By the time
we sailed to Airlie Beach the wind was so light we were
down to 3 knots – kick back and relax time.
The anchorage near VMR was very calm, despite all the fishing boats and
dinghys coming and going. To add an
extra challenge, trucks were unloading jetty sections which a barge was
ferrying around to the marina a few hundred metres away. Cyclone repairs are in full swing all around
here and they’ve done well to minimise the impact on tourists.
The dinghy
does a runner... while Skipper Pete was installing the new toilet (Yay!!) we
had a phone call from another yachtie asking if we had lost our tender. What??? It should be astern where we tied it! Alas, all that was left was the painter, so
the kind gentleman came over to collect Peter to retrieve the errant tender,
which had broken the loop on the painter.
Airlie to Nara Inlet on Hook Island was an easy
sail and the anchorage where our sister ship “Kathamaria” was suited us. We decided to leave the walk until better
weather, next visit and allow Peter’s foot to heal. The Whitsunday islands and anchorages are
close together but very busy with charter boats. Like popular campgrounds, you need to get in
by lunch to get a good spot.
Around the
next corner is Stonehaven, where we
rode out some wild southerly winds for a few days, cleaning and pottering
around the boat. As the weather
improved, but still gusty winds, we sailed with double reefed main and jib up
to Blue Pearl Bay on Hayman
Island.
Just off the sand and coral we
saw Proserpine rock-wallabies, which
have been introduced by Qld DEH for conservation. They are very cute, have black paws, a mostly
black tail with a white tip.