Whitsunday Islands
10 June 2015 | On the way to Cairns, Australia
Kim
We have been hanging out in the iconic Whitsunday Islands. The islands are beautiful and it definitely feels good to be out cruising again, except for the rain It is rainy season here and it seems we are having more rain than sun. Not a horrible thing as far as catching up on some of Zack's school work, which was really suffering due to the great surf on Manly Beach. We sort of need the rain, and not for the plants! The islands are beautiful and lush, white sand beaches with pine trees. Sort of a St. John meets Colorado feel about the islands. We are here with Allure and they had friends visiting for a week, so no hiding from the rain. Day one was pulling kids around the bay on the scurf board and knee board I was about to jump in and drive but it started to rain. I wimped out and sent Zack to have Jason drive. The whole thing was his idea anyway, and the kids were not about to stop for a bit of rain. Jason was crying for some scones, so I baked him a batch to make up for my lack of fortitude in the rain. He seemed ok with the deal. Day 2 was still a bit rainy but a big hike was planned. I thought we were hiking to a beach and packed all the beach stuff. When the hike ended at the top of a long steep hike up the mountain I was feeling pretty stupid for having carried all the extra gear. We had a nice picnic and headed back down. Zack is loving the whole kid pack thing and has been very happy to be back out on the seas. We had read about an archeological site at Nara Inlet on Hook Island. Zack is really into archeology so we headed over to see what we could see. We didn't see much. It was a short easy hike to the site, but it was a bit underwhelming. We had expected an actual dig site or at least some artifacts. There were some great hardwood benches and walkways. Lots of great signs to read about the history of the island and even a box with buttons to press to hear the stories of some of the aboriginal peoples that had ties to the island. There was a cave, fenced off, that had been inhabited by aborigional people, but that was the extent of it. A pleasant enough afternoon, but not the archeology find we were hoping for.
From here we headed into Airlie Beach for some provisions. Airlie Beach is a big tourist town and lots of fun. There is a large Woolworths that is easy enough to get to. It is a long walk from the marina which does have a public dinghy dock and trash cans. There is also a public dinghy dock by the cruising club. We first pulled up and wondered why all the dinghies had there motors raised up. We went in and got a load of groceries and headed out to the boat to put them away and get some lunch We went back in for another grocery run but the dinghy dock was dry. The tide had gone out and left the dock out of the water and all the dinghies on dry land. No more groceries for us. While we were at the boats Zack, Luke and George had gone to the public pool for a swim. We picked up Jason and Maria and headed in to join the boys We went into the marina and it is a short walk to the pool from there. The boys had been there for about an hour on their own and when we walked up George came over to tell us that the life guard wanted to talk with us. David went to see the life guard as he had already met him earlier in the morning when he was riding his bike through the pool area. It would turn out to be his second lecture of the day. The life guard had asked the boys how old they were. Zack, definitely my kid, stood straight up and said he was 10, Luke was 12 and George was 14. (they are 9, 10 and 12.) Smart kid, he can read a sign. But, not good enough. In Australia one needs to be 18 to be alone at a public pool. This is the first we have seen that here, but it is a bit of a nanny state, with lots of rules. David returned from his chat with the lifeguard and turns out that if Zack hadn't been so quick on his feet we would have been picking him up at the police station. It is considered child abandonment to leave a child of 9 alone in a public place in Australia, or so we have been told. OOPS. A bit silly seeing as how this kid has sailed half way around the world and he was with 2 older boys. Lesson learned. There are public barbecues at the Airlie Beach pool and so we decided to have a barbecue with Allure and the crew of Chanty. It was all going great and then we got yet a next speaking to, no beers allowed by the pool. We did see people on the beach drinking beer, but I guess we were just too close to the pool. We were the only people there but I guess rules are rules. Time to leave Airlie Beach while we are still free to do so.
We headed over to Butterfly Bay for a few days. There are lots of mooring balls which are free but have a 2 hour use limit during the day. You are allowed to stay the night if you pick the mooring up after 5 pm I believe. We stayed on one 2 days and it was not an issue, but there were plenty of open moorings. We snorkeled at Manta Ray Bay a couple of times in hopes of seeing the manta rays. We didn't see any mantas but we did see some very large Giant Trevally and some huge Maori Wrasse. It is obvious that they are fed regularly because they swim straight up to you looking for food. It was our first snorkel in Australia and it was good to be in the water and see lots of fish and some coral. The area is a preserve so it was in fairly good shape.
We have spent a few days working our way up to Magnetic Island We have been sailing all day and pulling into anchorages at night. There has been lots of wind and overcast skies. We have had sun downers and even an Indian pot luck night on Flourgirl. We are making our way up to Cairns to meet up with the rally into Indonesia, and we are starting to feel like cruisers once again.