"... two of us sending postcards, writing letters, on our own ...."

Well, the words of this song just about satisfy the end result. We arrived at Brampton Island last week and spent a few days staying close to various islands while the wind continued to blow at +20 knots from the SE and was forecasted to remain for at least the next week. Finding a suitable location isn't really that hard, there's a few to choose from and we settled on the lee-side of Shaw Island.

Situated SE of Lindeman Island, or from where we were, opposite, Shaw Island is quite long and has a number of anchorages along its northern side that we explored. We ventured up to Neck Bay, a rather ominous name with a very shallow footprint that looked great on paper but in reality was copping the wind without much protection. We decided to go back to the earlier area we passed in our 'exploration' and set the anchor in about 8 metres of water bordering on a deeper section that appeared to have more protection than Neck Bay. There were only 3 other boats within cooee of us and we set the anchor, knowing full well the tide was going to drop to 0.4 of a metre then rise again to almost 5.0 metres overnight. A little unsettling when the wind is whistling around the boat all through the night.

I left the chart plotter on to track any movement under anchor and looking at it on the third day it portrayed a perfect semi-circular trail of swinging under an anchor (refer gallery photo). Despite the continual breeze and our change in direction from currents, our anchor held fast for the three days and we left mid morning hauling up the grey mud she had buried herself into.

We were headed to the marina a few days earlier than planned, but overall we were late (our original arrival date of June 1 was changed many weeks ago), as we had taken more time on the journey north. I had also arranged for the CAT engineers from Hastings Deering to schedule an engine service on the C12s as the local engineers at the marina were still suffering from the impact of COVID on their staff and unfortunately did not have the resources. Bit of a disappointment really and something that definitely needs to improve in a world class destination such as Coral Sea Marina. That aside Coral Sea Marina is a fantastic destination, large, well established and very friendly and efficient staff. They called after our first night to see how we settled in - now that's great customer service and kudos to them! There are a lot of boats here ranging from 30 footers to superyachts, some of them more like small ocean liners than personal boats !

As we came in to our berth at the Marina, there was a small yacht next to us who had their tender in our way .. so the natural thought bubble came out .. "excuse me, but what the bloody hell is that piece of misery doing in our berth? ... was refined and delivered as a friendly... "excuse me folks ...would you mind moving that dinghy .. we are coming in .." .. it was met with a response of "..no problem, we will help with your lines...". Well that makes up for it, thanks. Welcome.

We tied up and settled in for the afternoon. They were working on their yacht replacing some rigging and a bit of general maintenance etc. there was some friendly banter from both of us as they hauled the skipper up the mast on what looked like a very dubiously constructed bosuns chair ! With no accidents seen or heard, they were having a drink about sunset and we started chatting from boat to boat. They asked had we called into Percy Island and visited the A-frame shrine ? After we exchanged each others' thoughts regarding Percy Island, they advised that they were the new caretakers of Percy Island and would be moving on to the island within the next month. Well, there you go. Another boating story you just didn't expect. You would never have thought that talking to them they would be the caretakers of such an iconic, a legendary location ... a boating Mecca of sorts. The mind takes an interesting tack as you consider what it would be like to do that. Living on an island completely 'off the grid'. I did ask what happens if you run out of milk or sugar ... their response, with a wry grin ... "..chopper it in ..". Fair enough. They were no strangers to the island living, they had been 'living' on the island for the past 6 months preparing gardens and improving living facilities in the 'homestead on the hill' for their pending stay.

I shared our expected timeline of the return journey and they insisted we stop by on the way back and enjoy Percy hospitality with a specially prepared goat stew for me and the crew as is the age-old seafaring tradition on Percy Island. Now that will be something to look forward to ! Even if we were a little behind our planned schedule, it didn't really matter, they were resident caretakers for the next 7 years! For now we exchanged contact details with Kerrie (the main driver of the operation - it was 'her' boat), Mal, the guy they hoisted up the mast (Kerrie's husband) and Garry (Kerrie's 80 yo seafaring Kiwi father and shipwright). They encouraged us repeatedly to contact them once we were on our way.

The next morning their yacht was ready to leave and Kerrie's father was returning to NZ via Brisbane. We said our goodbyes and they motored off in the calm turquoise blue water of Airlie Beach. The stopover on our journey home will be a highlight to remember. Not sure if the goat will see it that way however.

Sleeping in the marina was a pleasant change to the feeling of the boat swerving under the persistent wind on anchor. As I have said before, the Captain subconsciously remains alert all night, eyes flashing open from any noise other than what he perceives to be 'normal'. There's a certain level of paranoia associated with anchoring that I'm sure every skipper experiences.

The last few days have been quite relaxing. The marina also owns the Coral Sea Resort and as marina guests we gain access to all facilities. We can vouch for the venue, the vista, the food and beverages as being totally acceptable, particularly the setting - perched on sundeck chairs facing west, an uninterrupted 270 degree view of the Whitsundays islands (as per lead photo). The first mate even sampled some of the more personal treats available inside 'Blush', the resort’s beauty parlour while I sampled the satisfying array of alcoholic refreshments. Win-win.

We intend to visit a few islands later in the week once the scheduled service work has been completed. With the weather now becoming more stable, or seemingly so, we can enjoy more of what we came for ... visiting the islands at our leisure.