Sunday 29th June - Coral Sea Marina
With the Meades onboard, and most of the jobs done there wasn’t too much to do before we set off.
Showers, breakfast, coffee (the essentials), and then a quick boat brief.
We dropped lines ourselves and headed out of the harbour.
There was still a good 15knt SE wind blowing, which made for a fun (for Justin and I) sail across to the top of Hook Island.
We dropped sail around Stonehaven, and motored around the top and picked up a mooring on the eastern side of Butterfly Bay.
The kids were keen for a swim, so we just tied the swim mat off the back for them.
Kristie, Scarlett and I jumped in the tender and went around the middle of Butterfly Bay for a snorkel.
It was ok (Scarlett really loved it) and around that headland in the middle was the best bit.
We had picked up a mooring next to some friends we’d met on Great Keppel Island.
We invited them over for the usual sip’s ‘n dips, but only Ollie and Kiya ended up coming over.
She was super excited to visit and play with 4 kids we had on board!
Good to catch up with Ollie as well,
Monday 30th
Raining this morning.
We were just sitting around when Ollie & Daph came over in their tender to tell us they’d seen Manta’s hanging around their boat.
They were off to go get in the water with them.
Queue the quickest donning of wetsuits on the trip so far. Two tender trips to get our lot across and in the water.
There were 4 mantas at the start, but by the end there were just two swimming around us in circles.
We started on the eastern side of the bay, but ended up well past the middle by the end of it.
Back on Lazuli we stayed in our wetsuits and motored across to grab the mooring at Mantaray Bay.
There used to be 2 public moorings, but now there’s only one mooring for larger boats, and 3 or 4 little tender moorings.
We took our swim mat over and tied it onto one of the tender moorings for the kids to sit on to have a break from swimming.
During our last shop we’d ordered a loaf of cheap white bread just for the fish.
The kids (and I) enjoyed throwing the bread in front of (or onto) those in the water to attract the fish!
So many fish around, as well as a few large GT’s and a Maori Wrass.
The kids ended up enticing a fish onto the mat with bread and catching it in the bucket - lots of shouting and laughter ensued!
Here’s a quick video from our swim there (Thanks J)
Olli and Daf were on the way over with their boat and were just about to turn around as there wasn’t a mooring.
We got on the radio and let them know we were off and they could have our mooring.
Grabbed a mooring at Maureen’s.
Went to go for a dive, but realised after getting the tanks set up that we had never filled up after our last dive at Musgrave.
We filled tanks, but by the time we were done it was 4:30 and too late for a dive.
Sip’s ‘n dips instead.
The kids spotted a bunch of wild goats on the beach.
Tuesday 1st July
Was good to wake up to blue skies.
Tested the tanks, and one was at 6ppm, so Kristie dumped the air out of that and then had to refill it.
Tested after at 1ppm.
After two days of dealing with different device time restrictions we’d agreed on 2hr limit. Managed to encourage the kids to do something without them.
They did a joint drawing game where each person got to nominate something different to add to the drawing!
I then took the other 3 adults for a dive. Poor little tender was a bit low in the water with 4 adults and 3 sets of dive gear :(
They dived along the eastern side of the bay. Wasn’t that great, but they did see a Manta Ray (and the accompanying cobia!)
The best bit was right on the point where the coral was nicer.
Back (slowly) to Lazuli and filled the tanks back up.
We were planning to set off to Border Island, so poked our head out past the point and motored to get clear of the rocks before hoisting the sails.
We had 2nd reef and #2 jib out and only been sailing for a minute before we noticed a cat doing odd stuff.
A whole lot of smoke then bellowed from the front - I immediately thought it was on fire, but it dissipated quite quickly.
They’d let off a flare! We had radio contact with another large tourist/sailing yacht that had followed us out around the corner.
We got close to them and then “hove to” in order to talk to them and see what was happening: they had lost steering and had no radio.
They were obviously quite worried, especially in the 1-2m sea close to the rock!
We dropped sails and let them know we’d follow them in and provide any assistance we could offer.
I got on the VHF and ended up talking to Hay Point VTS, and they were starting to talk to VMR Whitsundays.
The skipper eventually got manual steering working and they were making their way around the top of the island.
They let us know that Cumberland Yacht Charters was sending someone out, and I let VTS know the same.
They were obviously keen to pick up a mooring, so we went into Luncheon Bay to see if one was available.
There weren’t any free, so we asked one of the tourist snorkel boats if they could move; however they had 20+ ppl in the water so couldn’t.
They did send one of their tenders over to another cat on a different mooring and asked if they would jump off theirs (and take the snorkeling boats mooring not long after).
The cat was more than happy and quickly jumped off. Kristie played the middle-woman on VHF and coordinated both parties.
With the broken down cat now on a mooring our job was done. The whole saga had taken a bit of time, which meant it was now too late to get back out to Border Island.
We motored around the corner to Stonehaven and grabbed one of the many (there’s more than 20) moorings there.
We got one right up in the corner, quite protected. The kids were keen to have a swim, so tied the mat off and they had a great time.
Kristie and I headed off for a snorkel, but via another boat we’d met at Middle Percy. We’d been keeping an eye on where they were.
We were chatting with them when we noticed a Manta ray on the surface 20m away! Chat done, off for a snorkel :)
This one wasn’t as friendly and did not really want to hang around with us too much.
Once it left us we went back and had a quick snorkel on the finger of reef that extends out near where our mooring was.
Was ok, but nothing special.
Sip’s ‘n dips.
We’ve been enjoying the nights with the top off: dinner and drinks under the stars.
Wednesday 2nd
Motored over to grab a mooring at Black Island (about 1.5nm from where we’d spent the night).
Wetsuits on (except for J who had some time with his book) and took the swim mat over and tied it onto one of the 3 tender moorings.
We had to do two trips, but with us all there we had a drift snorkel along the wall.
Didn’t see any turtles, but lots of fish and coral (the eastern side of Blacks is our favourite snorkeling spot in the Whitsundays).
Once we were all nice and warm it was time to head down to Tongue Bay, on the eastern side of Whitsunday Island.
Motored all the way, with a quick stop/circle for lunch just before we got out through the passage between the islands.
Tongue Bay was pretty full when we got there, and no free moorings. One of the large tourist sailing boats was ferrying their passengers back on so we had a chat with them and they would be off in 15-20min.
We did circles around the other boats while waiting for them.
Once moored up we got ready to head into the beach to walk up to the lookout, and then we planned to head down to Hill Inlet and have some time on the beach there.
The beach was full of people; thankfully they were mostly getting back on their boats!
We did the walk to the lookout, and took the required photos. Wasn’t too busy.
Walked back down to the beach and set up our picnic mats away from everyone else.
Drinks and nibbles, and a good place to launch the drone.
We had perfect weather!
There’s a big shallow section full of stingrays, which we enjoyed walking through and spotting them.
There’s also a big tree for posing on.
DJ Bacon made a quick appearance on the decks on the way off the beach.
Was nearly dark by the time we got back to Lazuli.
Dinner and a long game of Uno after. Kristina won!
Netflix had released The Old Guard #2 today, and J and I were keen to watch it.
Starting at 9:30 after a few drinks probably wasn’t the smartest, but I was up for it.
J got about 1/4 of the way in before taking a quick nap… waking up just in time for the end credits ;)
I enjoyed it.
Thursday 3rd
Breakfast then motored down to Whitehaven Beach, dropped anchor in just over 4m of water.
Early lunch and then geared up for beach time.
We were on the beach for close to 3 hours: cricket, swimming on the mat, walking, snacks etc.
The drone came out again for some good footage of us and Lazuli.
Kristie got our boat name written out in the sand, then time for some photos :)
We’d been keeping an eye on Chalkies, and one or two boats had left. By our count there should have been a free mooring or two.
So back on Lazuli at around 3pm to motor across. There ended up being about 3 or 4 free moorings. We grabbed one close to the reef.
J and I got the fishing rods out, but it wasn’t long before the friendly resident turtle turned up at the back of our boat.
(we had the same thing when we were here 2 years ago!)
I had a bunch of squid offcuts from the monster I’d pulled in at Fitzroy Reef, and had been using that for bait.
Turns out turtles like squid ;)
I had kept all the tentacles, which made a convenient hand feeding option for the turtle. Everyone on board got a chance to feed it.
Once we ran out of that we gave it some of the frozen shop squid bait.. it didn’t seem to mind that either!
With that excitement done it was time to head into the beach. We took in drinks and nibbles, and warm cloths and glow sticks.
Had a great time chilling on the beach.
Once the sun went down the temperature dropped, and out came the glow sticks.
We had a good game of “Frisbee” with a glow stick ring, before it was dance party time!
I’d brought in our bluetooth speaker, and our starlink wifi reached us on the beach :)
Back to the boat for a late (8pm ish) dinner. The highlight being me knocking the table and sending J’s full glass of red wine over the table, the seat cushion, and Jo :(
Friday 4th
6:30am wake up so we could get back to Airlie in time. Quick breakfast, Jo got some more packing done.
We were off by about 7:30. We’d just go out through the bottom of Whitsunday Island when I spotted some whales up ahead.
We stopped the boat and waited to see what they’d do; a little extra bonus for our guests on their trip with us!
Good sail until we got to Hammo, where the wind dropped once we got behind the island.
The wind dropped even more once we got past South Mole. With the wind right behind us, Justin and I got the pole out for the very first time since we’ve had Lazuli.
Didn’t do much for our speed. Eventually had to drop sails and motor the rest of the way.
J skippered us in through the marina entrance and then I took over.
By coincidence we’d pulled into the marina just behind Nauti Kitty. The kids came up and we gave them all a wave.
We knew they were coming in on the 4th, but good timing :)
There is a public pontoon with two berths, but they were both occupied, and another cat was waiting to take the next spot.
We turned around and went back out to anchor in the bay. Tender in and I took Jo and Kristie in with all our rubbish and washing.
The ladies took the rubbish up and put on the load of washing then headed off to grab our shopping from Woolies in their ute.
On the way back I had a chat with one of the boats on the pontoon. They were going to be off in about 20min, so I asked if they could radio us before hand.
I got back to Lazuli, got the tender up and fenders and lines set for the pontoon. J raised the anchor and we headed in.
We got the call from Phoenix that they were 5min away from leaving just as we were coming through the channel outside.
Kristie was waiting for us on the pontoon, and with a light blow-on breeze it was a pretty easy tie up.
Kristie then left us to sort out the boat. The kids helped us unload all the Meade belongings onto the wharf.
J took the kids up to put our washing in the dryer and then onto the lagoon for a swim (all in their cloths) and an icecream!
Thanks J!
I filled up water and did a bit of cleaning before the ladies got back with the shopping.
Stowed that on board.
Craig and Tal (our next guests) turned up around 2:30pm. Quick unload and then they walked off to get a bite to eat.
The Meade’s said their goodbyes and left to make their way back home.
It was great to have them on board Lazuli for the week! Lots of good times.