Airlie Beach, Queensland, Australia
Friday, July 7, 2006
Sailing, diving, and lounging about in the tropical sea for about a week in the Whitsundays.
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We were quite tired of driving, so we decided to fly from Brisbane to the Whitsundays (Arlie Beach). This is where we’d get to really practice our sailing skills. As luck would have it, the flight cost not much more than two bus tikets would, and it bought us an extra day of fun. We arrived in Arlie Beach on a Friday night, in time to take in some of the live music and night life of the town. On Saturday they have a market with lots of fresh fruits and veggies, so we stocked up on lots of nature’s goodness, in hopes of enjoying them on our own chartered yacht soon. We managed to get a great stand-by deal, with Whitsunday Private Yacht Charters, for 5 nights on a small (34′) sail boat. It turns out we were quite lucky, because what we didn’t know is that we were entering the peak tourist season for Northern Queensland.
We spent 6 days/5 nights on the yacht, just the two of us, sailing and anchoring around the Whitsunday Islands. The Whitsundays are mountains protruding from the ocean, at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reaf marine park, with beautiful snorkling, diving, and scenery. It sounds so romantic, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not, really. Sailing and managing a very expensive boat (for relative newbies like us) is a very challenging and stressful experience. Somehow the two of us are uncontrolably drawn to such adventures.
Winds were generally quite strong, we had intermittent rain showers, and lots of cloud cover. Not really your picture perfect trip around the Whitsundays. But the wind did make for some great sailing, albeit with some pretty big waves across the passage. We were off to a bad start with our first night. We got to our destination (Stonehaven Bay, on Hook Island) late, which meant that the morings were all taken, the sun was getting low, and we were late for our scheduled check-in with the base. The most important thing to worry about at that point was to get safely anchored before it got too dark. Unfortunately, the topo of the anchorage was such that if you were too generous with your distance from the other boats, you’d be in waters too deep to safely anchor. Plus, if the anchor didn’t hold, you’d then slide into deeper waters, which means that the anchor wouldn’t be able to grab again. So, there we were, in uncomfortably deep water, with barely enough anchor chain, praying all night the anchor would hold. To add to the anxiety, this particular anchorage (which would appear to be a safe haven in SE winds) was subject to some terrifying bullets of wind that would funnel through the peaks and velley of the Island, blowing on us at a force of 25 to 30 knots, making a spooky howling sound.
The next morning, we were relieved to find ourselves in the same spot we’d anchored in. But then we had to deal with an anchor chain that had gotten kinked and jumped off the winch the night before, as well as a winch that didn’t seem to want to grab. After figuring out the loose clutch, we started up the motor and started lifting the anchor, but in the process, found ourselves drifting toward the lee shore, unable to get any power from the motor! With Grant’s quick thinking, we raised the main sail, and managed to grab enough wind power to steer ourselves away from the shore. So there we were with an apparently clogged propellor or something, less than 1 day into the trip. After calling into the base, we quickly learned that we were just using the motor incorrectly (what a relief). There was a red button that we thought they told us to press in before putting the engine into gear, but apparently they had said NOT to push the red button.
We grabbed a moring, now that all the other boats had left, and took our dingy close to shore to do some swimming/snorkeling. We couldn’t reach the beach, because the tide was low, and the coral stuck up to close to the surface. So, we decided to motor back to the yacht, and swim in from there. But on the way back, I spotted a shark (probably a black tipped reaf shark), and was then too chicken to jump into the deep, unfamiliar water. After lots of taunting from Grant, I encouraged him to jump in first, but apparently he didn’t have the guts either. Instead, we got back on board, ate lunch, and started sailing to our next anchorage. We didn’t go too far, just around the North West corner of Hook Island, hoping to grab a moring. Unfortunately, all the morings were already taken (by 2:00!), so we had to get ready for another restless night at anchor. Unfortunately this location is exposed to the open ocean, meaning that large swells roll in, causing boats like ours to rock back and forth, sometimes quite violently. The further out you are from the haven of the inner bay, the more you rock. Thus, you find some pretty agressive tactics being practiced out there by boaters trying to grab the inner morings. That night, we weren’t so nervous about the anchor holding (we figured it was wrapped around a bommie, which is a common hazzard in that area), but the rocking of the boat caused the mast, lines, and anything that moves to rock, knock, and rattle.
The next morning, after very little sleep, we took the dingy over to the beach, and enjoyed a beautiful snorkle. The most spectacular sight was of the abundant branchy blue tipped hard corals, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. There were plenty of fish too. After our snorkle, we cruised over with the yacht to an area that’s popular for diving. We were very excited to find a moring at Luncheon Bay that we could use, which enabled us to leave the boat for a couple of hours, and go diving around the bend at Mantaray Bay. What spectacular diving! It was very shallow, but so colourful and full of different hard and soft corals. I’ve never seen so many corals in my life! There was also lots of big fish, including a bass the size of a full grown pig!
When we returned to the yacht, we quickly got kicked off by a big dive boat that wanted our spot for the night. There’s a 2 hour time limit until 5:00 pm, so we had to go. It was around 3:00 at that point, so our choices for anchoring were limited. We ended up back in Butterfly Bay, even further out into the open this time. Yahy! Another restless night at anchor, getting woken up all night by knocking and creaking sounds.
We had initially planned to sail over to a smaller island, which apparently has great diving, but is more exposed to the swells and winds. Longing for a good night’s sleep, we opted for a more sheltered anchorage, on the NW side of the large Whitsunday Island. It was a little rough sailing around the top of Hook Island. In trying to avoid some nasty currents and eddys, and to stay clear of shallow reaf, we had to sail out quite a ways into the open, into what I now understand to be “washing machine” conditions. Massive waves were hitting us from all directions. I was behing the wheel, secretly excreting bricks, thinking we were going to get knocked over or split in two. But it turns out these boats are more resilient than I am. As we sailed/motored to Cid Harbour, we both found ourselves cursing the whole sailing experience, and accepting the fact that maybe sailing just isn’t for us.
We made it around the island, and over to Cid Harbour, safely, and early enough (finally!) for an early checking with base. After the previous 3 nights of rough anchorages, and strong winds and waves, we REALLY appreciated Cid Harbour. Cid Harbour was like heaven. The water was shallow (5 meters at it’s lowest), which meant we had plenty of anchor chain, and could keep our swing radius to a minimum. The harbor was large enough to accomodate dozens (if not hundreds) of boats, yet we had lots of space between us and our neighbor. Winds were none existant, and the water was like glass. We took the dingy to shore and enjoyed a good hike through the jungle forest. Unfortunately, due to lack of sleep, Grant ended up bumping his head into a low hanging branch, causing whiplash that would last many weeks. No concussion though. Needless to say, we had a VERY good sleep that night, and started feeling a lot better about the sailing experience. It’s kind of like downhill skiing. When you don’t know what you’re doing, especially if you find yourself on an advanced run, it’s really quite painful and terrifying. But as you become more experienced, you can really start to enjoy it. I think that’s what sailing is like.
Feeling well rested the next day, we enjoyed 3 or 4 hours of fun sailing, running (broad reach) with the wind, back and forth across the harbor, making our way back to Hook Island. For our last night, we anchored in another anchorage that’s considered good for windy conditions: Nara Inlet (on Hook Island). Winds were expected to get up to 25 knots. It wasn’t as calm and spacious as Cid Harbor, but we still really apreciated the light winds and minimum swell it provided. We had stocked enough meat for 4 dinners, hoping to catch fish for one meal, so this was the night for fish. We took the dingy out to the edge of some coral patches, and dangled some fishing line and a hook (with pieces of pork fat), hoping to catch something. We only had an hour before sunset, and didn’t have a clue what we were doing. Secretly, I think we were both hoping we wouldn’t catch anything, since we wouldn’t know what to do with a fish if we caught one. We called it quits after an hour, and resorted to a meal of hamburger buns, each with a fried egg, fried slices of sweet potato with chillies, slices of chedar cheese and tomato. I call it: Spicy sweet potatoe egg burgers. Believe it or not, it’s actually quite delicious.
Whitsunday Private Yacht Charters was great in that they let us take our time coming back, rather than having to get up early to make it back by the 10:00 deadline. We were able to first enjoy a hike up to some old aboriginal cave etchings/paintings. We then enjoyed another great day of sailing, with lots of wind, and big waves, across the passage back to home base (Able Point Marina).
We definately had a love/hate relationship with sailing. The sailing part was fun, navigating was a good challenge, and we really liked the serenity of hanging out on the deck, in a different bay each night, sipping a glass of wine, taking in the stary skies. But we could do without the stressful anchorages, and trying to time it right to snatch up a moring each night. Lesson learned: stick to the easy anchorages, or buy your own moring.
