Day 50 to 55 - Whitsunday & Hook Islands

Rainbow over Abell Point Marina

Having re-provisioned at Airlie it was time for Cath and I to set off on our own for a week before Tim and Kate joined us for a week. Needless to say the weather was pretty average with strong winds and intermittent rain squalls forecast for most of the week. As we were keen to do the walks on South Molle Island  we decided to head for Bauer Bay. Unfortunately this proved to be a bit too rolly for Cath and her delicate constitution so we changed plans and headed for good old Cid harbour and Sawmill Beach.

Interesting fungus on Dugong Beach Track

Resident curlew at Sawmill Beach

HMNZS Canterbury protecting DF

We were really hoping to do the walk to the top of Whitsunday Peak but the low clouds and rain squalls made that a rather unattractive option. We did venture ashore a few times to further explore Dugong Beach and even took the dinghy into the upper reaches of Dugong Bay. The only real excitement was the arrival of HMNZS Canterbury which seemed to be exercising off CID Island for several days. It looks like the Kiwis are no more successful than us Aussies when it comes to defence procurement - Canterbury has not been a raging success for them!


Not having been to Nara Inlet we decided that we had to tick that box and visit the Ngaro Cultural site. This has been done really well and is very much worth a visit.

Ngaro Cultural Site - Nara Inlet

Ngaro rock art

Interpretive Sign - Nara Inlet

The weather was easing up a bit and we even had some sunshine. Just what I needed as I had to spend several hours each day on teleconferences for unexpected work matters. Rather than stay with the masses we moved into Refuge Cove up near the entrance to Nara and were rewarded with a very calm and beautiful anchorage which we had to ourselves until a large motor launch joined us in the evening. I had been warned by several people before leaving Sydney that Nara Inlet is infamous for its most tenacious mud. For this reason I had finally fitted a salt water deck wash down system using my old freshwater pump. I am most glad that I did make the effort as the mud in several of the anchorages we have used is amazingly glutinous and I would hate to be collecting kilos of it in the anchor chain locker. It needs a high pressure nozzle to move it off the chain and anchor but so far all has worked well.

Interesting rock formation - Nara Inlet

We then spent a very pleasant few days in Macona Inlet. For some reason this is not visited by most boats which suited us just fine. The beaches are great and the solitude was a very pleasant change from the usual tourist anchorages. We then returned to Sawmill to find 31 boats at anchor. Could it have anything to do with the NSW and QLD school holidays????

Room with a view - Curlew Beach, Macona Inlet.