Back in Cid Harbour Again
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
2018 Travels
Date: 9/7/18
Location: Cid Harbour
20 15.88 S
148 42'.09 E
Weather: Sunny but windy
Author: Kylie
The weather really hasn't been playing its part since we arrived in the Whitsundays! It has been cool which we expected but also overcast and rainy more often than not- I'm sure this is their dry season. We have found that we are constantly coming back to Cid Harbour or Nara Inlet for refuge from the average weather. This week we popped out to the east side of the islands and really only got the one day before the weather set in and we needed to scoot back around to the western side of the islands. We sat out a strong wind warning for 30 knots in Cid Harbour. We had great protection and were really quite comfortable but it again meant no trip to shore, no swimming and no exploring. But we will continue to make the most of the good weather when it is here.
The weather has made us think ahead about our return plans for getting back to Coffs Harbour by the end of September- yep we are already half way through the trip and now on the count down!!! We know that it is not ideal to need to be back so early in the season and we will be fighting against the SE trade winds, so we think it is time to prepare to head south again to give us some spare time to try and work with any favourable winds. We will be heading back to Airlie Beach tomorrow to stock the boat again. That will allow us plenty of time to pick and choose our wind for heading south and allow us to enjoy some time in the beautiful places we visited on the journey north. We had quite a few 1 night stays at amazing places such as Shaw Island, Great Keppel Island and skipped past some other lovely looking anchorages so we are very excited to head south again.
Since we last updated you we made our way to Cid Harbour where we did a great kayaking adventure to a 'pirate island'. We motored the ducky, towing the kids in the kayak to Dugong Beach where we anchored the ducky up and squeezed the 4 of us into the 2 person kayak. It is certainly getting a little squishing for 4 now that the kids have grown so much. We paddled across Cid Harbour to the motor vessel Banks which was washed up on the rocky shore in Cid Harbour 18 months ago during Cyclone Debbie. I googled the vessel and apparently several attempts have been made to float the vessel, however, no success as yet. There was a tug boat and barge surrounding the vessel and as we paddled over we noticed workmen on the deck of the boat. Peter called out to them and they informed us they would be attempting to retrieve the vessel next Saturday. Looking at the tides we expect they will we doing it on the highest tide on midnight Friday. They have put a large generator up on the deck which we presume will be to pump the water out of the vessel as it floats.
We then paddled across to the pirate island that we had spotted whilst doing our Whitsunday Peak walk. We sat and enjoyed the solitude but it was cut short when we noticed a big black cloud heading our way. We all popped our rain jackets on and paddled upwind into the squall to reach the rubber duck. I think the highlight of the kids day was being towed in the kayak. And would you believe we actually go faster with the kids being towed than them sitting in the duck! We can get up on the plane with just Peter and I in the duck, but any more weight and the motor is not quite powerful enough to really push past our own wave.
The next day was windy again but we noticed many boats had kids aboard- the QLD school holidays had begun. We had promised the kids that we would find them someone to play with (it has been close to 3 months with not a single kid found aboard any of the travelling yachts). We motored over to the vessel anchored beside us and invited them ashore to have a play. There were 2 girls aged 5 & 8 aboard. They were locals out for the weekend staying with family. Joel was so excited, he was bouncing around waiting for them to meet us on the beach. Mia of course was a little more reserved and clung to my leg. We had a great afternoon ashore skimming rocks, playing frisbie and ball and chatting about cruising.
We jumped back across to Airlie the next day to get some diesel. With the lack of sunshine we have had we have been running the engine to power the battery bank up to run the boats fridge, freezer, light etc and Peter was concerned that we were getting a little too close to the bottom of the fuel tank. We had another day of laundry and school work and by 4pm Joel was looking very sad so we suggested a quick trip to the an awesome playground we found at Cannonvale. I used the time to grab a few things at the supermarket too.
The next day we were sitting in the cockpit for breakfast when we saw 2 young kids on the catamaran anchored beside ours! They popped over later to introduce themselves and were as excited to see our kids as we were to see them. Ian & Emma from Brisbane are cruising aboard their 15m cat with 5 year old James and 3 year old Abbey. We went over to their boat for the kids to have a play and Mia got her first experience of a catamaran. I don't think a day has gone by where she hasn't said "I want a catamaran". Spacious is probably the best description, I think we were all a little jealous. Especially of the area their kids use for play- not right in the middle of the salloon area. The kids got on really well and Joel loved playing with James' magnetic building blocks (he is missing those from Preschool). We really enjoyed our chat and before we knew it it was after lunch and we needed to get back to our boat. They had family visiting the following day so we exchanged numbers and hopefully we will catch them again before we head south.
We grabbed our fuel and water and sailed out to Nara Inlet for the night, just making it before the sun set. Whilst everything is quite close in the Whitsundays it can take hours to move around from anchorage to anchorage. This was the case the following day when we left Nara heading for Whitehaven. We knew there was only a short weather window before the strong wind warning so we sailed out through the Hook Passage and tacked our way upwind towards Whitehaven.
Unfortunately the nicest weather was whilst we were sailing and the clouds came over as we sailed. Last minute I suggested we head to Hasselwood Island for a snorkel and I'm glad we did. The reef itself was not in great shape, but we found a small area with some nice coral and fish. The kids confidence in the water is growing everyday. We really haven't done that much snorkelling- I think I have posted photos every day that we have snorkelled. Mia decided she didn't need the noodle to float on, in fact she thought she could snorkel all by herself! We compromised and I allowed her some freedom to snorkel as long as I stayed close by. She kept attempting to dive under the water like daddy :)
At the end of the snorkel Joel came to snorkel with me and I suggested he might like to try without the floaty too. Of course he thinks he can do everything like Mia so he was keen to give it a go. Surprisingly he was very calm and snorkelled along beside me holding my hand without the float!!! It was very cold and Joel lasted much longer in the water than he has in the past but eventually the shivers returned and we headed back to the yacht for warm showers. Peter gave the boat another scrub under the water but that green fur from the Brisbane River is very stubborn.
We moved over to Whitehaven beach for the evening and headed ashore for a later afternoon walk. Of all days after we had already had showers we had our first person fall out of the duck- I am surprised we got this far. As we motored into the beach Joel tried to climb out and fell in :( He wasn't too concerned but it was too cold to be on the beach in a wet shirt so he had to borrow daddys fleece vest. Someone had had a great day building sand castles and sand sculptures on the beach. Joel liked the huge castle with mote and the race car. Mia was impressed with the mermaids.
This is what the trees along the beach look like! We heard that the cyclone really made a mess of the beach and there has been lots of work to get it back to the way it is now. The sands were moved in the cyclone and a smelly stagnant water pool was formed in front of the tree line.
We were glad we had been ashore for a walk as we woke to rain the following day. It was quite miserable and with the strong wind warning for the next day we decided to head back to Cid Harbour.
Monday morning the kids and I motored down to Dugong Beach and hid a few rocks for other people to find. We also hid a few at the next beach, Sawmill Beach. Joel's one may be a little hard to find as he hid it along the Whitsunday Peak walking track. Joel is particularly enjoying the bush walks so we did a small part of that long Whitsunday Peak walk and crossed the creek, climbing the rock stairs. Unfortunately we had an unwilling participant (Mia) with us and were forced to turn back before we reached the second crossing of the creek.
After lunch we headed over to South Molle Island. The resort has been abandoned and is in a very bad way. We went ashore and checked out the beach and surrounds to find the National Parks walking tracks ready for a morning walk the following day.
Tuesday morning we did a HUGE walk around South Molle. The kids have never walked so far and there was very little complaining, we were so impressed. We guess we walked about 8kms, maybe more. The tracks were great, wide and mainly grass with a few rock stairs. The views were spectacular from every vantage point. We first walked up to balancing rock and looked back towards Shute Harbour on the mainland. Then we crossed the island to Spion Kop lookout to look east across the Whitsunday Passage to Hamilton Island, Cid Island and Whitsunday Island. To the west we looked down upon our boat in Bauer Bay, across to Day Dream Island with the mainland behind.
With my phone mucking up we are back in Airlie trying to sort it out.
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