As we took off from Shaw Island, we waved a final farewell and swore we would never be back. Not because we didn’t like the island or because we had a bad stay – I mean, it was our home during the storm. But we were ready to venture out to new destinations and, since the weather looked nice, we did.
Our first stop was Hamilton Island which we motored to in order to save time. We needed/wanted to stock up on much needed supplies – beer, rum and ice! Oh and batteries. It was a nice cruise and we were there by about 9:30 AM or so. As usual, our Sunsail slaves came out to bring our boat in. I was a little concerned because we called them but we didn’t see their dinghy in the marina inlet. About the time I was making our way into the marina there was a large boat coming out so I was a little nervous. But we made it just fine. Our guy jumped on board and safely docked us about 5 boats down from the ice place. Perfect!
We hopped out of the boat and into the little marina town to stock up. Other items on the list was milk, fingernail polish remover, polish and tortilla chips. We first stopped at the grocery store and picked up the remover, milk, tortilla chips (well, they didn’t have tortilla chips so we decided on Doritos), salsa and batteries. Then we went to our spirits place and stocked up on drinks. On the way there we were entertained by some cockatoos and beautiful lorikeets that were stalking a poor guy that made the mistake of throwing some food their way. Those lorikeets are beautiful for sure! Vibrant colors of blue, green and yellow. We didn’t have the camera with us so we are hoping we will see them tomorrow upon our return.
After we got our six bags of ice, we headed back to Dreamer. We got the cabin and deck situated – Todd did a quick rinse off of the deck. Much needed especially at the bow where the anchor returns. The sea is beautiful but must be pretty messy below. Actually Todd got some anchor rust on his legs and thought it looked like he had the palsey. So funny!
Once everything was cleaned up and water topped off, the Sunsail slaves took us over to the gas pump to get a quick fill up. Then off we went headed to Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island. Everything was awesome and we had the sails up as soon as we were clear of channels.
There were certainly some good sized swells during our sail. We were heeling quite hard and spraying water on the bow. It was a ton of fun flying through the swells. We were laughing and high fiving about how awesome of a sail it was. Todd was heard many times doing a manly “yeah” when our bow would fall in a swell and spray the deck.
But then it got hairy. I mean, really nerve racking. The swells were reaching 9 to 10 feet high and we were a pretty good clip from land. We decided to lower sails and motor in to the channel leading to Whitehaven. For those who are not familiar with sailing, let me fill you in on what it takes to bring in sails. First, the helmsman (the one steering the boat…me) must turn into the wind so that the deckhand (Todd) can, first, furl in the head sail (if you look at a picture of a sailboat, it is the sail in the front). This can be done from the cockpit area which is safe and somewhat secure (other than in 10’ swells). Next, the deckhand (Todd) must bring down the main sail, which is the one that you probably drew in kindergarten when you drew a boat. The challenge with the main sail is that the deckhand must go up to the mast of the boat (which is the pole that the main sail attaches to) and guide the sail onto the boom (the pole that runs perpendicular to the mast) and into the sail bag. Well, the mast is certainly a secure “pole” to hold onto when you are on the very vulnerable deck. However, the boom is not. It swings (so that you can move the sail from right to left) and, even when “locked” in place, it has a tendency to move slightly from left to right. In order to close the sail bag on the boom the deckhand’s only grip hold is the boom.
Ok, back to our hell. We were climbing on these 10’ swells and crashing…HARD…at the bottom. Let me draw a picture…when the bow was making it’s way up the swell, the bow was pitched so high that I could not see where we would fall. Now, add in very strong current that was pulling my tiller (which steers the boat) and taking control away from me. Todd and I were both being thrown around the boat. Items in the galley were being thrown around and, at some point, the bilge pump alarm went off. Quick explanation…the bilge is the area between the “pretty” floor that they put in the cabin for you to walk on and the bottom of the boat. The bilge should be empty (a little water is ok but not a lot) because it holds the air that allows the boat to float. If your bilge floods…no good can come of that. It can set you up for a sinking situation.
Back to our hell. So the bilge pump alarm went off at some point during our extreme rollercoaster ride. Of course, we weren’t sure what the noise was that we were hearing. At first Todd thought it was our emergency locator device. My first thought was that it was the autopilot device or some other navigational device letting us know we were in deep crap. We didn’t learn it was our bilge pump alarm until after our harrowing experience.
At this point, Todd had wrangled and furled in the head sail. But what really made me worried was when he went to the mast to let down the main sail. He was able to hold onto lifelines along the side of the boat and then the mast. We were able to bring the main sail down while being pitched severely forward over the swells. My job was to control the boat which was extremely hard to do and I started to panic. I could tell that the ocean was taking a hold of my tiller and that I was now in a fight to gain control back. At the same time, Todd was planning on zipping the sail bag. I started really freaking out because I did NOT want him on the deck with nothing to hold onto other than the swinging boom. I understood his point that, with the sail not in the bag, there was potential it could come out of the bag and, when the wind caught it, would swing us around in the water. My point was that I did NOT want him on the deck with these swells. I wanted him in the cockpit with me. I was willing to risk the sail breaking free and having Todd with me than to have the boom throw him overboard in those kind of waters. The way the current was pulling and with that large of swells, a recovery mission would have been challenging. And I was already losing my cool and panicking. Not a good situation for a rescue. After intense discussion, he obliged me and came into the pit.
I was certainly scared – no lie. I have never been scared on a boat…EVER! But I can honestly say that I was very shaken by the whole thing. As I was getting us back on course to go through a narrow channel, we were being thrown around with swells to our side and then to our back. When we were picked up, my control was gone. The currents were just so strong. Almost like trying to turn the wheels on your car when you are going through one of those automatic car washes.
Finally we made it to the channel and then to our anchorage at Whitehaven Beach. Once we were anchored I was exhausted and completely shaken. Most of my fear was of losing Todd overboard. I guess that really shook me because, once we killed the engine, I started bawling. Granted there were tears before that time when we were in the midst of the heavy seas. However, just the overwhelming concern and worry over the whole situation had me very upset. Todd consoled me and I felt totally silly for crying. But it made me realize that something happened on our honeymoon that probably rarely happens on others. First, we are doing something that takes complete teamwork. But second, during that experience, I realized more than ever how truly I love Todd. How strongly I want us to be together forever – and how desperately I want us to live for a very long time. It was just such a moment of clarity and pure love. If anything good came from that craziness, it is that I am even closer to Todd than I was before.
Once at Whitehaven, we broke into drinks immediately. I certainly needed one or twenty and Todd did too. Most of you know how Todd is…he is very level headed and not much gets to him. Although he plays it down more than I obviously do, I think it nerved him a bit too. He was certainly in need of some wine washed down with some Baileys. I had some Australian rum and diet coke.
I just wasn’t in to making dinner after all that so I mainly snacked for dinner. Todd had some leftover steak. Our day ended really cool with three seagulls that decided to beg for some food. They landed on Timmy – one on each side and then one on the motor. I grabbed a loaf of bread and started throwing small pieces their way. One of them could actually catch them in mid air! It was so fun watching them and it helped bring my anxiety down a couple of notches.
Another nice touch to the night was that it was a full moon. Or close to full. It was beautiful and casted such an intense glow on the ocean. After dousing our anxiety in some drinks and after gazing at the moon, we headed to bed.
I am sure the alcohol helped us crash pretty much right away. But, just like any good buzz, it must end. Around 3 AM I was wide awake as we were being rolled all over the place. Something in the galley (kitchen) was clanking and it was driving me crazy. Some of the rolls were really large and there was just no way to get back to sleep.
I had company. Todd was awake too. I started throwing a tantrum because I haven’t really slept a good full night since we have been on the boat. And this wasn’t helping matters. Although Todd has to endure my tantrums frequently, I suppose this one was entertaining because he started laughing at me. Or maybe he was so sleepy he was delirious.
We pretty much lied in bed trying to recover some sleep until about 5 AM when I had had it! We started to plot a course and, quite honestly, I was ready to head back to Hamilton Island, find a hotel and get some real sleep. However, I didn’t want to let my temper get in the way of our final days in the Whitsundays. We had planned on heading to Butterfly Bay today so Todd kept to course. I was just so tired and really wanted to try and get a bit more sleep so we decided to lay back down (after I fixed the rattling dishes) for about 30 minutes. And I actually slept. Even had a quick dream.
Once I awoke from that quick cat nap, I felt a bit better and was ready to get going. We never did go explore Whitehaven Beach but, even though it does look pretty running a long coast line, we have found better beaches that are more secluded and just as (if not more) beautiful.
So we headed out of the Whitehaven Beach anchorage and motored toward Butterfly Bay at Hook Island. The wind was at our back so the only way to sail is to run. We actually tried this before but sat dead in the water. However, Todd was jonesin’ to sail. I admit I wasn’t much into it…especially after our encounter the day before. But I knew he really wanted to sail so I sucked up my leftover fear and went along with it.
Todd is a really great sailor! He dialed in the sails on a run where we were actually going about 4 – 5 knots! This is a very challenging sail – you really want to be heading more into the wind, not have the wind at your back. But Todd did a great job and we were sailing at good clips. There were a couple of times that we were getting pretty far from land that I noticed my butt was clenching and I was biting my lip. There were some medium swells out that way and I was just a bit worried that it would turn on us again.
But it didn’t and we had an awesome sail. Right into the inlet leading to Butterfly Bay. We motored into the best mooring area in the bay. This is another first for us…we have never moored before. A mooring is essentially a buoy in the water with a large rope. You can tie your boat off at the mooring instead of anchoring. Although we had never done this before, we were champs! I drove right up to it without running over it and Todd was able to pull the line with the boat hook. It was perfect, flawless and quite easy! Actually easier than anchoring.
So here we are in Butterfly Bay. Our last night at sea before we head to the marina. Tomorrow night we will stay at the marina and head out for our flight to Sydney the next morning. So we are enjoying this beautiful bay and our final moments of our sail. Tomorrow should be a great sail into the wind at a close reach. That will be a great grand finale!
Time for another beer…
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