where are we?

So what have we been doing the last few weeks? Once Lizard Island was off the agenda, it was an easy plan … “we need to go south?”

Our most northern destination this season turned out to be Low Isles, 8 nm northeast of Port Douglas.

Low Isles – The lighthouse, the resident batfish at our mooring & one of the very many unsettled weather forecasts we were seeing if we ventured further north to Lizard Island.

Once our decision was made it was all eyes on heading south.  With constant south easterlies in the forecast it was certainly not going to be easy, but we found our small window. There were no northerlies or even easterlies up this way, so we crossed our fingers that the light SE winds forecast would hold.  Airlie Beach was our planned destination as there was a big blow coming and mooching around the Whitsundays while waiting for our family to arrive sounded more appealing than being ‘stuck’ with a blow anywhere further north.

We had 323 nautical miles to cover in less than a week.  We did it in five days … which included one overnighter. Phew!

Rain was forecast but fortunately we dodged it & Gayundah Creek’s spectacular view of Hinchinbrook is always a stunner, even at daybreak.

So with a stupid o’clock start and our fuel tanks chockers, we departed the Port Douglas Marina. We motored all day past Cairns, past Fitzroy Island and the Frankland Islands, in to a steady 12 knot headwind arriving at Mourilyan Harbour in the dark (84 nm). We then enjoyed an unexpected screecher sail to Hinchinbrook Island (50 nm) where we shared Gayundah Creek with mega thousands of kamikaze bugs. It was another motor sail to Orpheus Island (an easy 27 nm) where we enjoyed a cool down swim (it was so much hotter up north) and the chance to catch our breath before the next passage. Our final leg was an all-dayer and an overnighter, once again motor sailing, to finally arrive at Airlie Beach on the fifth day (162 nm). Done and dusted!

All up, 323 nautical miles.

Over the last week or so we’ve enjoyed our ‘mooching’ around the Whitsundays.  We haven’t spent much time here over the last few seasons mainly because we’ve been keen to get further north where we enjoy the outer reefs.  They are closer to the mainland and there’s several to choose from.

Thankyou to Mad Fish for the photo of our two Fusions.

I have been back in the water. I snorkeled a small fringing reef at Stonehaven on Hook Island, one I haven’t visited for several seasons.  This reef like many others was wiped out by Cyclone Debbie.  It was blanketed with a thick layer of grit, killing any coral that wasn’t already destroyed by the cyclonic waves back in 2017. However, what a surprise!

There have been numerous coral gardening projects underway here in the Whitsundays since the cyclone. Coral fragments have been cultivated in nurseries, then outplanted in locations around the Whitsunday islands.  My intel tells me that Eaglehawk Reef in the Stonehaven anchorage may have been involved in one of these restoration projects.

I was pleasantly surprised with the coral growth I found. These restoration projects seem to be working. There was healthy regrowth of both soft and hard corals. Not so many fish and the coral will take many years to regrow to what it was but it was such a pleasing sign. I’m looking forward to visiting a few more locations around the Whitsundays, locations I’ve previously discounted due to heartbreaking damage.  Thankyou to Mad Fish (a Fusion 40 we met at Stonehaven) for their intel too.

I have become quite an obsessive over Nudi’s. So when Mad Fish mentioned they’d spotted a few, I was back in the water. I actually thought there were two Nudi’s side by side here, but once out of the water with my glasses on I could see I was mistaken. This is a quite a swollen Nudi. It’s always tricky capturing those rhinophores from a frontal view & once again the Nudi was tracking away from me.

Along with the rejuvenated coral, there were several small colourful clams and I found two Cushion Stars & a Sea Snail.

We have some fantastic weather on the horizon so it’s a refuel and restock in Airlie in advance for our upcoming family guests, followed by a day at Whitehaven Beach and then it’s a few days out at the reef.