SUNDAY – ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END

Sadly this will be the last Whitsunday blog.

Having spent a very pleasant day at Langford Island, just south of Hayman, a popular snorkelling spot, we are now back at Airlie preparing for departure tomorrow.

 

While under way we were buzzed by a very inconsiderate Riviera 65 owner who tried to knock all of the ornaments off the shelves. Fortunately he didn't succeed.

 

 

Thank you Steve and Annabel for a fabulous week. Next time, can you please remind me to eat and drink a little less.

SATURDAY – BACK TO THE IDYLLIC COUNTRY

Today we were joined by Steve and Annabel's daughters and returned to the islands.

We had lunch at Stonehaven and are settled right up the end of Nara for the night in idyllic conditions.

Surprisingly we only had one distant whale encounter today. They didn't want to play.

We were joined at Stonehaven by the Murdoch yacht but unfortunately didn't get an invitation on board.

 

We will be staying out again tomorrow night and heading in early on Monday for the flight home.



 

FRIDAY – A VERY SOCIABLE DAY

 

 

Today was very quiet in that we meandered a little way from the marina and settled into a long leisurely lunch with friends of Steve and Annabel.

We got back in sufficient time to go to the Marina Party tonight.

In the absence of anything photogenic happening today, the photos reflect the last few days.

 

The photo below is of the hundreds of butterflies on South Molle Island. The little patches of blue are the butterflies.

THURSDAY – A VERY LAZY DAY

Today was a rest day in that Steve had some work done on the boat so there was nothing to do other than to go for some long local walks and check out the marina action. The ketch above isn't going anywhere.

The most notable marina action was Lachlan Murdoch's boat Sarissa which fuelled up and headed out. Check out the size of the fuel intake hose below.

It was so shiny that its hull reflected the marina jetty.

 

 

The other notable thing about today is that, for perhaps the first time in my life, I have enjoyed/endured restaurant meals for breakfast lunch and dinner Hopefully we will return to a more normal life tomorrow.

WEDNESDAY – ANOTHER TOUGH DAY

We woke to an idyllic day again today although the wind started to get up a little as the day went on.

 

The crew had another busy day.

 

 

 

 

We spent most of the day at South Molle where the former resort is falling into disrepair but part of which is still being used for overnight backpacker accommodation. We went for a very pleasant walk on one of the National Park tracks where we saw hundreds of blue butterflys. The island deserves more time.

 

 

 

Trish, is this the pool beside which I took your photo on our honeymoon just 42 years ago?

 

 

We had a very exciting encounter with some whales this morning. I don't know whether whales have the capacity to express displeasure by making loud grunting sounds but that was the distinct impression one of the whales gave us. The interesting thing was that we were not in its path. It deviated from the course it was following to deliver a message. The photos below give some indication of its behaviour.

 

 

 

 

Tonight we are back in Airlie Beach to enable some work to be done on the boat tomorrow. Perfect timing as very strong winds are forecast for tomorrow. We expect to head out again on Friday as the winds abate.

TUESDAY - A TOUGH DAY AT SEA

 

It's a tough life but somebody has to do it As you can see from the photo above the crew worked really hard today.

The weather was perfect today, almost too perfect for the yachties but they were able to start their races, albeit a little late We were able to join them on the start line and became just another obstacle they had to avoid.

 

 

We had a number of whale encounters today, one of them very close with mother and calf. One of the whales did a spectacular breach but unfortunately, the photographer was distracted and missed it. The photo below is of mother and calf who swam right alongside us.

 

 

Lunch was a very casual affair followed by the obligatory afternoon snooze We are spending tonight in Cid Harbour Who knows what tomorrow will bring but the weather forecast is favourable?

THE WHITSUNDAY BLOG IS BACK

The Whitsunday blog is back after an absence of two years. Trevor and I had an uneventful trip to Prosperine where Annabelle collected us. We had a very leisurely day at Airlie Beach including an afternoon snooze. The shopping has been done and we are ready to head out to chase some yachts tomorrow.

The theme of this trip seems to be phones. I suspect that the phones keep ringing will provide some entertaining material for the blog. We'll see.