Woke up at 6.30am bright & sparkly this morning. Left Craig & Boris sleeping and went for a shower. Got back, they're still sleeping, so got the kettle on and made coffee. About then Craig woke up because Boris was ready to start his day. We had spaghetti on toast for breakfast, then packed up and we were on the road to Airlie Beach at 9.40am.
We have a big drive again today - 580klm to Airlie Beach to meet Simo for our Whitsunday portion of the holiday. We stopped in Tully, because boy had to see the Big Gumboot and grabbed lunch while we were there.
 |
| The Golden Gumboot - Tully |
 |
| The Golden Gumboot - Tully |
 |
| Tully |
On the road again, next stop was at Home Hill for a comfort stop for all of us, then continued on to Airlie. We arrived at Abel Point Marina about 5pm, Simo & Mitch (the dog) were waiting for us in the car park. Boris spotted them and went nuts in the car, trying to jump out the window to get to them - Mitch & Boris are what you would call doggy best friends, they have known each other since Boris was 8 weeks old.This is where we leave the truck for 6 nights in the car park, to go cruising on our friend Simo's 50ft motor cruiser around the Whitsundays. Unloaded our clothes and some drinks and headed for Simo's boat for the night on the marina. We eventually had a slap together dinner because Simo forgot he said he would make dinner! I went to bed after dinner, while the other 2 stayed up talking.
Saturday 17/9/11 - Woke up again at 6.30am, Simo so nicely gave us his double berth and we awoke to find Craig & myself in the bed, along with Boris & Mitch - it was very crowded to say the least. We had coffee and got ready to go do grocery shopping for our charter with Simo. At the shops in Cannonvale at 8.10am and finished by 9am. Got back to the marina, unloaded the shopping & got some other stuff out of the camper and transferred it all to the boat. They left me on board to pack everything away, while they went off to the bottle shop to buy beer and wine for the week. They were back by 11am (took longer then the groceries!), we loaded the 8 cartons of beer on board, parked the car for the week in the marinas car park ($8/day)
 |
| Heading out of Airlie Beach |
12pm and we were heading out of Airlie Beach east toward Hook Island to anchor for the night in Stonehaven Bay. Craig served lunch while we were en route, fresh bbq chicken and mayo sandwiches (I think he was concerned about me getting seasick, because we were rolling a bit). We arrived at Stonehaven at 1.30pm, it's a beautiful bay, surrounded by high cliffs that are very interesting to look at. Simo & Craig took the dogs across to the little beach about 3.30pm for a run, play in the sand and swim. When they got back, Craig told me to grab the bathascope and jump in the tender with him. He took me over to the reef, so I could look at the coral through the scope - it was great. 4.45pm now and we have a couple of sea eagles circling the boat.
 |
| Stonehaven Bay |
 |
| Mitch & Boris |
 |
| Snorkeling at Stonehaven |
Simo & Craig tried fishing for the arvo, Craig caught an array of fish & coral but nothing worth keeping.
 |
| Craig's catch @ Stonehaven |
 |
| Another catch at Stonehaven |
Craig spent the afternoon telling Simo, he wasn't too sure about this Charter Skipper we have - no food or booze on board - we had to go buy it, the paying customers had to do maintenance on the boat, you have to bait your own hook.......
 |
| Stonehaven Bay |
 |
| Stonehaven Bay |
 |
| Boys coming back from the beach |
Sunday 18/9/11 - We were woken up at 6.30am by Boris, he needed to go toilet urgently - his eyes were as big as saucepans (Boris wouldn't go toilet on the deck of the boat, he would hold on until taken to the beach). I was going to go with Craig & the dogs to the beach, but it needed to happen to quickly, so I made coffee instead. Apparently Boris couldn't even wait for the tender to be parked on the beach, he jumped out and was peeing before he got out of the water Mitch waited for the tender to be parked, then jumped out did his pee and Craig said Boris was still peeing in the water! There appeared to be some shenanigans when Craig was loading the dogs back into the tender and Boris seemed to be the trouble maker - apparently one would get in, then the other would jump out, repeat this a few times and Craig lost his patience with Boris.
Today we went around to Blue Pearl Bay to look at the coral - very pretty, then went onto Butterfly Bay to anchor for the night.
 |
| Cruising the Whitsundays |
Monday 19/9/11 - Started heading out to Bait Reef & Hook Reef this morning, but turned around as the sea was too angry & sloppy. We headed around to Maccona Bay for our overnight anchorage. Craig's catching fish here!!
 |
| Catching Fish at Whitsunday Island |
 |
| Maccona Bay |
 |
| Maccona Bay |
 |
| Mitch & Boris |
Tuesday 20/9/11 - Went to Hamilton Island today, so Simo could pickup his daughter Zara from the airport, then headed back to Cid Harbour to anchor for the night. Simo's friend Bill & his wife Jane arrived on their boat and came over for afternoon drinks/nibbles, they ended up staying for dinner. Craig caught more fish this afternoon!!
 |
| Dinner |
Wednesday 21/9/11 - Whitehaven Beach today - very stunning. Went ashore with the dogs, was going to have a paddle but the water is too cold. We then headed across to Chalkes Bay for the night, but it was a bit rolly, so we ducked around to the next inlet instead. Boat rocked & rolled all night.
 |
| Boat on the rocks near Whithaven |
 |
| Whithaven Beach |
 |
| Dinner Again! |
 |
| Whithaven Beach - Simo's boat & Mitch |
 |
| Sunset near Whithaven Beach |
Thursday 22/9/11 - Returned to Abel Point Marina today. Craig took Simo to Cannonvale to do his grocery shopping to re-stock his boat. We stayed onboard tonight in the marina.
We saw a few whales & lots of turtles during our time in the Whitsundays. Oh, and one night when the boys shined the spot light on the water, a very large funny looking fish came to the surface but I don't know what it was :(
No comments:
Post a Comment