Goodbye Whitsundays and We Finally Found Kids!
Thursday, July 26, 2018
Well turns out we didn't get this blog sent before we ran out of phone service. So here is the week old blog post. We are currently anchored at North Keppel Island.
2018 Travels
Date: 18/7/18
Location: Thomas Island – Naked Lady Beach
20 32.61 S
149 06'.36 E
Weather: Sunny and lovely
Author: Kylie
On the road again.....well on our way again, heading south this time. Yep its time to start thinking about the return journey but its not all bad we still have a few months to go and plan to move slowly jumping from one island to the next.
We headed back into Airlie to stock up and grab water. One last play at the kids favourite playground (Mia found the courage for the first time to climb to the top of the spiderweb climbing tower), 2 trips to the supermarket and another trip to the secondhand book shop plus a very slow and frustrating water fill up at the public wharf and we were set to go again.
We were fortunate to run into a friend from our cruise 10 years ago! Ron is a regular cruiser, sailing each year from Tasmania to the tropics and back. Clocking up to 4,000nm per season. We first met Ron down in Tassie and then later the same year in the Whitsundays. We had a great catch up and took an updated photo of Ron with his new boat the "Roseanne".
We were fortunate to run into another cruising boats with kids the same age as ours the previous week so we had arranged a last play date before we headed off. We were very late arriving out to Mays Bay to meet them and the kids were all so excited to see each other again. Emma and Ian were lovely hosts having us over for dinner aboard their boat Inter Alia. We repayed the favour the following day, minding their kids whilst they walked the Whitsunday Peak walk. Mia and Joel loved having James and Abbey come to play on their boat. The girls got into the rock painting whilst the boys played pirates on the foredeck. Peter baked up some scones for lunch...yum.
We had a chilled out afternoon. A walk and explore along the beach. Check out the tides we are having now- huge highs and lows! I escaped away on the kayak for a paddle over the reef by myself whilst Pete and the kids went to Inter Alia for a movie. These photos were taken from the kayak not snorkelling.
Joel verse the little crab!
The next day Ian took some great photos of the 2 boats with his drone camera. Thanks Ian! Check out the beautiful water colour.
We headed into the beach as Mia had eyed off a great rock hiding place on our walk the previous day. The Inter Alia crew joined us for one last play. We really wish we were hanging around with them for a bit longer but hopefully our cruising paths will cross again soon.
Guess what we finally saw after 10 years of cruising...dugongs! 3 Boats were anchored in the bay and a mother and calf were feeding between the boats, surfacing every few minutes for a breath. We would have loved to be closer to get a better photo! It was a fantastic experience and something Peter has been talking about seeing for so many years.
Leaving the beautiful Mays Bay behind we motored past Cid Harbour and were pleased to see Motor Vessel Banks is now afloat again. It was washed ashore during Cyclone Debbie 18 months ago and I think they have made several attempts to float the boat but have been unsuccessful. It doesn't look nearly as large now that its floating!
High and dry a few weeks ago!
Now afloat!
It seems we only had to complain about the weather and it really stepped up- it has been warm with light variable winds and we have taken advantage of the weather to enjoy some beach time. And yay its school holidays so no school work hanging over our heads! We headed to Whitehaven Beach where we were fortunate to meet colleagues from Peters work who were day tripping to Whitehaven during their holiday at Hamilton Island. We have had so little phone service this trip so the fact we got their message and were headed to Whitehaven the same time as them was super lucky.
Peter did a short walk with Andrea & Phil from the end of Whitehaven Beach up to a small lookout overlooking the Solway and Fitzwilliam Passages & Hasselwood Island. The perfect morning was spoiled by National Parks starting a controlled burn off on Hasselwood Island directly opposite Whitehaven Beach. Peter convinced us the walk was well worth it so after lunch we headed up to see the views before smoke engulfed the entire area. Three separate smoke columns shortly combined to reduce visibility so we could barely see our boat anchored a short way off the beach!
It was great to see you Andrea & Phil and thanks for taking a family photo for us!
A big sand sea turtle
Mermaid Mia!
From Whitehaven we have motored down to Lindeman Island where we hoped to do a walk to the peak. However with Lindeman Island Resort closed it seems the tracks are no longer being maintained and we couldn't find our starting point. So we headed down to Shaw Island to anchor up for the night. The kids were really happy to have tv service and watched their favourite Ninjago show. We also tuned into the coverage of the ladies race at the Tour De France but frustratingly as the tide swung so did our boat and we lost signal. Ahh the joys of living on a boat.
This is Mias 'Mia time'. She goes and dances up a storm on the foredeck at least a couple of times a day!
Today we basked in the beautiful weather, enjoying a morning at the beach. The tide was well out when we arrived at the beach and it was a long walk across the sand.
We have been having the most wonderful sunsets. This one is at Shaw Island.
We moved down to Thomas Island for the afternoon in preparation for a jump south tomorrow.
Naked Lady Beach on Thomas Island
Leaving Thomas Island
We anticipate we will be out of phone service now for the next few weeks until we reach Great Keppel Island. Hopefully the weather cooperates and we can do short day sails between the islands.
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