Month: October 2011

Within a hour of being at the dock, with the latest weather forecast in one hand and a Gin and Tonic in the other( Storm Recovery) it became very apparent that we would be spending some quality time in Bundy. The forecast predicted various levels of doom and gloom for at least a week.

So we did what cruisers do in such situations. We took our cleverly devised, foolproof plan to have the boat back in Sydney at a certain time and ripped it up all over the cockpit floor, poured ourselves another G & T and launched into an extended period of eating, drinking and socializing. With 8 other boats from Alfreds tied up in the Marina in a similar situation, The Port to Port Rally in full swing, A friendly little Yacht Club, small town charm(and prices!) and a bunch of other cruisers we had met up and down the coast it was an easy enough accomplishment.

Our time passed relatively easily, a trip to the local markets, a BBQ with the Port 2 Port sailors, The Coral Coast Rendezvous dinner, 2 for 1 Steaks at the Lighthouse Tavern with the boys off Cloud Nine…..meeting sailors from all over the world, some who were circumnavigating others who were on their second/third circumnavigation…..sundowners every night with the Alfreds clan……..and talking all the time to everyone about the weather!

There’s some “weather” coming was the summary of the forecast for the next few days.

So the decision was made to continue to ge as far south as we could be before the big SE winds arrived. The weather forecast also read, as it had done for a few days, isolated thunderstorms, but we had barely seen any storm activity so we made for Burnett Heads (Bundaberg) the next day.

As we left Pancake Creek in the morning you guessed it. A storm smashed us. There’s something about being on the water, in a small boat, in a big sea, with wild winds and a storm coming that makes you realise how little control we have of the world, on land it is easier to get caught up in daily life and feel in control; on a boat: waves, wind, and weather there is little we can do about it.

So what do you do in a situation like this? We’d made preparations and decisions months ago. Plan A: don’t go out in a storm or if we knew one was coming. Plan B: if we were out there anyway and the storm was coming we needed a solid boat with the correct sails and safety equipment, amongst a large list of other items… check. Then more immediate preparations are made at the dock- life jackets and safety harnesses on, all items secured, hatches closed, the boat ship shape, make sure we had the passaged planned out with all contingencies and then all that can be done from there is to keep a weather eye. So as the storm approached we decreased the sail area that we had up and waited…

So storms are a little scary in a small boat,  but the preparations had been made and all that we could do was trust the vessel that we were in and sit through it and hope that our mast didn’t become a lightening rod, panic only makes it difficult to make good, clear decisions.

So we got a little wet and it was a lit windy… oh well, no harm done. We battled on through the larger waves and swell, due to the storm, to Bundaberg; glad that another storm that was building had somehow gone completely over us and was all around us at one stage, but that didn’t effect us at all.

Port Bundaberg Marina was a welcome sight, our marina berth was a little interesting, however, the depth sounder showing 1.8m of water and the tide was still ebbing for a little longer… that’s only 10cm of water under the keel! We arrived just in time for Sundowners with the Alfreds boats that were already there to wait out the weather… how long we would be there, who would know?

“Ummm Hi, excuse me I was just wondering if I could get some change for the laundry????”

“The blinds are down that means we are closed” snapped the Marina office lady barely looking over the the top of the desk as I entered the office.
“but umm I thought you guys are open to 5, and umm it’s four fourty…..”
“Well I’ve counted the money so I can’t help you, besides the laundry isn’t our problem” she barked back in front of the bright “Welcome to the Whitsundays” sign with the look of someone who was well tired of boats, boaties and their endless thirst for 1$ coins.

We had arrived in a tourist town. Gone was the small town Queensland friendliness that had shaped our last month and instead there were backpackers, charter boats, more backpackers and the long suffering locals of Airlie who after 2 cyclones, the GFC and now at the end of the current season had a right to perhaps feel a little miffed.

After a 30 hour delay due to the late arrival of our guests due to bad weather and airlines we took them off on our whirlwind Whitsunday’s tour.

First stop was Whitehaven Beach with it’s world famous white sand, which is on the eastern side of Whitsunday Island. The weather was lovely, very little wind and swell and a great afternoon was had by all swimming and lounging on the beach followed by an italian style lunch (ciabatta, pesto, bocconcini, prosciutto, and tomatoes) aboard Iolanthe.

We then tucked ourselves into Tongue bay, a little to the north for the night, to what was turning out to be a lovely peaceful anchorage, until a large boat full of party goers turned up and “entertained” the anchorage until the wee hours.

Day Two, we sailed north around the top end of hook island to try some snorkeling in Butterfly Bay, however it wasn’t meant to be, as all the moorings were taken and a charter boat had anchored itself in fairly deep water in the middle of any potential anchoring area and after 3 anchoring attempts with no success, the anchoring committee was revolting and so we continued around Hook Island to Stonehaven where we snavelled the last mooring buoy there and Warwick, Alix and Craig did some snorkelling, which wasn’t too bad, although no brilliant coral or fish were seen.

Early the next morning we moved the boat across to Langford Island to the sand spit where there was another attempt at some snorkelling. We then sailed back across the Whitsunday Passage to Abel Point marina in time for airport transfers the next morning.

With the guests safely on the bus to the airport we are starting to think it might be time to move on from The Whitsundays. There is a lot to love about the place, and we do, but having now discovered so many other beautiful places we are again yearning for a quiet anchorage.

We commenced our assault on the Whitsundays at a more sedate pace, a lovely sail for most of the way from Mackay to Shaw Island, where we met a friendly local, a solitary bat fish that is rather curious, obviously other boaties must feed him, but given we had none of his proper diet on board of crustaceans, we just admired him.

We spent two nights at the anchorage at Shaw Island, we attempted to go ashore and have a swim, but with the tide out the ankle deep water went out quite a way.

The beach was uncomfortable as there was no breeze in there to cool the scorching sun, so we went back to the boat and read books, took a nap, and then moved onto the usual sun downers of cheese and biscuits..

We then moved onto Cid Harbour, a familiar but favourite spot, it is a good all weather anchorage and because of that becomes more like a floating caravan park every evening, which ruins it a little, but none the less it has gorgeous aqua blue water and lovely sunsets across the Whitsunday passage.