") and we are ready to move on. Besides, we need to restock on groceries, diesel, water, gas etc. Fresh water in particular is always a problem. We considered paying 136 Aussie Dollars a night for a swish marina just so that we can re-provision, but then discovered that water is available at jaded rundown Shute Harbour, described in the guide book as a place "worth diligently avoiding". My kind of place! So that was our next anchorage, where we were greeted at the anchorage by a friendly turtle.

Anchoring is not quite as easy as it seems. If you go too shallow then you can hit the bottom when the tide runs out, and the tidal range can be up to 4 meters around here. If you go too deep then you can't see the bottom and if it's rock or coral rather than mud or sand then the anchor might not hold and we could drift into another boat or wash up on rocks if the wind picks up while we're asleep. Or the anchor might get stuck, and I can only dive down to about 4 meters to get it free. The amount of anchor chain that you let out needs to be about three times the depth or else the anchor will be pulled upwards rather than horizontally, and the anchor won't hold unless it get pulled horizontally. So when you're ready to anchor you need to know how much the tide might drop so as to be clear of the bottom and how much the tide will rise so that you know how much chain to let out. If you let out too much chain, because the water is deep (or because your sums were wrong) then when the wind or current changes direction in the middle of the night, and it always does, then you could drift onto another boat. Or you could drift onto a bommie. A bommie is a coral covered bolder that sits on the seabed and can be two or three meters tall and rises up to be shallow enough to whack your keel but is too deep to be easily seen. So all in all, finding just the right spot to drop the anchor is really quite tricky, as this snapshot of our GPS track of us wandering about in Shute Harbour records.

To experience a place one needs to see it warts and all, and Shute Harbour is definitely a wart in the Whitsundays area. First it lost out to Airlie Beach as the stepping off point on the mainland that serves the Whitsunday Island resorts, and then it was hit bulls-eye by cyclone Debbie in March. 260 km/h winds can do a lot of damage! We saw a few sad, washed up and abandoned broken boats.

But the boat ramp is repaired and in service and has a steady stream of friendly Aussies launching sport fishing boats. And there's a tap less than a hosepipe's length from where one can tie up a dinghy, so after 3 trips each with six jerry cans we've filled our water tanks. Shute Harbour has no shops, so after only one night we sailed on. It was a fast and pleasant sail with mild winds and strong current in our favour.

View from the helm with both headsails out, "gull-winged", an ideal sail configuration for a short dead downwind run:

In an hour and a bit we had covered the ten nautical miles to Airlie Beach's popular anchorage.

That afternoon we found our first supermarket in a month, an event that was quickly followed by fresh fish and salad for supper. We spent three full days in Airlie, stocking up on gas and diesel and groceries.

We took a bit of time off to just be tourists, strolling along the seafront boardwalk and gawking at the fancy yachts and rows of jet-skis in the fancy marina.

And finally we got to have a barbie! And a state sponsored one at that. In public parks all along this coastline there are these free electric barbecues. You just press the button wait a few minutes for the cooking plate to get hot and then you braai your meat.

After Airlie we needed to cover some distance before we get to the next destination where we'd like to spend more than just one night. So we sailed onwards and northwards, through the top of the Whitsundays with little islands to starboard ...

... and little islands to port:

Our routine for a few days became one of sailing on to the next safe anchorage which could be anything from two to eight hours away and setting the anchor for the night. Then, usually, launching the dinghy and riding to the shore, taking a walk on the beach, back to Pegasos for a wash, dinner, a  movie and bed. And then off again the next morning. Its a spectacular coastline largely undeveloped with super beaches.

From Airlie Beach we sailed 19 miles to Jonah Bay. 

Next day we sailed and motored through the Gloucester Passage, a narrow beaconed channel 

where we saw a whale a bit closer than we'd have liked right at the start of the narrowing channel. 

Then we anchored at Queens Beach a pretty suburb at the northern end of the town of Bowen with gardened walkways along the beachfront. 

Next day was a long 38 mile but very pleasant sail round Cape Upstart, this rather nicely shaped headland into Shark Bay (where we did see a shark!)

Next was a long tiring day of big swells and too little wind. We anchored behind a thin low flat sandbar called Cape Bowling Green which didn't give much protection and we had quite a rough uncomfortable night. 

And finally we sailed and motored 36 miles to where we are now, the City of Townsville.

Whitsundays

We're in the Whitsundays!

The Whitsunday Group of islands comprise of the islands of Whitsunday, Hamilton, Hook, Hayman, Dent, Haslewood, Molle and their smaller close neigbours. Most are national park and are spectacular flooded mountains rising out of the sea, densely wooded rugged hills and a scattering of beaches along pretty bays and inlets. The sea is mostly calm and its a very popular destination for tourists on boats keen to dive and snorkel the many protected sites. So popular that at our anchorage in Sawmill Bay there were around 30 to 40 boats anchored, mostly catamarans and seemingly mostly chartered boats.

We went ashore to the small beach and found a path winding through the forest to Dugong Beach which has a small campsite. It was a short walk of about 40 minutes there and back but it was great to stretch our legs after a couple of days on the boat.  The next morning we packed a picnic lunch and walked along the track through the rocky rainforest to Whitsunday Peak about 437 meters high.

Its a steep walk and I struggled a bit in the 1,5 hours it took to reach the summit. Sitting around on a boat with little exercise for months has made me unfit. Once at the top, my peevishness with myself evaporated as the views are so worth every step. Sweeping scenic 360 degree view of surrounding islands, bays and inlets. A bird's eye view of mountains and sea to easily rival Cape Town's best views.

Some of the vegetation near the top looked like "grass trees".

Just as we finished our picnic lunch at the top, it started raining and we made our way down through the dripping trees listening to all the bird sounds in the forest.

The rain soon stopped and it was hot and sunny on the beach again.

We swam off the boat watching the departures and arrivals of various other boats.

One of the arrivals was a super luxurious cruising powerboat with staff ensuring the guests arrived at anchorage clutching drinks and still clutching their drinks when they were taken for a dinghy ride around the bay. Its become a habit of ours to listen in to the charter companies on the radio in the mornings as they call up their boats to log the day's planned activities of their customers. Its a good way to catch an updated local weather report and has its humorous moments as we eavesdrop on the interaction. Cruising Australians seem to measure out their day by where they will stop for morning tea and lunch. We soon recognized the names of the many boats anchored near us as charter boats and it is interesting to see them passing us as we all cruise around the popular sites and knowing which ones have to go back to the marina as their holiday ends. There's some smugness on our part as we can linger about for almost as long as we like.

Robert took another look inside the cramped engine compartment and after some tinkering said he thinks he has fixed the water leak from the engine, (fingers crossed).

I know that its only a matter of days before another boat issue pops up. Paul, the owner of Indian Summer told us BOAT stands for Bring Out Another Thousand - that's AUS dollars (R10,000 to us).

The next morning we swam off the boat and around lunchtime we set off for Nara Inlet just a short hop across to Hook Island. Its a long narrow fjord and we hoped to visit the dive site on the outside of the inlet's entrance. We anchored and went ashore to the tiny beach close to the entrance. The water was warm in the shallows and fairly clear.

The next morning as I was contemplating a swim off the boat, I saw a large dark fish shape swim under the boat.

Shark! Or Dolphin was my first thought. The shape stayed under the boat lazily swimming around. Robert was excited thinking it might be a dugong. After watching it for a while, it did not surface for air so perhaps not dugong. What about a bull shark?  We dangled a chunk of leftover roast beef in the water which was ignored as it swam past. Not shark. The photo isn't very clear, but here he is ignoring our piece of meat. There's a bit of fishing gut tied to the meat, but no hook! Catching this guy is the last thing we'd want to do.

Robert tried to take some pics with his underwater camera while staying safely out of the water. No mean feat. The shape swam up closer to the surface and it was a very large ugly fish with thick lips.

We googled and found what we saw was a Queensland Groper, a huge fish that likes to live in underwater caves or overhangs. This one is way bigger than either Robert or myself, well over a a meter and definitely a couple of hundred kilos. And we are NOT swimming next to the boat this morning!

We packed the dinghy for a visit to the dive site and set off.  However, once out of the inlet and round the headland into the sea, it was too choppy for me in the little dinghy and I chickened out of going further. I felt rather sorry that Robert missed out to snorkel the site but he didn't feel it was conducive to go back alone. Perhaps a swim at the boat ...... The huge fish was still under the boat, probably thinks its found a new cave home. By the time it got dark, many other boats came to anchor in the inlet. It was looking rather crowded. And the giant groper is still under our boat.

On Monday morning we saw that two of the boats which arrived in the dark were large yachts and they put out inflated water slides. We had a leisurely late breakfast (as retired people do) and watched the antics of people hurtling down the water slide and bombing into the water. Bet our giant groper was not under those boats.

Around lunchtime (the Australian cruiser time slots rub off) we set off for Langford Island hoping to snorkel around one of the recommended sites. At many places around these popular islands, the National Parks have declared no anchorage zones to protect the coral so a boat has to pick up a designated floating buoy to moor. My first attempt at picking up a buoy in the water with Robert's "McGyver" boat hook was successful. Yay!

In the meantime the wind had picked up and we noticed a very strong current so regretfully gave snorkeling there a miss and moved on to Stonehaven Anchorage where we anchored out of the no anchorage zone, along with several other boats, and it was comfortable. A short visit to a really tiny beach to stretch our legs was all we could do.

We researched some good recommended diving sites and the next morning set off for Butterfly Bay. Unfortunately, many other cruisers have read the same bible "100 Magic Miles" and towards the finish, it was a close race between ourselves, a large catamaran and a nippy monohull as to who would pick up the last available buoy. The large catamaran won and the losers diverted to nearby Maureen's Cove.

My second attempt at picking up a buoy was also successful first time, and we hadn't even hooked on the rope when we noticed large fish collecting under our boat. What is it with Pegasos and fish?  Maybe they intuitively know that we don't fish and are safe from being dinner. We snorkeled around the boat and it was super to see these larger tropical fish so close.

 Robert swam further to the shoreline but said there wasn't much coral to see. We went off to check out the dive sites and were a bit disappointed - lots of fish but very little live coral. A second bout of snorkeling was much the same - numerous fish but the coral is mostly bleached.

The weather forecast for the next day was strong 20 knot wind so we decided to move towards the southern end of Hook Island and shelter in Macona Inlet. It is a scenic inlet and we watched dolphins and flying fish against a background of green wooded hills. We took the opportunity of the still late afternoon to dinghy over patches of coral - again mostly dead coral. The surface was as smooth as glass and it's hard to believe that strong wind is coming. But it came, about 2 a.m. and Robert is the designated person to get out of bed in the middle of the night and check the anchor chain and other sundry mysterious noises.

The wind brought swells and it was a rolly night and morning. At least we have internet here to plan our next stop which is becoming a little more urgent as we are low on water and gas. Sitting out bad weather is a good time to catch up on family messages, Facebook, emails and update our blog -  with coffee and music. Not so bad after all.

Island Hopping

On our last day at Keswick Island we went for a walk from Basil Bay beach up the steep hill past the few houses dotted about. We came across the Keswick beehives which were close to the track and extremely busy with bees on the sunny morning. Too busy for us to approach so we wandered back and had a picnic lunch under the shade of trees on the edge of the beach.

Low tide was late in the afternoon so only Robert went in the water for a last look around the Coral Gardens while I viewed the corals from the dinghy drifting over them. The water was so clear, it was a great pastime.

Our next stop is another tropical island, Brampton Island. Our start was delayed when Robert discovered water in the engine bilge - previously it was always dry. So this is a new issue. It seems that on a boat, if it's not one thing, than it's another thing to fix. After some poking around in the extremely inaccessible engine area, he thinks it is from the seawater pump used to cool the engine. It's not much water dripping so safe enough for the time being - a job for another day.

The journey to Brampton Island was short and smooth. There was very little wind and so we motored all the way, about two and a half hours. This is Pegasos anchored at Brampton Island.

Brampton Island and Carlisle Island are two islands very close together separated by a narrow stretch of water that dries out at low tide and one can walk across. We walked along the beach next to a resort which closed in 2012. It's a bit depressing to see the resort falling apart and the vegetation reclaiming the abandoned airstrip. In its day it must have been a lovely place for holidays with safe swimming areas and lagoons formed by the receding tide. It also looks like Cyclone Debbie did some damage to the resort with many paving slabs and bricks washed off and half buried in the sand and crumbling retaining walls.

Although it's scenic and has walking tracks to look out points, Brampton Island doesn't really appeal to us, possibly the charm is gone with the dilapidated resort so we decided that the next day we would set off for yet another tropical island, Goldsmith Island, a short distance of 10 nautical miles further north.  This was a very pleasant sail with calm flat seas and just enough wind from just the right angle to get us gliding along nicely. We recorded 6 knots of boat speed with only 8 knots of wind, which is very impressive performance for a cruising yacht.

Although Goldsmith island has an attractive and secure anchorage it is quite difficult to get ashore. The access to beaches are very rocky and we couldn't find a route between the coral and rocks that would enable us to land the dinghy onto a beach.

So once again we spent only one night there and sailed on to the next island with a safe anchorage, Lindeman Island.

There are scores of islands dotted around but most are very difficult to get to by boat because of fringing reefs of rock and coral.  We've sailed  past many stunning deserted beaches and pristine islands that are hardly ever visited.

The weather turned and the winds became stronger than what we like for sailing so we spent another day and night just parked off at anchor at Lindeman.   By Thursday conditions were a bit more manageable and boredom had made us braver and so we sailed on in quite rough weather.

Many of the islands in the Whitsundays group are heavily developed for tourists. Hamilton Island has a busy airport, fancy marina, trendy restaurants and high rise apartment blocks. Dent Island has a golf course. We can do without all that and so we sailed past these two islands on the quiet side of Dent Island where there are few buildings apart from this charming lighthouse.

As the day progressed the wind and waves diminished and in the end we had a very enjoyable day's sailing.  We ended the day in the very protected and popular Sawmill Bay anchorage on Whitsunday Island.

Contrary to my expectations,the attire for sailing around tropical islands is not floaty sarongs. When we are sailing we wear PFDs, even when we are just sitting in the cockpit. A PFD (Personal Floatation Device) is a lifejacket with a small gas canister so that it can be quickly inflated.

When we leave the cockpit and go on deck we always clip onto a line secured around the boat, with a safety strap clipped onto the harness of the PFD.