Whitsunday Adventure ‘95

We encountered more wildlife on this trip than on any of our other sailing trips.

Except for our trip to the barrier reef, the underwater experience was disappointing. The corals and fishes were excellent – but the visibility was so poor that we couldn’t see even a fraction of what was there! The books we read warned of low visibility due to the proximity to the mainland and the large tides and strong currents. But the situation was exacerbated by the near miss of cyclone Justin just 3 weeks before we arrived, the large amount of rainfall and high winds, both before and during our stay, and the cloudy skies many days.

Except for Tahiti, these islands were the greenest of any of our past cruising grounds. The variety of plants was quite astonishing. One would see pine trees in one place, rain forest in another, Mangrove marshes in another, and the more typical palm trees and low green scrub in other areas.

The volcanic history of the area also made for some might interesting rock formations. The hike at Thomas Island was especially interesting, with volcanic rock that was still so sharp it would cut you something fierce if not careful.

It was wonderful to see that the Australians have kept so much of the Whitsundays as National Marine Parks. Many of the islands are quite large, yet have no roads and are still in largely pristine condition. Hayman Island had a perfect mixture – a resort tucked into one corner of the island with relatively minor impact, with the other 75% remaining a protected National Park. In sensitive areas, anchoring was prohibited; one could use only the park provided moorings. In some cases, the sensitive areas was cordoned off by buoys. Fishing and collecting were mostly prohibited.

The great barrier reef is off limits to bareboat charterers. On the one hand, this was a bit disappointing (we knew this before hand). There were numerous impediments to going to the barrier reef by other means: It is a 3-4 hour round trip, the fee is on the order of $120 per person, there are only just a few anchorages where one can leave the yacht unattended all day, and trips were sometimes unavailable because of the weather. If we could have taken the yacht to the barrier reef, we would have spent more time there, and been able to explore a number of the different reefs. On the other hand, the barrier reef is a pretty tricky place to anchor a sailboat overnight; so protecting it from bareboat charterers is undoubtedly a good thing. And in any case, the cruising guide recommended that a yachtsman’s first visit be in conditions with no more than 15 knots of wind – so, that would have ruled us out anyway!

This was the first cruise where I wished for less wind! A few days of 25-30 kt winds is kind of interesting. But day after day it wears you down. Ditto the nighttime bullets in many anchorages. It really is difficult for anybody, much less skipper Glenn, to sleep well in the conditions we had in Stonehaven day 16.

Laura got certified to dive for the sole purpose of diving the great barrier reef. At the beginning of the trip, we just kept thinking that the weather would improve. By the end of Laura’s stay it became clear that she should just go despite the weather. Alas, some trips were canceled because of the weather, and various other constraints prevented Laura from making a dive. Laura was mighty disappointed. In hindsight, we should have gone at first possible opportunity, and that would have been in the first 2 days of the trip.

Corsair sailed like a cork in the heavy winds and steep waves. Perhaps our technique is lacking. We had a few days of heavy weather with the Lagoon 42 in the Bahamas, and she handled wonderfully. We have the feeling that the larger cat would have handled these conditions far better than the smaller Corsair.

"Split provisions" is really a misnomer. You really get full provisions. And you need that, because there are relatively few places to go out to eat. Our options in that category were further limited by having fewer anchorages to chose from, because of the weather.

We did not cover the entire cruising area available to us. The best snorkeling is basically on Hook Island and the surrounding waters. And only Hook has anchorages from which dive boats will take passengers from yachts. Thus, we were motivated to stay in that area. Had we known that we would have 20 days of high wind and poor snorkeling conditions, we might have arranged our travels differently, in order to cover a wider area.

Weather:	SE 10-15 kts
Breakfast:	Ate a very nice buffet breakfast in the courtyard at Hamilton Towers, amid the calls and antics of the lorikeets and cockatoos.
Boat preparation:	The Moorings picked us up at the hotel at 10AM. We went through the usual drills. Loading and storing the provisions was more difficult compared to the yachts of past cruises, Corsair had relatively little storage space, especially in the galley. Drinks and bulky items were stored in the sail lockers in the bows. The boat and chart briefings were just that "brief". They did not live up to the standards of other Moorings bases from which we have chartered.
Lunch:	Ate handsome sandwiches ashore at Turtles Deli on the waterfront near the Moorings base.
Sailing:	Sailed to Stockyard Beach (Chalkie’s Beach). Route: Departed Moorings dock at Hamilton Island at approx 3PM. Motor sailed north through Dent Passage. East through Fitzalan Passage (south). Close along south shore of Whitsunday Island. West of Frith Rock. North through Solway Passage. West of Martin Islet. Anchored by approx 5PM.
Dinner:	Fish, rice, salad.
Night Anchorage:	Stockyard Beach, anchorage 2. Anchored north of the gap in the reef. Anchored with 4x scope at low tide. The Moorings indicated that 3x scope with all chain was quite adequate. With the high winds, we rarely anchored with less than 4x scope. 3 other yachts in the anchorage.

Weather:	SE 10-15 kts. SE 20 in the afternoon. 1.7 M seas. Occasional showers.
Sailing:	Sailed to Cateran Bay. Route: Departed Stockyard Beach at approx 10AM. Motor sailed close along Whitehaven Beach, at approx the 4-5M depth line. Saw approx 6 large turtles on this leg. Very pretty, except for the rain. Passed between Tongue Pt and Esk Island. Sailed on broad reach to East side of Border Island. Sailed along north side of Border Island. Anchored in Cateran Bay, anchorage 1, by approx 1245PM. A few other yachts present.
Lunch:	Ate lunch while on route to Cateran, and while anchored there.
Snorkel:	Glenn, Chris and Laura snorkeled from 130PM to 230PM. Swam to West side of bay, and around the point, perhaps as far as diver symbol 2 on map C29.
Sailing:	Sailed to Tongue Bay. Route: Departed Cateran approx 3PM. Sailed along north side of Border Island. Unable to tack without engine, even with dingy attached to traveler winch. Motor sailed along east side of Border Island and then almost as far as Deloraine Island. Tacked and sailed southwest to Tongue Bay. Anchored around 520PM.
Dinner:	Chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots, zucchini
Night Anchorage:	Tongue Bay, anchorage 1, in about 2.5M. 3 other yachts. Very windy night. Two neighboring monohulls dragged anchor during the night. One dragged far enough that they were no longer in Tongue Bay. Binoculars were required to see people aboard. This may have been the evening that the normal snubber chaffed through at the deck attachment; and was replaced in the night by a dock line tied to the chain.

Weather:	SE 20-30 kts. 3 M seas. Heavy morning showers. Showers through the rest of the day. Little sun. At about 445PM, hit by extremely heavy rain (even by Texas standards).
Sailing:	Sail to Nara Inlet (intent to Butterfly Bay). Route: Departed Tongue Bay approx 820AM. Sailed along east side of Whitsunday Island. Broad reached downwind to about 2nm east of Mackerel Bay (northeast end of Hook Island). Intent was to round Pinnacle Pt and reach Manta Ray Bay. Very steep 6 ft waves. Yacht sailed like a cork. Heavily effected by wave action. Extremely difficult to steer the yacht. Not reponsive to the helm. Only responded to the wind and the waves. Only 1 reef point in the main. Reluctant to try jib alone beacuse of poor steering response downwind. Worried about a pitchpole. Tacked instead of jibed. Extremely difficult to tack, even when tacking to starboard with the dinghy attached to starboard hull. Needed 6 knots of boat speed, port engine running at 3K RPM, and backwinding the jib. Occasional squalls to make conditions even more interesting. About 2nm east of Mackerel Bay, decided conditions were too rough. Tacked and motor sailed to weather back through Hook Passage, and on to Nara Inlet. There were two other yachts in sight that apparently continued on towards Pinnacle Pt; one of them was a cat of approx the same size as Corsair. In retrospect, should have tried sailing downwind with just the jib, or half of it, using the dinghy as a drogue, and matching boat speed with wave speed. Anchored in Nara Inlet by approx 2PM.
Hike:	At approx 3PM, hiked the track to the Aboriginal Cave and waterfall at the northeast end of Nara Inlet. Showers during the hike.
Dinner:	Sausage, onion and bell pepper pasta, salad.
Night Anchorage:	Nara Inlet, anchorage 3, in about 5M. About 5 yachts when we first anchored, but by evening, there were about 20 other yachts, including several maxis and square riggers. There was even a seaplane for a while. Plenty of evening bullets.

Weather:	SE 20-25 kts. 2 M seas. Increasing SE swell. Fewer showers than Wednesday, but still quite a few.
Sailing:	Sail to Butterfly Bay. Route: Departed Nara Inlet approx 830AM. Motored north along southwest end of Hook Island until the large confused seas subsided. Motor sailed with jib alone to about Steen’s Beach, map C14, north end of Hook Island. Motored into Butterfly Bay. Anchored in Butterfly Bay approx 1230PM.
Snorkel:	Glenn, Chris and Tom snorkeled from 230PM to 330PM. Tom quit early because of poor visibility. Tom went ashore to explore the beach and discovered our first Lace Monitor Lizard. Glenn and Chris saw about a dozen large clams, about 6 inches across and 30 inches long. Snorked south of Alcyonaria Pt. Did not snorkel the point itself. Snorkeling terminated by low water due to ebbing tide.
Dinner:	Lamb chops, rice, salad.
Night Anchorage:	Butterfly Bay, anchorage 1 north. Other yachts: One power boat in anchorage 1 south. 1 large catemaran, and 2 large monoholls shared anchorage 1 north with us. Many bullets.
Comments:	Saw our first Sea Eagles here. Observed the eagles diving, capturing and then flying off with fish. Saw several large angelfish between the hulls of Corsair. First noticed the soaked bunk.

Weather:	SE 20-25 kts. 2 M seas. Many showers. No sun.
Sailing:	Sail to Luncheon Bay. Route: Depart Butterfly Bay approx 845AM. Motored to Manta Ray Bay. Both moorings taken by large monohulls. Motored back to Luncheon Bay where moorings were available. A few other large monohulls and one dive boat in Luncheon Bay.
Snorkel:	Glenn, Chris, Laura and Tom took the dingy from Luncheon Bay to Manta Ray bay. Used a dingy mooring. Continued poor visibility. But saw 3 or 4 very large Angel Fish and Fat Albert (a large Wrasse) by hanging out around a charter boat that was throwing bread in the water. Quite impressive views of the fish. Surrounded by at least 50 fish. The Angels would come right in your face. Watched the Angels surface for food, coming 1/3 out of the water.
Sailing:	Motored to Langford Island. Route: Departed Luncheon Bay early afternoon. Used channel between Hayman Island and Black Island. Anchored in Langford anchorage 4. No other yachts at Langford, Black or Bird.
Hike:	Glenn, Ed, Laura and Tom took the dingy ashore to Langford Island. Walked about 1/5 of the way around Langford Island. Then walked the sand bar from Langford out to the light Fl G 2.5s that is about ¾ mile southeast of Langford and west of Black Island. On the way out, had to ford a couple of spots up to the knees. On the way back, the sand bar was high and dry.
Sailing:	Motored to Stonehaven. Route: Departed Langford late afternoon. Used channel between Black Island and Langford Fl G 2.5s. Anchored in Stonehaven Anchorage 2. Barely missed a reef just to the southwest of the snorkel symbol in map C13.
Dinner:	Steak, mashed potatoes, salad.
Night Anchorage:	Stonehaven Anchorage 2. Only a few other yachts. Plenty of bullets.
Comments:	Bunk soaked again.

Weather:	SE 15-20 kts today, increasing to 20-25 kts tonight. 30% sun today. Only a few showers.
Sailing:	Sail to Blue Pearl Bay. Route: Departed Stonehaven approx 830AM. Sailed between Black Island and Langford Island. West of Arkhurst Island. Anchored in southernmost end of Blue Pearl Bay, near Castle Rock. No other yachts at this end. About 6 yachts at the other end.
Snorkel:	Glenn, Chris, Ed, Laura, Tom went snorkeling from 11AM to 12PM. First time for Ed. Best visibility for snorkeling so far: 10-15 ft. Much good coral. Tom found a huge clam 48 in long and 16 in wide with jaws open; reddish brown with blue spots; long stringy stuff that moved in and out of the clam as it filtered the water. Chris saw a 48in grouper-like fish that was mottled golden-orange with charcoal markings.
Sailing:	Sailed to Macona Inlet. Route: Departed Blue Pearl Bay approx 130PM. Sailed west of Arkhurst, Langford and Bird Islands. Beat south into SE winds of 20+ kts and wind waves of 6 feet. Boat averaged 6 to 7.5 kts to weather, under sail, 8 kts with engines at 1400. On one tack, had to take the waves almost straight on. Many times would take waves over the bow. The netting tended to act as a scoop causing the water to wash up onto the salon cabin. One wave in particular washed up over the salon, around the dodger and dumped a good 10 gallons of water into the cockpit, and onto unsuspecting crew (oops). Much banging of the box beam on both tacks. On this sail, the boat earned its reputation as a "sea mower". Note that the box beam has less than 12 inches of clearance over the water. Anchored in the Macona Inlet, anchorage 1, at approx 4PM.
Dinner:	Lamb curry over rice. Grilled lamb for Laura.
Night Anchorage:	Macona Inlet, anchorage 1. Two other monohulls shared the anchorage. Many bullets. Bullets came from many different directions. Often, the bullets would catch the yacht when it was pointed in the wrong direction. Glenn made many trips to the cockpit during the night to check on the status. On one such trip after moonset, a big bullet hit Corsair aft, sending the yacht sailing off at several knots. The turbulence of the rudders set up a fine display of phosphorescence; it was quite beautiful. The display ended abruptly as Corsair reached the end of its leash and came to a quick standstill.
Comments:	Bunked wet again, despite having less rain today.

Weather:	SE 25-30 kts. Strong wind warning. 2.5 M seas. Scattered showers in the morning. Heavy rain late afternoon.
Maintenance:	Moorings support boat arrived about 8AM to look into the wet bunk situation. Determined that the leak was fresh water. Unable to diagnose the actual source of the leak. An intermediate source was an area under the salon benches. Built a dam in an attempt to keep that water from entering the bunk area. The fellow from the Moorings observed a few bullets and commented that they were gusts of about 30kts. He only felt the small bullets! Based on that estimate, the nighttime bullets were probably 40 kts.
Sailing:	Sail to Palm Bay. Route: Departed Macona Inlet approx 945AM. One long weather tack from Hook Island to Unsafe Passage. One short pair of tacks to get on the range for Unsafe Passage. Beat to weather up Molle Channel. Beat to weather up channel between mainland and Long Island. Moored in Palm Bay Resort approx 130PM. Moored with bow pointing west, and a stern bridle tied to a palm tree on the beach. Very secure. Left the stern subject to the prevailing SE wind driven rain. Since the door could not be closed from inside the salon, rigged a makeshift door from plastic bags and duct tape.
Entertainment:	Tom and Chris put together a 3D jigsaw puzzle in the afternoon.
Comment:	Most of the crew had real showers ashore before dinner.
Dinner	Ashore at the resort: Beer, lamb, veal, chicken, squash, beans, potatoes, apple pie.
Night Anchorage:	Palm Bay resort on a mooring. Few if any bullets. Luckily, the rain was driven primarily from the south, not the west.

Weather:	SE 20 kts. Occasional showers.
Crew change:	Ed and Laura left us at about 630AM to take the water taxi to Hamilton Island to catch their plane home today. Nelson and Meri joined us aboard Corsair this morning.
Sailing:	Motor sail to Mooring Base on Hamilton Island. Route: Departed Able Pt Marina approx 745AM. Motored to weather to north end of Long Island, via Molle Channel. Motor sailed to north end of Dent Island, and then between Plum Pudding and Dent Island. Motored up Dent Passage to Moorings Base. Docked at Moorings Base at approx 1115AM.
Maintenance:	While at the Moorings base: Stowed new provisions. Had to stow most of it in the sail lockers in the bows because of inadequate space in the salon area. Stowed 5 large boxes in the port bow, and the drinks and water in the starboard bow. Chris and Meri did laundry at a Laundromat on the water front – this was a good choice, since it is hard to dry hand washed clothes on the lifelines in 25+ kts of wind and more than occasional showers! Another attempt to build a water dam to prevent water from seeping into the bunk. Declined the offer to repair the leaking hatch (that’s good -- in hindsight, it was not the source of the problem anyway). During the first leg, put 31 hours on port and 44 hours on starboard engine.
Sailing:	Sailed to Gulnare Inlet. Route: Departed Moorings base approx 230 PM. Sailed north via Dent Passage. Sailed into Gulnare via the Dent-Pine back bearing. Discovered that 1M on the depth gauge is really 3M from the waterline. We were entering Gulnare at fairly low tide. The chart indicated 2-3M of water. Yet the depth gauge showed 1M. Used the dingy anchor and an oar to determine actual depth. Ignored the low water alarms from the gauge and continued anyway. The boat only draws 1M. Anchored at Gulnare anchorage 1 at approx 345PM in about 4M of water. The depth at the anchorage symbol is about 2M deeper than the surrounding areas.
Dinner:	Chicken, sautéd green beans with mushrooms onions and garlic, salad, frozen Bavarian for desert.
Night anchorage:	Gulnare Inlet. 3 other yachts shared the anchorage: 1 small monohull and two cats. Relatively few bullets. Saw a beautiful rainbow in the morning.

Weather:	SE 15-20 kts. 1.8M seas. Scattered showers.
Sailing:	Sail to Shaw Island. Route: Departed Gulnare Inlet approx 10AM. Motored east through Fitzalan Passage. Motored southeast through passage between Hamilton and Perseverance Islands. Put up sail in the lee of Perseverance Island. Motor sailed to weather in 15-20 kts SE. Best one can do is about 110 degrees even using the motor at 2000 RPM. One pair of tacks to take Pentecost Island on its north side. Beat up the channel between between Lindeman and Shaw Islands. Anchored in Neck Bay approx 230PM.
Hike:	All went ashore. Took dinghy to the beach at low tide. Too shallow for dinghy several hundred meters off the beach. Anchored the dingy. Tied the painter to rocks. Put extra rocks on top of the painter. Walked the remaining distance to the beach through deep mud. Explored the beach. Walked through the brush to the east side of the island. Explored and hiked 1/3 of the way up Shaw Peak. Upon return about an hour later, several feet of tide had come in. Glenn did the long walk back through the mud in waist deep water. Good thing we used the painter because the anchor was worthless. Motored the dingy back to the beach to pick up the rest of the crew.
Note:	More water in the bunk.
Dinner:	Quiche and salad.
Night Anchorage:	Neck Bay. Shared the anchorage with 1 other small monohull. Two very hard rains during the night. Few bullets. Many periods of no wind.

Weather:	SE 10-15 kts. 1-2 M seas. Occasional showers.
Sailing:	Sail to Thomas Island. Route: Departed Neck Bay approx 10AM. Motor sailed south along Shaw Island, leaving Brush Island and Yellow Rock to starboard. Sailed east close by the south end of Shaw Island. Left Long Rock to port. Entered Thomas Island anchorage 1, leaving the unnamed island to starboard. Anchored in Thomas Island anchorage 1 by approx 1PM. Anchored between the southernmost two of the three beaches in anchorage 1.
Swim:	Nelson swam from the boat to the southernmost beach and explored it. It was a long way – he was just a tiny dot ashore.
Hike:	Glenn, Chris and Tom took the dingy to explore the unnamed island in the middle of the anchorage. Very tricky disembarkation from the dinghy. Began a hike to the peak. Chris gave up at the first scary rock. Glenn and Tom persevered a bit longer, giving up when the prickly brush became too thick, but they made it about ½ to the top. Glenn and Tom circumnavigated the island for picture taking.
Note:	This was a very beautiful bay and beach. One of the prettiest of our trip. Even a decent sunset.
Dinner:	Steak, mashed potatoes, carrots, salad, and frozen Bavarian for dessert
Night Anchorage:	Thomas Island anchorage 1 between southernmost two beaches. No other yachts. Winds variable in speed and direction. Considerable current. No bullets. No rain.

Weather:	SE 10-15 kts. 1.5 M seas. Increasing to SE 15-20 kts and 1.8M seas. Few showers.
Note:	Wet bunk this morning.
Sailing:	Sail to Sawmill Bay. Route: Departed Thomas Island approx 830AM. Motor sailed east of Mansell Island. Winds picked up. Turned off the motor. Sailed east of Baynham and Maher Islands. Sailed north of Pentecost Island. Sailed south of Hamilton and Dent Islands. Sailed north up Whitsunday Passage. Dropped sail around Cid Island. Anchored in Sawmill Bay of Cid Harbour, anchorage 1, approx 4PM.
Commentary:	The past 2 or 3 days have had mild weather by comparison. Therefore, arranged dive trip to the reef for tomorrow. H2O divers recommended by the Moorings is overly expensive, but the Shute Harbour and Airlie Beach operators will not pick us up from Cid Harbour, nor any place that the Moorings is comfortable with us leaving the boat for the day. We all watched the turtles surfacing for quite some time. Nobody was successful at getting a picture
Dinner:	Pork chops, salad, bread and cookies. The relatively mild winds led to our one and only barbecue experience (it is hard to barbecue in 25 kts of wind, plus bullets!). Nelson only lost one of our pork chops overboard. And it did not even attract any interesting sea creatures!
Night Anchorage:	Sawmill Bay, anchorage 1. Other yachts: Two other cats and a couple monohulls in anchorage 1. At least 20 yachts in anchorage 3.

Weather:	SE 15 kts. 1.2 M seas. Isolated showers.
	Three dolphins visited us around 755AM. They stayed for about 5 minutes
Diving:	All went, except for Meri, who stayed to guard Corsair (but only because she did not want to make the trip again – she and Nelson had already taken a trip to Hardy Reef for snorkeling, before they joined us aboard Corsair.) H2O Water Sportz from Hamilton Island picked us up at 10AM aboard the power cat Reef Tripper. $120 AUS to snorkel. $170 AUS to dive. Reef Tripper did 20 kts at 2000 RPM. Its 1000 HP drank 500 liters of fuel round trip. It took 1.5 hours for the trip from Sawmill Bay to Bait Reef, one way. Moored at one of the public moorings at Bait Reef at approx 12PM. Glenn did 2 dives. Chris, Tom and Nelson went snorkeling. A pretty decent lunch was served between dives (The Moorings claimed that the price included a gourmet lunch – therefore we expected Wonderbread and Vegemite, but were pleasantly surprised.) Glenn’s first dive was mighty interesting. After a giant leap entry, Glenn’s primary regulator separated from its pressure hose. The regulator ended up at the bottom of the ocean. The free end of the hose hissed like a mighty demon, flew around like crazy, and tried to beat the daylights out of Glenn’s head. Glenn protected his head with his hands while the dive instructors tried to turn off the air. They could not do so. In the end, somebody held the free end of the hose under water, and we all just waited the several minutes necessary for the tank to exhaust itself. Luckily, this was not counted as 1 of the 2 tanks! The rest of Glenn’s 2 dives were more normal! The dives were in about 16M of water, for about 45 minutes, and explored 3 or 4 bommies (coral heads) that rose from the ocean floor to just under the surface. On both dives, Glenn returned with more air remaining than his buddy (a young dive instructor). Visibility was about 10-12 M. This is pretty good considering the recent weather and the fact that the best visibility in perfect conditions is about 15 M. Bait Reef is much better in this regard than Hardy Reef (where the Weidermann’s went snorkling before coming aboard) because Hardy Reef is subject to large tidal flows. The dive operators fed the leftover chicken (from lunch) to the fish. This caused a boil of fish to arrive, including a large wrasse at least 1M in length and beautifully colored that would allow the women to pet him as he went for the chicken. Glenn saw too many things on his dive to enumerate. There were 30-40 different kinds of fish, including large groupers, coral trout, wrasses, and sharks. There were at as many different kinds of corals, anemones, plants, etc. We went through several caves and tunnels. We got quite close to the large wrasse and Gar fish that were seen from the fish feeding at the back of the dive boat after lunch. We spent a considerable part of the return trip pouring over the fish charts trying to identify the many that we saw, not to mention trying to warm up and dry off.
Dinner:	Thai beef curry, rice, fruit salad.
Night anchorage:	Sawmill Bay, anchorage 1. Other yachts: Probably 6 to 8 yachts joined us in anchorage 1 this evening. Probably the same number in anchorage 3. Are they following us?

Weather:	SE 15 kts in the morning increasing to 20-25 kts later in the day. 1.5 M seas increasing to 2.2 M. No rain.
Hike:	All participated. The trek lasted from about 930AM to 1230PM. Took the dingy to anchorage 3 of Sawmill Bay. Spent a while wandering around in the forest trying to finding the trailhead on the opposite side of the creek from were we beached the dinghy. Hiked the track from Sawmill Beach to Dugong Beach. Quite a nice walk. At Dugong Beach saw 6-10 Lace Monitor Lizards. Spent considerable time trying to get photos. Got too close to one and discovered they can run quite fast when they want to. Did not attempt the bush track to Whitsunday Peak.
Sailing:	Sail to Nara Inlet. Route: Departed Sawmill Bay approx 130PM. Most pleasant sailing of the trip. Sailed (really – no motor) in pretty much ideal conditions. SE 15-20 kts. Only 1-2 foot waves. Corsair could do 8.0 to 8.5 kts on a reach on average, and 7.0 to 7.5 kts beating to weather. The speeds were based on GPS readings (the speed reported by the speed guage was typically 1.5 kts less, but was deemed unreliable, … really). Amazingly enough, Corsair was still sloppy and cork-like on a reach, even in these ideal conditions. Anchored in Nara Inlet anchorage 3 at approx 3:15PM.
	Spent the remainder of the afternoon reading books. The bunk was dry this morning, on both sides of the dam. No rain during the day. Only took 1 wave over the bow while sailing. Bunk wet this evening, on both sides of the dam.
Dinner:	Rump steak, mashed potatoes, sautéd beans and onions, salad, Cadbury chocolate roses for desert.
Night Anchorage:	Nara Inlet. Other yachts: About 20. Many large vessels, including some famous maxis (such as matador) and a couple of square riggers. Considerable bullets.

Weather:	SE 20-30 kts. Strong wind warning. 2-3 M seas. Isolated showers.
Hike:	Glenn, Nelson and Meri hiked the track to the Aboriginal cave and as far as the lookout over Nara Inlet for pictures.
	The bunk mattress was left out on the front netting of Corsair to air out while the others were on hike. A bullet picked it up and tried to toss it overboard – luckily Chris was able to retrieve it from its precarious position on the lifelines before it went over. She lay on top of it after that to keep it aboard.
Sailing:	Sail to Black Island. Route: Departed Nara Inlet in the AM. Sailed (no motor) from Nara to a mooring off of Langford Island. Intended to go to Black Island. But the public mooring was occupied, and the wind conditions too severe for anchoring. Ate lunch. Moved to the public mooring west of Black Island after the occupant left, at about 2PM.
Snorkel:	Glenn, Chris, Tom, Nelson and Meri snorkeled. At the island, the visibility was about 1M. At the reef north of Black Island and south of the Fl Y 2.5s light, the visibility improved to 4M. Lots of good fish and coral. But hard to see with the low visibility. Tom and Meri quit early because of poor visibility.
Sailing:	Motored to Stonehaven Anchorage 2.
Dinner:	Beef with black bean sauce, lamb curry, pork with ginger sauce.
Entertainment:	Played Keepers, an Australian dice game Tom brought, which is a cross between Yahtzee and craps. Who won?
Night Anchorage:	Stonehaven anchorage 2. Huge bullets. In one minute, a bullet would come screaming out of the north down the valley at the northeast end of the anchorage, and in another minute, a bullet would come screaming out of the south from Ian Pt. The bullets would send Corsair sailing off in all different directions. Bullets would often catch Corsair from side or aft. Anchored in 12M of water. Put out all 70M of chain. Used two dock lines to rig a bridle snubber for the anchor. The bridle helped a lot – Corsair tended to stay headed into the wind, instead of tacking off in one direction or the other. Unfortunately, with the bullets coming from 180 degrees apart, we still got hit by bullets from the side and in the rear. The bullets tried to rip the bimini off the boat. After losing some attachment points, took it down. Some bullets were so strong that they would generate 1.5 foot waves between the shore and Corsair (perhaps 10 boat lengths apart), and they would pick up water from the surface and blow it around like horizontal rainfall. These bullets had to be at least 45-50 kt gusts. When one of these bullets would come from behind, Corsair would go sailing off at several kts of boat speed and them come to a halt at the end of her (anchor) leash. The bridle helped a lot here – the halt was far less abrupt. These were the worst bullets of the trip. Glenn was up many times during the night to take new bearings to ensure that we were not dragging anchor. Finding an adequate solution for the dinghy under these conditions was challenging. We lived with the noise generated by rafting the dingy alongside Corsair. Corsair is designed for hoisting the dingy up the Targa bar. But bareboat charterers are not allowed to do so. Two other yachts shared the anchorage: one 40 ft monohull and 1 30 foot catamaran. Glenn watched the other catamaran drag anchor during the night; it almost ended up on the reef at Black Island.

Weather:	Strong wind warning. SE 25-30 kts. 2 M seas. Showers.
Sailing:	Motored to Hayman Island. Route: Departed Stonehaven approx 9AM. East of Black Island, Between Hayman Island and Black Island. Docked at Hayman Island approx 1030AM.
Hike:	All went ashore to explore Hayman Island. First wandered around the resort, then hiked track 6 to Whitsunday Lookout for fabulous views of this end of the world, and finally hiked track 2 to Blue Pearl Bay for more fine views. Encountered a heard of wild goats.
Sailing:	Motored to Nara Inlet. Route: Left Hayman Marina at about 230PM. Tricky departure. 30 kts on the aft quarter pushing Corsair onto the dock. Used a spring line to help Corsair power off the dock. Could have been more graceful. But did not scratch the gel coat. Motored dead to weather all the way back to Nara Inlet. Anchored in Refuge Bay, Nara Inlet anchorage 4 by about 430PM.
Dinner:	Chicken curry.
Night Anchorage:	Refuge Bay, Nara Inlet anchorage 4. Continued to use the bridle snubber fashioned from dock lines. Superior to other Nara anchorages. Had bullets. But they all came from the same predictable direction. With the super-snubber, Corsair kept her head to the wind and was happy. Shared the anchorage with 3 other yachts, one small monohull and two catamarans about the same size as Corsair.

Weather:	SE 20-25 kts. 2.3 M seas. Easing to 20 kts overnight. Totally overcast early morning. Sunny late morning. Overcast and rain squalls mid day. Sunny in the afternoon.
Sailing:	Sail to Whitehaven Beach. Route: Departed Refuge Bay approx 830AM. Motor sailed past Hook Observatory. Experienced first rain squall here. Motor sailed between Dumbell and Whitsunday Islands in heavy weather. Definitely 25 kts out here. Planned to stop at Cateran Bay for snorkling. Weather looked bad. And out of time if going to reach Whitehaven at appropriate time. Continued on to Whitehaven. Motor sailed between Tongue Bay and Esk. Beat a monohull that was also motor sailing. We doing about 1500 RPMs. At north end of Whitehaven Beach, northwest of Lagoon Rk, dropped sail and motored along the beach in about 3M of water. Anchored at Whitehaven Beach anchorage 1 in 4M of water northwest of the palm tree on the beach at approx 100PM.
Hike:	All but Tom walked Whitehaven Beach. The hike was from approx 315PM to 515PM. Left the dingy at the far east end of the beach in order to avoid tangling with the surf in the dinghy. Walked almost to the northermost end of Whitehaven Beach. Climbed to the top of the tall dunes at the north end of the beach to see Hill Inlet. Observed a Chinese film crew, 1 helicopter and 2 Moorings monohulls making a skin care commercial. The helicopter will regularly land on the beach, take off and buzz the Moorings yachts. There was also a Chinese mermaid being filmed on the beach. Also observed a small 3 person helicopter from the mainland land on the beach so its two passengers could walk the beach for an hour! There were numerous sand crabs that made very interesting patterns in the sand. Some of the patterns were like a pile of fat worms, others were like a pile of pearls, and others were like small raindrops laid out in various interesting two dimensional patterns.
	Saw more Sea Eagles capturing fish here. They are a large white majestic eagle. Saw another type of bird of prey as well; it was smaller, faster, looked like a hawk and is believed to have been a Wedge Tail Eagle. Saw numerous turtles.
Dinner:	Pasta.
Entertainment:	We all played "Oh Hell" after dinner.
Night Anchorage:	Whitehaven Beach, anchorage 1. Roughly 4M of water at high tide. And about 2M at low tide (plus the unreported 2M !). During low tide, there were more swells as we were closer to the surf line. During the afternoon and evening, there were about 6 other large yachts, the smallest being a Moorings 50 that anchored too near us. All of the yachts tended to lie parallel to the beach and therefore the swell. The other yachts rolled something fierce. Corsair rolled a small amount. No other yachts stayed past sunset.

Weather:	SE 15-20 kts. 1.8 M seas. Scattered showers.
Wildlife:	Considerable early morning wildlife activity: Glenn saw a turtle breach at about 730AM. The head, two flippers and 2/3 of the shell were visible! A small shark about 3 ft in length joined us. The shark would hide out under the yacht. Throwing bread in the water would cause it to race out from under the yacht, take the bread and return to its hiding placing under the hull, all in just a flash. The sea eagles and hawk joined us again this morning. Nelson started and Chris finished the job of attracting a flock of seagulls by tossing (moldy) bread into the water – Chris was almost able to feed the gulls directly from her hand.
Maintenance:	The anchor windlass would not work this morning. It was an electrical problem. Note that Corsair’s windlass is hidden inside the interior of the yacht. It has no provision for manual operation. After exhausting all of the easy debugging avenues, Glenn proceeded to dismantle more of the yacht (he had already dismantled much of the boat trying to track down the water leak responsible for the wet bunk). We discovered that Corsair has an interior swimming pool! There is a large cube shaped locker, about 2.5 ft on each side, amidships. Access to the locker was gained by removing a dozen screws from an access panel hidden behing the cushions in the salon. Once inside, we found at least 6 inches of fresh water sloshing about the bottom, and the windlass motor and up/down solenoids. The motor, solenoids and wiring were terribly corroded – perhaps they were not designed for installation in a swimming pool! Now all was finally revealed. The windlass problem clearly lay somewhere in that corroded mess. Furthermore, we now understood the bunk problem! The deck fuel filler cap was at the top of this locker. Pouring a bucket of water on it proved that the deck-filler joint leaked. Hence the water. This locker has no drain hole! It leaks into the salon seating via the access panel. It leaks under the salon seats via other holes. And from there it makes its way to the bunk. It also makes its way to the galley floor (yet another mystery solved). The Moorings boats were on location for filming the commercial again this morning. The Moorings base contacted them, and Les brought one of those two yachts over, and proceeded to rewire the corroded windlass connections. Needless to say, after emptying the swimming locker, we had no further problems with a wet bunk (too bad we discovered it on day 19!!!)
Sailing:	Sail to Gulnare Inlet. Route: Departed Whitehaven Beach approx 10:30AM. Motored to north of Teague Island. Raised sail in the lee of Teague Island. Motor sailed through Solway Passage, west of Frith Rock. Nice sail on a reach west along Whitsunday Island from Craig Pt to Fitzalan. Easy 8 kts and a bit of wave surfing. Fun. Anchored in Gulnare Inlet anchorage 1 at approx 12:30PM.
Dingy ride:	From about 130 to 330 all took a dingy ride up Gulnare Inlet. Our intent was to find the Tramway remains in the major east arm of Gulnare Inlet as shown on map C21, as well as just exploring the mangrove jungle by dinghy. We explored every minor east arm on our travel up the inlet. Never did find the tramway remains. However, we did find a small monohull still secured for cyclone Justin (that passed these parts about 4 weeks earlier). We explored these arms until there was insufficient water remaining for the dingy. We were about 2 hours after high tide (we had been delayed by the windlass problem). The extra 1.5 feet of water might have helped us make it further up these arms. There was some discussion regarding get left high and dry by the ebbing tide. But we figured a departing dinghy was faster than the ebbing tide. We had to endure a long rain shower during the ride. Only Tom was bright enough to bring his jacket. We also ran out of fuel at just about the furthest point up the inlet. We had plenty of spare fuel – the tricky part was pouring it into the dingy motor, without a funnel, with variable winds, yet without spilling too much overboard. On the way back, Glenn gave some thought to what a fine predicament we would be in if the dinghy motor stopped working. The oar setup made rowing the dinghy problematic under the best of circumstances. In our case, we would have several miles to row against 15-20 kt headwinds in a race against the ebbing tide!
Entertainment:	All but Glenn helped Tom assemble a large jigsaw puzzle featuring a reef with many cool fish.
Dinner:	Veggie tacos, fruit cake. Dinner was delayed because of the puzzle!
Night Anchorage:	Gulnare Inlet anchorage 1. No bullets, at least by recent standards. Other yachts: One small monohull, two catamarans. One of the cats was "Endorphin", which was one of only two "proper" catamarans seen on the entire trip. Endorphin was 10.5 M (a bit shorter than Corsair). She had proper bridgedeck clearance (probably 2.5 ft, as compared to Corsair’s 9 inches), dagger boards, retractable rudders, a pair of I/O engines mounted amidships on the inner side of the hulls such that the props were only in the water while sailing, dinghy hung from the targa bar, retractable bowsprit for flying shutes, proper flat deck, low profile salon cabin, and a draft of just 850 millimeters. Looked like a Chris White yacht (but was not). Her owner claimed that getting her to 15 kts on a reach in the same conditions that we were doing 8 kts was like "falling off a log backwards". To be fair: (a) Our Corsair had been intentionally "detuned" for charter duty, was without a bow sprit, drug a 6 passenger hard dingy with deep keel that would surely be rated as a small drogue!), and was overloaded. And (b) racers claim to be able to push properly rigged versions to 15 kts in 20 kts of true wind, on a reach. With our racer Nelson aboard, I’m sure we did the best we had with what we had to work with. [The other "proper" cat seen on this trip was "On The Edge", seen on the water and close up during our entry to Able Pt Marina. On The Edge is a 50-60 foot ocean racing cat that does day charters out of Able Pt Marina.]

6 Hamilton Island	7 Chalkie's Beach SE 10-15 kts Fine	8 Tongue Bay SE 10-20 Occ. Showers	9 Nara Inlet SE 20-30 Hvy Showers	10 Butterfly Bay SE 20-25 Showers	11 Stonehaven SE 20-25 Showers	12 Macona Inlet SE 15-25 Few Showers
13 Palm Bay SE 25-30 Showers	14 Palm Bay SE 20-25 Showers	15 Airlie Beach SE 20 Occ. Showers	16 Gunare Inlet SE 20 Occ. Showers	17 Neck Bay SE 15-20 Iso. Showers	18 Thomas Island SE 10-15 Occ. Showers	19 Sawmill Bay SE 10-15 Few Showers
20 Sawmill Bay SE 15 Iso. Showers	21 Nara Inlet SE 15-25 Fine	22 Stonehaven SE 20-30 Iso. Showers	23 Nara Inlet SE 20-30 Showers	24 Whitehaven SE 20-25 Clearing	25 Gulnare SE 15-20 Iso. Showers	26 Coogie Beach SE 15 Iso. Showers

Weather:	Fine: SE 10-15 kts, Estimated
Arrival:	We arrived on time this afternoon at Hamilton Island Resort after a marathon flight from San Francisco, via Sydney.
Sights:	After freshening up, Chris, Glenn, and Glenn found their way to the delightful Fauna Park on the northwest point of the island.
Dinner:	Ed and Laura didn't make it to the Fauna Park, but joined the rest of the crew for dinner at a pizzeria on the wharf.

Weather:	SE 20-25 kts. Fewer showers than yesterday.
Sailing:	None. Our only full day in port.
Hike:	Glenn, Chris, Ed, Laura and Tom left on a track about 915AM. Walked from Palm Bay via Panoramic Crest Circuit to Sandy Bar, and back. Saw 2 turkey mounds about 20 ft in diameter and 10 ft in height. Saw several green tree ant nests made from leaves about 15 up in the trees. Saw many spiders, several huge. Saw lace monitor lizard on return. Heard many good bird calls. Saw many butterflies. Returned to Palm Bay. Later, Glenn, Chris, Ed and Tom walked past the resort at Happy Bay. Glenn, Chris and Ed returned to Palm Bay, but Tom continued further on his own around Round Hill for a look at Whitsunday Passage.
	Unable to make arrangements for Laura to dive the reef because some operators were not going because of bad weather, and the other operators were leaving Shute Harbor or Airlie Beach at 8AM, and we could not get there in time.
Dinner	ashore at the resort: Beer,steak in mustard sauce, pork and apricot curry, veggies, ice cream with berry sauce.
Night Anchorage:	Another relatively peaceful night at Palm Bay resort on a mooring.

Weather:	SE 20 kts. Only occasional showers.
Sailing:	Motored to Airlie Beach. Route: Departed Palm Bay approx 715AM. Motored north through Molle Channel. Motored north of Pioneer Rocks. Sun and very light winds from the southwest. Docked in Able Pt Marina approx 915AM.
Rendezvous:	Met up with Nelson and Meri at the Coral Sea Resort at about 10AM.
Hike:	All 7 crew participated in a guided walking tour of the rain forest in the Conway National Forest from 10AM till 330PM. Saw many interesting plants, including numerous dangerous species (including some that can kill you in a few minutes – and not just mushrooms!) Had lunch en route.
Dinner:	ashore with all 7 crew at La Brasserie in Airlie Beach.
Night anchorage:	On the dock at Able Pt Marina.
Note:	The 5 crew onboard enjoyed real showers at the marina either Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning!

Weather:	Estimated SE 15.
Sailing:	Sail to Moorings Base. Route: Departed Gulnare Inlet approx 9AM. Sailed back the Dent-Pine range. Tacked up Dent Passage until outside the Hamilton Island Marina Docked at Moorings Base by approx 1030AM.
	Glenn spent his last two hours getting debriefed, talking to the owners of Endorphin (i.e. shopping for a boat), and eating lunch at Turtles again. The rest of the crew spent their last two hours shopping, shopping, shopping and eating lunch, too.
	Off to the airport at about 1230. About 15 seconds after our last bag was placed under the cover of a roof, a rain downpour let loose! Just a friendly reminder from Mother Nature, I guess.