The sun sets on our Winter's Sojourn

As the sun sets over the western skies here at Hope Island Marina on the Gold Coast, I am sitting back having a Buddie or two and reflecting on my recent 6 month hiatus up in north Queensland to get away from the cold winter months.

Airlie Beach hasn't changed much since I lived up here back in 2007-2009. The main street, Shute Harbor Road has been streetscaped, which I like, as I knew the person responsible for designing it, Steve Moss of UPlan. Well done Steve.

But the things that have changed, besides the streetscape, was that there was a lot of businesses closed due to the beating Airlie copped from Cyclone Debbie. The Lagoon, above, and the famous Airlie Beach Hotel, at left, were simply destroyed. The Hotel is not likely to open for another year, but has opened a couple of smaller areas like bottle shops etc & the lagoon was still closed when I left. Many other businesses are shut and are not expected to reopen. A real Shame!

But somethings don't change due to the resilience of the locals. The Whitsunday Sailing Club being only just one.

It was here that we, Bob & Kerry and I, would arrive nearly every day and tie our tenders to the pontoon before heading into Airlie to do the shopping. . . and upon returning, having a few beers  due to the tiresome 200m walk to Woolies, (another new addition to the main shopping area).

We had only been in Airlie a couple of days and already the local Whitsunday Times newspaper had caught Bob, myself and Billy Gleeson at the club having a coldie or two on the balcony one Sunday afternoon.

Billy and his mate Graeme Wilson would end up assisting me later in our stay and I am, and will always be, greatly appreciative for their unquestioned kindness.

Whilst in Airlie, Rob & Kerry's son, Ben, and granddaughter Amira visited and here they are on Errant prior to coming over to Fete later in the day for a couple of coldies. I think Rob said that they were getting Amira used to being onboard as they planned a family outing over to the islands the following week.

Below is a couple of pics of Ben & Amira on board Fete that day.

Somehow I feel that Rob's fears that Amira may not like the water were unfounded as you can see from the look on her face in these two pics.

I mentioned earlier that Airlie hasn't changed much since I lived up here, but at left, Port of Airlie was just under construction and now it is a vibrant community with eateries, bars, marina, bus terminal & ferry hub.

It has come a long way in the last 8 years . . .

It has been almost 5 months since Cyclone Debbie ravaged this place and still bits and pieces of boats can be seen. I am told that there were some 40+ boats that disappeared and have never, or will never be found again.
I guess the only way we would see them, like the piece that floated passed Fete, at left, one afternoon, will be like this.

We have been here a couple of weeks or so, now its time to head out into the 74 beautiful islands surrounding us to see more and experience new things.

Tomorrow we head over to Hook Island, only 15nm away and stay a couple of days in Nara Inlet before moving on to see the rest of this beautiful place.

0900 hrs Tuesday 18th July - On turning Fete out to Pioneer Point, we were passed by the Derwent Hunter, at left, which is owned by a long time mate and Beaujolais whom we 1st met back in Mackay.

Our destination for today as stated earlier is Nara Inlet and as you can see from this pic above, is beautiful. Actually the little bay in the center is Refuge Bay which is a great anchorage in all winds. (This pic came courtesy of Whitsunday Tourism website).

We entered the Inlet at around 1100hrs and went all the way to the top of the inlet to find a good mooring. The anchorage was very rolley but we decided to stay put as the tide was due to change in an hour so we decided to give it a go.

The inlet soon started to fill up with other boats but it didn't take Rob and Kerry long to get back out chasing fish for dinner (see pic below)

After chasing the illusive fish around for a couple of hours, they joined me on Fete for some sundowners and left just on sunset.

A few moments later I had an accident and damaged my eye and had to call on Rob for assistance . . . well to cut a long story short, I was later medevacked back to Prosperine for some treatment which took several days.

Upon release, I knew due to my unstable condition that I needed to get Fete back to the Gold Coast until I could sort things out.

Once again, I had to call upon a couple of trusted friends to get Fete back to the Gold Coast, and Ian (Grumpy) Knight, above and Ian (Russell) Waymouth, at left,  put their hands up to help me out. There was a third person who also wanted to help, Lee Sutherland, a friend of Rob & Kerry's, who just happened to be in Airlie, so the crew were all set.

Sunday 31st July, I sat in the cabana next to the Whitsunday Sailing Club and watched Fete, at left, head out back to the Gold Coast. Their journey, at right, would take 6 days with one stop at Roslyn Bay before arriving at Hope Island Marina tired and exhausted and looking for a good nights sleep.

I wish to thank these guys for all they did and to everyone else that made the last 6-7 months a great trip and I will surely be back again for a new adventure soon . . .

So until then, as always Cheers!

Mackay to Airlie Beach

Well the time has come to leave Mackay Marina and head further north to the Whitsundays. Our destination for the next leg will be Brampton Island. This was once a bubbling Resort which people from all over the world flocked to, to enjoy the ambiance and tropical atmosphere.
The pic at top was taken when Rob and I went out to check out the entrance of the marina  and Brampton Is centre back with St Bees and Keswick Islands on the right.

As Brampton is only 20nm north of
Mackay, it was an easy 4hr motor sail
and at left is where we anchored. We
will be here for a 2 days so we can have
a look at the Resort which we were told was abandoned some 6 years ago and as you will see in the pics  below, the damage that Cyclone Debbie did to the place.

Below is a collage of pics on how the Resort is today after Debbie and as you

will see, she is in a bit of a mess - it is a shame this beautiful place is left like

this!!!!

At the end of the day, whilst on board having a sundowner

Rob turned and said: "Welcome to the Whitsundays"

So I guess our real trip starts from now . . .

Thursday 15th June 2017

We have decided to head north to Goldsmith Island

as our next leg and its only 12nm away. This will bring

us closer to Airlie as well as another give us a look at

another piece of these fabulous Islands.

We upped anchor just after 0730 hrs as Rob had received a text from a mate to

expect winds of 20+ knots with 1-1.5m seas and choppy conditions later in the

morning. As you can see from the pic above, this is Minnie Hall bay,

our anchorage at Goldsmith.

Rob anchored 1st and as I came up on his boat, the other yachtie, Neal, seen here

at right called out that I was headed for a bommie, so quick action was taken

to come astern of Rob and drop the anchor. Whew that was close.

Inside the anchorage was interesting as there is

another smaller Islet named Farrier Is, as you can

see at left. This Islet has a private residential dwelling

on its S/W shoreline and it doesn't appear to have been
affected by Debbie at all. 

We stayed in Goldsmith for a couple of days due to weather and it proved to be a good haven against the strong winds. Whilst there we spotted a Bronze Whaler shark chasing a feed of school fish and had dolphins swimming around the boats, but alas didn't get any pics of either.

The next leg will be up to Shaw Island bypassing Thomas Island - another small 15nm run with winds expected to be around 10-15knts.

0700 - hoisted the pick and headed off  and arrived at around 1000hrs. Good run with smooth seas and a gentle breeze, although I got an extra 1.5knots when I raised the headsail.

We anchored in behind Burning Point, but a little too far out, but that didn't matter as we would only be here for a day or two any how.

Shaw Island proved to be an excellent anchorage  and

as you can see at left, is across the way from Lindeman Is

which like most other Resorts here are or have been closed

for some time due to the economy or cyclone Debbie -

again a real shame.

Above is our next destination, Cid Harbour. A beautiful anchorage which many Bare Boat

Charters are attracted  to as it is only about 9nm from Shute Harbour, their base for the

boats.

On the way up, we passed by Dent and Hamilton Islands as we were running with the current and doing 6-7knts without any sail, although Rob & Kerry told me later that they sailed all the way.

Some other visitors are these two boats - a tallship & large privately owned cruiser - told you the place was popular . . .

Also here is some more remains of Cyclone Debbie.

I was told that this happened during the storm and

as yet hasn't been salvaged as there were some 40

vessels that have simply "Just Gone Missing"???

Wednesday 22nd June:

Today we decided to head into Airlie Beach, some 14nm away and as we passed the top of the Molle Chanel, The Pacific Jewell was there waiting at the entrance to Pioneer Bay.

The trip across had been a little rough with 20kn+ winds

and at times 1.5m+ swell and I was glad to be in behind

Pioneer Point and heading for an anchorage just outside

of the Abbel Point Marina Complex.

Upon anchoring the owner of the nearest boat came over

and it turned out to be Rob Woodforth from Southport

yacht club - small world!!!

We stayed at the first anchorage one day and as it was too rolley, we moved over near the Airlie Beach Sailing Club as you can see here at left and the view into Airlie at right.

Here we will stay for a week or so before heading off to explore some more of the Whitsunday Group of Islands as we have decided to make Airlie our base and I  will bring you more of the updates as we go . . . so until then, as always, CHEERS.