Date: 3/7/2008 15:00
Weather: Gale conditions
Location: Cannon Vale 20'15 77S, 148'42 99E
Author: Peter
It's really windy again. To put it mildly what is going on with all this??? Kylie and I seem to go from one freak weather event to another. If this is only the beginning of climate change I really am starting to worry about the future. We registered 50 knots last night and I'm grateful our guests have left before they got to see this. Last night was a long night as we watched boats drag their anchors or moorings straight past us. At one stage we had the motor running and the anchor half up dodging a trimaran that was dragging fast. Boats were still letting go even this morning with the water police again having a busy time trying to stop and fix them up. Last night also saw four mayday calls, two of which were charter boats in Nara Inlet. A busy night and we hope everyone is still ok. Our anchor once again did not even budge but all the boats shifting around us made for a very interesting time along with listening in to some silly people on the radio who just don't know how to help themselves. Looking around now and we can still see expensive damaging going on as sails partially unfurl and flog themselves to death (I wish if they did not want them they would give them to me), mainsails un-flake dragging boats back and forth, and bimini's shredding themselves off the back of boats. I'm sure ducks would have flipped all over the place. In our area we could not help anyone as our duck was deflated and packed away before the low even hit. Apparently an unmanned hobie 16 just took off from the beach around midnight and has not been seen since. I wonder how many other tenders and boats are now adrift on their own. We expect the wind to drop back to between 25 and 33 knots sometime in the next 12 hours.
Here are some pics from the last huge storm that hit Airlie Beach(around March/May I think). Wish we had a trailer that mast would make a good scrap metal bonus!
Taking a step back, you will notice our previous blog was written by our guests, just for something different. During the past week and a bit we have just been going back and forth across the Whitsundays visiting allot of the same places and doing a lot of snorkeling or diving. I also got to see another manta ray at Manta Ray Bay(no surprise there), but much smaller than the last one. Our guests were great if not a little noisy, we got to meet Verena's boyfriend Luke and we hope that they all had a great time and want to come back and visit us soon.
The rain recently has been good as I got to give the deck its first real wash in 12 months. The deck looks so much cleaner, I now need some more rain so I can wash and wax the hull. We will remain here for a few more days to do some laundry when the sun comes back out before heading back out to the islands to do some exploring back down south a little.
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Date: 22/7/2008 16:30
Weather: Showers
Location: Cannon Vale 20'15 77S, 148'42 99E
Author: Our guests, Kira, Verena and Luke.
Captains Log…star date…….
By Verena
MARISA likes talking loud, discussing inappropriate topics at inappropriate times as well as breaking world records for longest time taken to wash dishes. DISLIKES admitting snakes have bones and quiet time.
LUKE likes eating, dressing like Borat and posing for most photos lying on the ground and telling everyone he can do everything…including rowing and backstroke (not). DISLIKES dropping both his phone and recently purchased novel into the Coral Sea.
VERENA likes backgammon, losing hairties, and drinking 200L of water on the boat. DISLIKES jellyfish, seasickness and watching her sickness companion, Kira, develop white lips.
KIRA likes MAXALON*!!!!!!!! Whoever invented it should be given a medal! She also likes exclamation marks!!! DISLIKES developing white lips and pre-maxalon times.
STRIPEY BLACK AND WHITE FISH like mouldy gluten free bread to the point that they will attack humans to obtain it!
WHITSUNDAYS likes. Fauna. Throughout our trip we had the pleasure of being surrounded by 1000's of butterflies, whales, dolphins, sea turtles, rays, millions of colourful fish, a vast array of picturesque landscapes, other sea creatures and plants, as well as hand feeding cockatoos (woops, do not try at home).
bat fish feeding on gluten free bread at Manta Ray Bay
The typical beach up here.....not fine sand, its crushed coral! Whitehaven is one of the only beaches with real sand.
coral at low tide
WHITSUNDAYS dislikes. Scary green biting ants, rain… not much else except nude old strangers on the boat next door.
By Kira
We arrive with no idea where we are, in complete darkness, when we finally can explain where we are Peter comes to pick us up. Verena and Luke settle into the shoebox, which is terribly cosy? Or is it?
Our first day…is rain.
To our utter amazement it is Luke the most non water type person who doesn't get sick. Verena and Kira get extreme nausea (and white lips) on the way out with strong winds and a choppy sea. A tip for people like us, the recipe to avoid sickness is; take nausea tablets half hour before moving and SIT UP TOP!!! Stare at land! You'll be happy to know only Verena vomited, on land, and only because of too much wheat.
Ok we have to be quick, so highlights are, Marisa and Kira enjoyed their first snorkelling experiences and LOVED it! Kira got scared of a fish that was only 20cm with sharp teeth, and managed to stay floating even when trying to dive. Verena pushed Kira in front of a jellyfish to save herself (it may only have been 5cm but you never know). Its really nice up here even though its raining. Peter and Kylie managed to put up with our constant bickering amongst each other (lets just say when we were on a walk 100meters away they could hear us. All in good fun of course J) and showed us heaps of cool places including a forest of butterflies.
On Whitehaven beach we played boules aka petanque aka bocci, which Luke decided could kill a turtle. We found an awesome sand creation of a dragon (which Luke posed lying beside) so decided to compete by creating a sand turtle, needless to say it was……amazing. Lukes attempt at rowing found them going in circles for about ten minutes and Marisa managed to push Kira onto some coral from lack of piggyback experience which resulted in a toothbrush scrubbing of her cut. I still love you Marisa, even if you don't think a snake has bones when its right in front of you!
By Luke
Verena and Marisa participated in synchronised falling over on their arse! Kira walked into Jura's steps, doors, overhangs etc etc. until she had scar marks on her shins. Peter allocates 'Marisa quiet time' for 5 minutes, everyone agrees it should be made 10 minutes. Peter is unexpectedly amazing to look at in budgie smuggler's (PK what the!!) Coral was a sight, although I also liked the Pine Trees. Food was great, especially liked by Kira who grew fond of a lettuce head that she slept with every night. Kylie made lovely apricot/coconut/choc slice that unfortunately manic Marisa missed out on, Peter got her slice. Overall a great experience and I thank Pete and Kylie for putting up with all of us, especially Marisa's and my babbling about everything unimportant and often made up J Take care guys
*Maxalon is anti nausea tablets
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Date: 12/6/2008 15:00
Weather: Clear and warm, windy
Location: Butterfly Bay 20'04 40S, 148'55 47E
Author: Peter
I would have said that as a cruising ground Tasmania had much more to offer than the Whitsundays, but its hard to compare. Each days sail saw something completely different in Tassie, and each anchorage pretty much had a walk or shore activity. On the down side it can be a little coool. In the Whitsundays, each island seems similar to the next, and the majority of walks seem to be on islands with resorts that almost expect you to pay for one of their moorings before coming ashore. It is all beautiful but a change would be nice and yesterday saw that change.
Sunset at Stone Haven anchorage.
We once again had one of those fantastic days that are just so hard to convey with my poor literacy skills. The morning started out clear and sunny with light winds and after breakfast we dropped the mooring at Stonehaven (20'05 51S, 148'54 40E) and headed round to Blue Pearl Bay (20'02 52S, 148'52 84E) arriving around 9 and before the crowds. After picking up a mooring just off the reef we donned scuba gear and headed below. To put it simply this is the best dive I have ever done even though we were only at about 15m. The coral and variety of fish was just brilliant. So many new things were seen by both of us including Kylie's first clown fish, a glide past by a huge Manta Ray and to our joy we spent the last of our air with a turtle. To have swum with these last two is a highlight of my cruise so far and is something I will remember forever. The feeling of exhilaration as we climbed back on board Jura was just fabulous and the high could have lasted us all day but it only got better.
At around 11 we dropped the mooring just as a gaggle of boats arrived and set sail over the top of Hayman Island and around the corner to Butterfly Bay. On our way we had our own personal fly past by the RAAF as 4/5 F-111 used us as a rounding mark with their extended wings about level with the top of our mast and so close you could see the helmets of the pilots through the top of the canopy. The noise as each jet flew past in single file was outrages but to have our own show, "priceless". After lunch (hot dogs) we headed ashore where Kylie promptly set up camp on the beach and started reading and I set off into the bush for an explore. Just off the back of the beach in the dappled light of vine encrusted forest I entered upon a wonderful sight of thousands of butterflies flitting all about me. I have been in butterfly houses before but they had nothing on the staggering quantity just here. As I slowly made my way through and across the back of the beach they were so close I thought I could just reach and grab one. So I did. I then carefully carried it back out to the beach to show Kylie before it flitted away and she followed me back in expecting butterflies, but not as many as were there.
After a relaxing afternoon Pete and Jess who were back out and about after much more work on the boat including careening (stay tuned for photos) and some rather nasty scraping to clean up their hull came over for an afternoon chat and then we all headed back to their boat for dinner.
Careening
A great day, just a great day, wouldn't have traded it for anything, and we are definitely not missing work although we will have to do a little again soon.
Today has been just as good with breakfast of pancakes (yes some of you know the ones I'm talking about) aboard Jura before we all moved over to Manta Ray Bay (20'03 56S, 148'57 37E)for some snorkeling over the best coral gardens I have seen so far (just like in "Finding Nemo") and the biggest wrasse I have ever seen being about the size of a large body board (and about the same shape given the large bump in its forehead). The techni coloured fish up here showcase the full spectrum of colours available in the rainbow and then some (sometimes in just one fish). They are so bright and loud that they can out wow Austin Powers. What the islands lack up top they make up for down below.
Some of my sisters fly up in a few days so we are hoping that the weather is kind so that we can show them some of these things.
A big good luck to Rhys and Byron, who start the 29er Youth Worlds today in Denmark.
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Date: 3/7/2008 15:00
Weather: Clear and warm, windy
Location: White Haven Beach 20'17 42S, 149'02 99E
Author: Kylie
On Tuesday we celebrated a milestone, I made it to a quarter of a century....getting real old now! he he he. The latter half of the previous sentence was what Peter said when he woke me up, real nice hey. We had breakfast at a cafe in Airlie Beach and a nice stroll along the board walk to and from the marina. 
yum
Peter and Eugene
We then dropped the mooring and headed for Cid Harbour (20'17 42S,148'56 43E) to meet Pete and Jess aboard their cat Champagne Blue. We had a slow but pleasant sail in under 10 knots of breeze. Most of the charter boats surrounding us were motoring but we managed to maintain about 4 knot average and they barely beat us into the anchorage. Jess took some photos of us with full rig up so hopefully we will have some pics of our beautiful new main to show you. 
We dropped anchor right behind fellow Cronulla-ers Valhalla. We have run into Peter and Paula on a few occasions now, but this was a huge coincidence as it was also Peters birthday. Way toooo many Peters!!!! We had birthday sundowners on Valhalla and dinner and dessert on Champagne Blue. Have to mention the delicious pecan pie Jess made mmmmmmmm. It was a good birthday.
Pete and Jess boat at Woodwark Bay
Peter made me a devils chocolate cake.
The weather over the past few days has been the best we have experienced so far. I think we reached around 25 degrees in the day and it only drops to about 17 at night. Darren you are going to have a major shock to the system when you arrive next month, we noticed its only been reaching 11 degrees in the day down in Tassie!!!! Today is a little cooler as the wind has picked up but its still warm enough to laze around the beach in just a bikini. Eugene is on the boat with us and Pete wouldn't let him go home without having seen the famous White Haven Beach so we motored into White Haven yesterday, we were expecting to be WOWed but to tell the truth it didn't live up to its reputation. It was very crowded (probably cause its Queensland school holidays and there are soooo many charter boats out) and there were alot of day cruise boats that unload a hundred people with sun igloos etc. However the more time we spend here the more we like it. Especially when the day trippers leave! Must say it has nice sand, like caster sugar, so fine and of course whitish. Today we had a bbq on the beach for lunch and played boules (you throw heavy silver balls trying to be the closest to the ping pong sized white ball), Eugene won.
Whitehaven
I have noticed our life now seems to revolve around food and meal times. In the morning we ask each other "whats for breakfast?" before we even get out of bed, then once breakfast is eaten we say "what are we going to have for dinner?", no microwave so we have to be a bit organised and defrost something! Then we get bored so "it must be lunch time". No longer is it just a peanut butter sandwich, we have time and lots of food within reach so we heat up something yummy for lunch. Our favourite is nachos....a can of Stagg chilli beef (remarkably good mexican flavour), dorritos and lots of cheese. Then if we are having a sundowner in the cockpit in the afternoon some snacks to go with it goes down well. Luckily I don't drink alot so this doesn't happen too often. With so much time on our hands we spend alot more on cooking. I make soup or sweet things and Pete makes fancy dinners. You cant say we are eating poorly. Very little comes from a can or is long life. I think I actually put weight on whilst we were in Tassie, I hope I am doing enough beach walking to burn it off now!
Lets back track a little cause we have been very slack with the blog writing. We left Brampton Island and sailed to Goldsmith, we spent 3 nights there I think. We went snorkelling but it wasn't that spectacular (still wearing a wetsuit cause its a little chilly) and we had Peter and Paula over for home cooked pizza. Then we moved onto Thomas Island (20'32 43S, 149'06 60E), covering the 8.7 miles in record time....about 45minutes and thats just with a headsail. Peter and Eugene spent the rest of day trying to find a fault in the electrical wiring as we had 12volts running through the boat. Unfortunately they were unsuccessful and a little worried about the damage it could be doing to the boat, being a Friday afternoon there was little that could be done until Monday. It was cat central at Thomas Island and we were outnumbered 14 to 2. They were all very nice people though and we enjoyed lunch on the beach with them on Saturday. Pete and I also went and visited a few of the cats and had a sticky beak aboard. Jealous, very jealous. They all have large bathrooms with separate showers!
On Sunday we decided to head closer to Airlie Beach so we could arrange for an electrician to have a look asap. We ended up in Nara inlet (20'07 94S, 148'54 80E) on Hook Island and met up with Pete and Jess and their friend Mick. They had just received their cat out of the charter business and had spent a few days doing repairs, modifications and provisioning.
Nara Inlet
Monday morning we arranged for the electrician for that afternoon so we headed off the Airlie Beach (20'15 52S,148'42 35E), Pete and Jess arranged for us to borrow a mooring for free just outside the Able Point marina (apparently the marina charges $90 per night - the highest we have paid anywhere is $40 so it is a complete rip off). Not sure if its a good or bad thing but when the electrician arrived our, problem seemed to have disappeared. It was there in the morning but by the time we arrived at Airlie it had disappeared! He did however say that we wouldn't be doing any damage to the hull so if it does appear again Pete shouldn't be too stressed. So now you are up to date.
The weather is meant to get a little more miserable over the next few days so we are going to hang around in the area and head to Hasslewood Island tomorrow. Have a look on Google Earth at the aerial pictures of the area, our guide has some stunning aerial shots, and you will be able to see where we are too!
Went for a walk upto a lookout at Tongue Bay
Tounge Bay
What doesn't hurt you will kill you!
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