Greetings from the Whitsunday Islands! You guessed it! The temptation to sail north to the Whitsundays on our own boat was just too great. After such a fabulous time at Lady Musgrave Island with the Dransfield crew on Manaroa Bay spotting whales, turtle spying and bird watching it was a mere 270 nm up to Hamilton Island. One morning we managed to catch a mummy and a calf whale putting a show a mere 100m from our dinghy for a good half an hour! Absolutely superb!!
So here we are after a week of "boat camping" sitting in resort land at the Hamilton Island marina feeling rather pleased with ourselves. We blasted up here in a 20-30 knot SE which was a pretty fast and furious ride. But just a normal day at the office for Nika who handles it all with aplomb! I am now salivating at the thought of a restaurant meal and clean clothes (not sure which is the more exciting!). We are then really looking forward to escaping out to the numerous protected anchorages to explore, snorkel and bushwalk. We were last up here 9 years ago with Jesse 9 months old in our trailer sailor Pretty Woman. Before that, we were here with JD's folks on their yacht Déjà vu when they sailed it up from Melbourne. The other time was when I did a delivery trip on Brindabella for Hammo Island race week so it all has some good memories for us. We plan to spend 10 days around the islands before starting the big trek south. Hopefully by then the summer north easterlies will have replaced the still howling winter southerlies! Ciao for now the Nikas!