AIRLIE BEACH

After cruising around the Whitsunday Islands and celebrating my birthday at Hamilton Island our plan was to spend a week at Airlie Beach at the Coral Seas Beach Marina.

 

The marina has great facilities including an “Ocean Club” which is a floating club house with showers, laundry and a BBQ area on the top deck.

 

 

 

 

 

It is a nice walk into town via a boardwalk and we got plenty of exercise to offset eating out every night.

 

 

• Night 1 (Sunday) – Shaggers pre-dinner drinks and snacks at the Hogs Breach Café followed by Pizza at “The Pub” which is the Airlie Beach Hotel
• Night 2 (Monday) – Italian food at Sorrento Restaurant at the Marina
• Night 3 (Tuesday) – BBQ at the Ocean Club
• Night 4 (Wednesday) – Dinner at the Pub
• Night 5 (Thursday) – BBQ dinner at the Ocean Club as part of the cruise rendezvous
• Night 6 (Friday) – Seafood dinner at Fish Devine and Rum Bar (you can work out what we had for pre-dinner drinks)

Proof of my exercise

 

HOOK ISLAND TO AIRLIE BEACH

Our plan was to head from Hook Island across to Airlie Beach. As you cannot "check in" to the marina until 12 o'clock we took the opportunity to sail from Marcona Inlet to Nara Inlet before sailing across to Airlie.

A southerly wind at 15-20 knots meant we had a great sail across to the mainland, doing around 7 knots with only the head sail out.

We are staying at the Coral Seas Marina (until this month it was the Airlie Beach Marina). They have spent a lot of money creating a really good marina with good facilities and lots of space. The only problem then is how far you have to walk.

Safely tied up at the marina in a 20m berth (which means heaps of spare space)

MARCONA INLET

Originally our plan was to leave Marcona and explore Nara Inlet which is a long bay almost like a fjord with an aboriginal cave but the windy conditions convinced us to stay in our cosy spot in Marcona. When the wind was not blowing conditions were almost perfect. Almost warm enough for T-shirts.

Hard to see but in the afternoon we were entertained by 4 dolphins swimming lazily around the bay and jumping out of the water. Of course they never jump when you have the camera ready.

Also caught up with some emails and work, cannot complain about this "home office"

HAMILTON ISLAND TO MARCONA INLET

Unfortunately our stay at Hamilton Island came to an end so we sailed up past Whitsunday Island to Macona Inlet on Hook Island. This was the same piece of water wjhere we had experienced the nasty conditions a few days ago, however with a following wind we had a pleasant sail all the way from Hamilton Island past Whitsunday Island to Marcona Inlet on Hook Island. Perfect sunnay day to say farewell to Hamilton Island. I am sure we will be back.

In Marcona Inlet we were able to tuck in close to the reef which made for a nice sheltered anchorage

 

 

 

HAMILTON ISLAND

After a day of lazing around on the island we decided to climb to the top of Passage Peak which is the highest point on the island and affords magnificent views across the Whitsundays. Note quite a high as Whitsunday Peak but much steeper as you can see by the health app.

 

 

 

We had been lucky with very few issues with the boat. Unfortunately the swimn platform on Galadriel decided to stop working (luckily in the down position so we could still get on and off the boat. After much tracing around with the multi-meter to eliminate the obvious things (blown fuse or tripped circuit breaker) and a call to the friendly marine electrician on Hamilton Island the issue was isolated to a faulty proximity switch on the transom which was bypassed so we could depart Hamilton Island in the morning. This took up most of the afternoon.

Our friend David Taylor from Kailani co-incindently had a birthday the day after mine so a second birthday drinks and dinner was celebrated. We had enjoyed the fusion Thai food at coca chu that we went back for a second night in a row. I have included the menu to make your mouth water.

We found another spot to have sundowners with a different sunset.

The red dots are Wednesday night dinner selection and the red dots are Thursday night selection.

 

 

 

GULNARE INLET TO HAMILTON ISLAND

Today was not only my birthday but an opportunity to cross off my bucket list one of the things I had long dreamt of doing - sailing into Hamilton Island.

The day started with re-tracing our steps out of Gulnare Inlet with Sonia intently following the track we had made on the way in.

From there it was just a short trip across Fitzalan Passage to Hamilton Island. Luckily the conditions were much better than the previous day.

Entering Hamilton Island marina is very civilised, you radio ahead and as long as you have sent them copies of your boat registration and insurance certificate they will come out and escort you in to your berth. They will not tell you your berth number in advance to prevent you from sneeking in. Luckily we were the first boat in after the allowed 11am arrival time (actually we were the second boat but the first one had not sent his insurance certificate so he had to wait.

The best way to describe Hamilton Island is a marine version of Disney Land. There are very few cars on the island and most people drive around in gold buggies. We of course hired one so we could explore the island. Just like in Disney Land there is a main street with shops, restaurants and bars.

On the way in you go past the iconic yacht club.

Birthday lunch was a platter at the pub

And pre-dinner drinks were at the Yacht Club with another sunset.

CID HARBOUR TO GULNARE INLET

Today we decided to move from Cid Harbour around to Gulnare Inlet which is on the south side of Whitsunday Island. With wind against tide we ended up heading south into a fresh 15-20 knot SE wind with a 1-2 metre swell. Certainly not a pleasant trip. Luckily it is only about 5 nautical miles so it was quickly over.

 We anchored in Gulnare Inlet from where you can see our next destination of Hamilton Island

The entrance to Gulnare is quite shallow with the entrance being less than 1 metre deep at low tide (and our keel is 2.1m deep). Fortunately a) the high tide was at 10am, just the right time to go in and b) we had our friends in a catamaran to act as a pilot boat on the way in.

 Apart from our two boats the only other boats in the bay were three motor boats that were "unattended" so we had it all to ourselves.

Once inside it is a nice sheltered anchorage. It is only just over other side of the ridge on Whitsunday Island but such a contrast from Whitehaven Beach.

Thought I would include a picture from the chartplotter so show how much the boat swings around whilst at anchor with a combination of the winds and tides