We're both heartily sick of being stuck in Marinas! At Abell Point it was the weather and here in Townsville we've been waiting for a part for the anchor winch and then for an electrician to rewire it. I reckon I know an electrician in every port from Portland to here (and not many of em are much chop).
Anyway, when we finally go out of Airlie we had some great sailing around the northern Whitsundays; Double Bay, Hayman Island (Stonehaven Anchorage)and Butterfly Bay etc. All lovely spots with Stonehaven possibly the pick. Nice beach and a picturesque waterfall. From there we headed to the outer reef for the first time. It's a long way and pretty lonely out there - the cyclone seems to have wrecked the infrastructure on the reef so no tourist boats or aircraft. We got really "brave" and dropped the anchor in amongst the reef and bommieson Hook Reef with no one else within cooee. Well, that's all very well when you can see whats happening around you but it gets a bit sphincter winking when the sun goes down and you can longer see the coral heads. Spent a lot of anxious hours watching our anchor drift track on the plotter before we were confident that we weren't going to drag or swing onto the hard stuff. All turned out OK and we had a good nights sleep out in the great void. You get to appreciate how terrified the old blokes must have been when they sailed through here back in the day. No navigation aids, no motor, not much capacity to sail to windward, no info about tides and currents etc etc. It's bloody disconcerting when you're literally in the middle of nowhere and all of a sudden you can drop an anchor in 5 meters of water on sand and see reef all around.
We got under way again and headed further east toward the channel between Hook and Hardy reefs. It's more like a bloody great river than a channel and it's where the pontoons have been built to accommodate the tourist boats and aircraft - you will have seen the photos in the tourist brochures, Well Debbie stuffed all that up, The pontoons are wrecked and not a soul to be seen. So we sailed on by and headed back toward Hook island and an anchorage in Blue Pearl bay - beautiful. Pottered around for a day or two taking in Daydream Island (more abandoned resorts),Cid Harbour again and Sawmill beach with a walk along the track from there to Dugong Beach. Lot's of downed Hoop Pines and Cheesewood trees. Dropped the anchor in Sandy Bay off Long Island and walked to the foot of Spion Kop - must be a good view from the top cos it was pretty spectacular even from where we stopped.
From there it was goodbye to the Whitsundays and northward bound again. Off to Gloucester passage
around Cape Gloucester between it and Gloucester Island, lotsa Gloucester. Two resorts here one of which, Gloucester, was cyclone damaged but Montes was open and we went in for a coffee. Lovely little spot and we will stop here on the way back. Picked a up a mooring and stayed the night before heading up toward Bowen, which we had seen by road from Airlie Beach so we bypassed the harbour and went around to an anchorage in Grey's Bay for the night before heading for Upstart Bay. Spent an uneventful night there before heading around Cape Bowling Green and up into Bowling Green Bay where we dropped anchor in the middle of nobloodywhere. That was all OK until it cam to pull up the anchor only to discover that the winch control had crapped out so I took it apart and if it wasn't terminal before it certainly was now. How to retrieve 20 meters of Chain and a 45 pound anchor by hand? Mavis' head phones prove useful once again as I relayed direction and speed instructions to the pilot while I manhandled the chain into the locker. The last 5 meters or so proved a bit difficult so we rigged up the hook on the snubber to a rope back to the sheet winch and dragged it up a meter at a time,finally got it all secured. Greasy black mud all over the shop but got that all cleaned up and headed for Cleveland Bay and Townsville.
HOLD THE PRESS.
The local sparkie just turned up with the anchor control - and it works! He managed to turn 4 wires into 3 and we're under way. Also offered some helpful advice on battery management AND told me to ring him if anything goes wrong anywhere - get a photo of that man. Colin Dunn 0477 518888.
Now we're ready to head off again toward Magnetic, The Palm Group incl Orpheus, Hinchinbrook and on off toward cairns and Port Douglas where we'll lay over for a while before deciding on the next move.
All in all I'd have to say the Whitsundays we're a bit underwhelming. Cyclone didn't help and the weather we had wasn't too good. I guess I imagined South Seas like tropical islands (you know, coconut palm beaches and little bars with naked women all around etc) but really it's scrubby stoney bush that you wouldn't give two bob for if it wasn't for the potential. Had the water been clear and the sun shone more I might have gotten a different picture - we'll have another look on the way back.
Another bloody Tuna
Day Dream Island
Hardy Reef Damage
HoopPines
Surveying
Townsville Sunset
Whitsundays or Bass Strait
No comments:
Post a Comment