We headed out yesterday around 9:30 or so – destination Thomas Island, which was South/South East of Shaw Island. Sunsail had already informed us that it is a small island and not a good overnight anchorage so we were planning on going and checking out the island then going to Boat Port on North Lindeman Island for an overnight anchorage.
Our sail to Thomas could not have been any better. Traveling 5 to 6 knots under sail the whole way, it was fantastic. Only about 4 or 5 long tacks got us there. I love the autopilot function. Set your course and sit up on deck for a bit. I got some major sunning in during our sail.
Thomas Island is a smaller island of the group but it certainly reflects true South Pacific. The waters are an array of blues and greens and the beaches are full of washed up coral and shells. We anchored and had a nice salad for lunch. After lunch, took Timmy on into the island to have a closer look. Along the way, up popped the head of a turtle right in front of us. I’m telling you, they are everywhere and just so cool.
Todd felt that this area, for sure, would be a good snorkeling area. We didn’t bring our snorkeling gear with us to the island (it was still stowed on the boat) and, along with my hesitation to snorkel for other reasons, I want to check with the marina today about renting sting suits. The thing is, sharks are not what could hurt you in the Whit Sundays. It is actually Box Jellyfish and Irukandji Jellyfish that could ruin your day. Along with Sting Rays and other fish. It is highly recommended that you wear a sting suit when you snorkel. Obviously this won’t help against the tail of a Sting Ray or the bite of a Toad Fish but it will certainly lower your chances of being stung by the jellyfish – and the Irukandji, which (according to our book) has been the cause of several deaths. Yeehaw…hand me my mask!
We motored around and finally beached Timmy for a closer look at the island. It really was pretty. We collected more shells and coral to bring home. We also found a natural water outlet on the beach. Seems that the water was pouring out of the sand into the ocean. It was really cool. Todd had a term for it and maybe he can fill that in when he reads these entries later.
After our exploration, we headed back to Dreamer. For the second time, Timmy ran out of gas. This happened a couple of days ago too. Obviously a lot of exploring going on. Once Todd took care of that, we were back to the boat. The sea has been a bit choppy so getting on the boat from the tender was a tad challenging and I have a small bruise to prove it. But neither here nor there. We were back on and pulling anchor up. It was about 2:30 and we needed to get to the North side of Lindeman Island before 5.
We decided our best bet was to motor to Lindeman. In the Whit Sundays, you must be anchored by 5 PM. I believe it is so no one will try to sail or motor around at night and risk running aground or into coral. There are so many little tricky spots in the ocean around here and, even with a GPS system, it is always good to keep an eye out. So there is a rule here that you must be anchored for the night by 5.
It was a nice cruise. As always, we utilized the autopilot, turned on some tunes and found ourselves lounging around the deck – me trying to soak in more sun. It took about two hours to get to Boat Port where we were hoping to anchor for the night. When we got there we noticed another boat anchored in the spot that we would have wanted. After some confusion and frustrating moments, we realized that this anchorage was not going to work out. The nearest safe anchorage to Boat Port is back at Burning Point on Shaw Island. I think we both weren’t really wanting to go there again after being anchored there for two nights. But we really didn’t have a choice so we motored on over there. We were anchored with engine off by 5:15 so that wasn’t so bad. But here we are again at Burning Point. Sigh. I shouldn’t complain. Any island out here is beautiful – I was just longing for a new morning view.
Once we anchored, I enjoyed a shower and Todd sprayed the cabin diligently for bugs. He found a couple of unwelcome visitors a couple of days ago so we wanted to be sure we didn’t have any tonight.
We then fixed dinner – he had a steak that he previously cooked during one of our cookathons, baked potatoes and garlic broccoli and onions on the grill. We watched the movie Sideways during dinner. We didn’t finish the movie because we headed to bed. Sailing really takes it out of us – at least it does me. All the sun, wind and whatever – I don’t know. I was pooped and fell asleep instantly. It was funny because I had dreams all night about being in the water.
Being back at Burning Point, you realize how strong the wind is – there must have been some good 20 or so knot wind bursts throughout the night that would cause some wonderful clanging of the mast overhead. Not that that really affected my sleep much but, common to most nights, I woke up several times.
I am certainly sleeping a bit later than when we first came on board. I am now making it to 6 AM before getting out of bed. Our plan is to get out of here by 7 AM and make our way to the marina at Hamilton Island. We need to stock up on essentials for our final couple of days. Ice, beer, rum, batteries. Ahh, the priorities!
We hope to get into the marina by 10 AM (which is when the spirits store opens – haha) and be out of there no later than noon. Our final destination will be Whitehaven Beach which is on Whitsunday Island. This is a much more popular beach and is supposed to be beautiful (however I haven’t seen anything that wasn’t). So we are going from deserted islands with barely a boat around to a more popular dwelling.
Well, it is about 6:40 AM so I need to get the cabin ready for sailing and get myself dressed. Although there are some heavy clouds overhead, I am not giving up on sun, sail, and exploration.
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