Cruising the Whitsunday Islands. 17/11/16

Firstly let me say, “What a magnificent, beautiful picturise place the Whitsunday Islands are”. Pictures and words can’t do it justice. If you get the chance this is a piece of Australia you must see.

Our timing for cruising these water couldn’t have been better. As along with any spectacular, beautiful spots, comes tourist. We were here in November, which is this off peak season for the Bareboats. The weather we had was great, although, a bit more wind at times would have been better for sailing.

We spent 8 days sailing these water, island hopping. One could easily spend weeks here getting lost in its beauty. But with the cyclone season approaching we are at some stage needing to get some serious nautical miles behind us, with the hope to be in Sydney for new year’s eve and catch the spectacular fireworks display from Kestrel II anchored in Sydney harbour, well that’s the plan at this stage.

Our anchorages in the Whitsunday Islands were,
1 night, Nara Inlet/Hook Island
1 night, Whitehaven Beach/ Whitsunday Island
2 night, Plantation Bay/Lineman Island
2 nights, Oyster Bay/Brampton Island
2 night, Victor Bay/Keswick Island

From Victor Bay we sailed to MacKay Marina, with the plan to spend one night in the Marina, Refuel, Re-provision and pick up our parcel (my xmas present), then carry on our merry way. However, the weather had other plans for us. The northerlies turned to Easterlies/ South Easterlies, wind up to 30 knots, with stronger wind gusts. Grrrrrrrrr not what we wanted at all. We decided to sit out this patch of weather. Unfortunately MacKay doesn’t have much options for anchoring other than up the river, which requires a high tide for entering/exiting and requires local knowledge. So as I write this blog we are in the Marina with the comforts of hot showers and a laundromat. At this stage it is looking like we will be sitting in the marina for a week