Kicking off from the end of our Hamilton Island stay we set off sailing!
Great weather, but not enough wind for sailing so we motored around. We were looking to grab a mooring at Chalkies, a nice beach directly opposite the famous Whitehaven beach. Unfortunately another boat pulled up to the last one just as we were arriving.
Kristie and Jeremy had some boat friends around the corner about an hour away, in Tongue Bay, and they were able to let us know there were plenty of moorings spare. After hooking up there we did a short walk up to a lookout and down to the northern end of Whitehaven Beach for sunset drinks. A fairly high tide hid most of the famous swirling white sand banks, but it was still a nice spot. Back to Lazuli for dinner and fairly early to bed.
Sat morning a few of us did the lookout walk again and with a lower tide the sandbanks were a lot more visible, the kind of shot fit for a postcard (see heading picture.) Back to the boat and the wind had picked up a little, but not too bad. Tucked in behind the headland at the southern end of Whitehaven for lunch before hopping on shore. The girls went in for a swim as I headed up to the lookout. Quite a few tourist boats out, so the beach near the walk entrance was fairly crowded. Nice lookout again, and it seems most don't bother with the massive ~2km distance, so not too busy which was nice.
Arrived back on shore to see Kristie and Jeremy already packing up the beach, good timing to head back to Lazuli. Soon off to check Chalkies moorings (there's a friendly Turtle there) but they were all full again so we set off to tuck in behind Border Island in Cateran Bay.
Sunset sips and dips on the boat for us today. As we were enjoying them a tender from a tourist boat motored by, but then stopped in front of us. I mentioned that seemed a bit weird, nothing to see there, so we investigated and found out they were paddling. Luckily wind was in their favour and it wasn't too hard to paddle for steering. They also had another load to pick up on shore, we had offered to help transfer people but it turns out the reason their engine stopped was because they forgot to refill their fuel tank...
A little bit windy and rocky tonight. The wind seems to shoot over the saddle and hit us. Wasn't too bad though but I was soon into bed.
Sunday we were off for a short walk to the saddle. MUCH windier on top at the lookout. Clear blue skies with the sun shining brightly so it felt warm enough for a snorkel. Along the wall of the bay was nice, though even in the 5mm wetsuit I started to get cold... loads of fish life but not much in the way of more exciting critters. Emma was able to show off her awesome free diving skills and give old uncle Scott a few pointers.
After getting back to the boat and getting warm we set off for the top of Hook Island. A bit more wind today so we raised the head sail and were cruising along about 5kt, not a huge wind so not super fast but fairly comfortable. We were lucky to see lots of whale spouts on the trip over. At least 7 different groups. Two of the groups were fairly close, but they weren't sticking around to play/breach so hard to get a good photo.
A few bays around Hook Point were busy but we ended up in Luncheon Bay mostly protected from the wind but still getting a lot of swell wrapping around the headland. There was also a "Under 35's" tourist boat here with quite loud doof doof music. Despite the scenery being pretty nice, considering the music and swell, we decided to jump one bay over to Butterfly Bay to pull up for the night. Still a touch of swell but definitely better.
Rocked and rolled a bit over night and wasn't the best sleep but woke up fairly refreshed. Spotting some whales far off in the distance.
Tendered around to Manta Ray Bay for a good snorkel. They have some Manta Statues there and the girls (with a bit of assistance from dad) were able to free dive down and touch them. After seeing how it was done, Emma even managed a solo trip to touch them! Plenty of fish about including some huge GTs and a large Bull Mauri Wrasse.
We then took Lazuli around to Stonehaven Bay and tucked in right behind a nice finger of reef. It was very tempting to jump in for a second snorkel, but we were dry and warm so spent the afternoon lazing about on deck. Wind was meant to be dropping off but every now and then there was a pretty big gust which flapped about everything we had drying. The wind held the same pattern overnight making for a pretty broken sleep and a rocky boat.
Tuesday morning meant a 30min trip over to Black Island to drop in for a dive. Kristie and I went along the eastern wall, in the channel. Heaps of nudi and a cool flat worm on the dive with an abundance of fish and some pretty healthy coral. No Eels, Sharks or Octopuses etc but still plenty to see along the wall and some colourful nudi made it a good dive.
When we were finished with the dive the others joined us and one after the other Kristie took the girls for a quick dive. While that was happening the rest of us had a good snorkel before finding ourselves heading into shore. Apparently Haymen run an 'exclusive private island' tour here, for quite the pretty penny, so it's nice to experience the luxury for free!
After lunch we motored around to Nara Inlet for a very sheltered last night. On the journey we had a somewhat curious dolphin cruise past us then turn to follow us for a bit. We slowed down and it stuck with us a little before veering off towards another boat to check out.
For Nara we did have to prepare for the mosquito's though. Close enough to land and lack of wind meant they found us pretty quickly. Before sunset we hopped to shore for a short stroll to some Indigenous rock art which was cool to see. For sunset drinks we putted over to 'Exhale', a catamaran, who are friends that Kristie and Jeremy have met on their sailing trip. Nice net with beanbags at the front to enjoy some cheese and a nice drop of scotch. We even had a turtle come visit just off the bow.
Wednesday being our last morning we had a lazy sleep in before heading back to the marina we went for one last adventure to some close by caves for a little bit more climbing and exploring. I also managed to sneak in a short Paddle Board.
Soon though, it was time to head back, Lazuli had the night booked so we had a spot waiting. First up was heading to the fuel dock though to refuel before parking up for the night. Tying off lines and casting off again is a skill well practised by Kristie and Jeremy but new to me, seemed to manage on. When it was time to head to our assigned berth though we ran into a little trouble... and apparently a lot of silt... bottomed out. It was a neap low tide (very low tide) and the berth we had assigned was a touch too shallow for the deeper 2.3m draft of Lazuli... So change of plans and they popped us over on a different berth... with a few multi-million dollar yacht's The one adjacent to us, Lumir is hired out for $140,000 a week... and that doesn't even include fuel, food, drinks etc...
Before we could soak up the luxury too much we did have some of the less glamorous boat jobs to complete, empty rubbish bins (including contents of a composting toilet), fill water tanks etc etc. Jeremy also swabbed the decks (I'm getting my sail lingo down pat!) There was land chores as well, shopping/Bunnings, BCF run etc. We had the car up here so Kristie was able to use it to make the running about a little easier. There was scant time in the afternoon to relax before it was time to stroll into Airlie for dinner. Bet Jeremy enjoyed the break from cooking :p
One last sleep on Lazuli, and I swear even in the Marnia I rolled around all night. Almost as if the small wash from other boats, being sharper and less rhythmic than ocean waves, affected me worse than the more symmetrical ocean swell... Work in the morning for a rather quick pack and our final goodbyes before setting off on the ~14 hours drive back to Brisbane.
No real traffic hold ups, though we did have to stop once for a Sugar Cane train (say that 10 times fast) to roll past before continuing on. Bu lunch we had already passed Rocky and were making decent time... but decided that a 1030pm ETA home was a bit late and decided to pull up stumps at Gin Gin. The Hotel had one Queen room left for a pretty reasonable price ($89, shared bathroom) and the Bistro did a pretty good steak. Though they also though for some reason we wanted a "Family" pizza as a second meal... so we had a bit of vegetarian pizza left over...
With just over 4 hours of driving left we weren't in a huge rush, no point hitting peak hour traffic getting through Brisbane but I was also keen to get home and unpack so we didn't really dawdle either... Some road works slowing us down and light traffic just north of Brisbane saw us home just after lunch... so the unpacking, loads of washing, and house chores could get started... Post holiday fun, yay!
A fantastic trip, even as a non-boatie, thanks to the Ford family for inviting us into your home for a few short days, and I hope you get the good weather next week you are expecting to allow you to some of the outer reefs!
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