Thursday 24th - Coral Sea Marina
Said goodbye to our guests as they had a big drive home.
Quick school, then a load or two of washing.
I did a quick trip to the chandlery to get some dynema. One of the wires that supports the back transom had snapped, so I needed to fix that.
Kristie had taken the courtesy car to head out for some shopping:
- Big W - we needed to replace some tea-towels, rulers for the girls, and new socks.
- Whitsunday marine watersports (where we bought the outboard) to get the adapter to flush the outboard.
- Bunnings for two broom sticks - the girls want to make some “sniffy sticks”.
Nic had taken the girls and Charlee swimming at the pool in the resort. Quick swim and then back to the boats via the ice cream shop!
Thanks Nic!
We got off the dock not long after 11am
Sailed to Hayman - but no moorings.
Motored to Stonehaven for windy sunset and a night of banging (the mooring ball on our hull).
Friday 25th
School and work, then moved across to Langford following Exhale. There’s not too many moorings there and they usually fill up on good days.
(They were all full by the time we got in the water).
The tide was down, but coming in, so there was still a bit of a sandbar there (its completely underwater at high tide).
We enjoyed a snorkel with the ladies from Exhale. We were searching for the turtle statue that’s supposed to be there.
No luck finding that, but we did find a real live turtle just hanging out at about 2m depth just having a bit of a feed.
It didn’t mind us swimming down to get a closer look or give it a bit of a scratch.
Back on the Lazuli and we got a call from Exhale letting us know a couple of whales were swimming past. They come in close to all of us.
We were planning to have the night in Butterfly Bay, and that always fills up. Left before the others and ended up getting a mooring right down the end.
Exhale were a bit slower and ended up on a mooring out near the wall… rolly but for some good snorkeling.
Charlee came over to Lazuli to paint lanterns with the girls (Kristie ordered some paper lanterns in preparation for the lantern parade happening at the marina on the 1st).
Back over to Exhale for some rolly sip’s dips.
Saturday 26th
The girls had declared the day before that they wouldn’t be able to do anything this morning as it was their cousin’s Birthday and they were dedicating the morning to play Minecraft with her!
We attempted to head around the top of Hook, looking to get to one of the bays further down, but too windy and wild so went to Hayman and got a mooring at Blue Pearl Bay instead.
Exhale followed and got there not long after us, picking up the mooring next to us.
More whales about, had to dodge one coming in around the corner.
Took the tender into the beach so the girls could play with Charlee, and then went for a snorkel looking for the Maori wrasse statue.
Kristina and Emma played on the beach with Charlee, then Emma came out for a good snorkel.
No luck finding the statue.
Kenny and Nic took the girls back to Exhale (via Lazuli so they could get changed and grab iPads), and then left to head to Nara Inlet.
There were two dive boats on the tender moorings when we first came in, and we’d gone over to talk to them about the diving.
The deck hand (skipper?) didn’t know much - doubt he was a diver. The chick DM was “yeah you should just dive with our shop” and didn’t pass on any actual info.
Helpful.
We had the last laugh… she’d gone to get changed and come back up with a massive wardrobe malfunction… Kristie made a joke with the deckhand about if we’ll see Mantas or “white pointers” on the dive… he laughed… but it went right over her head!
Kristie jumped in and dived from Lazuli, then up the wall along to Dolphin Point.
I watched most of the dive from Lazuli, then jumped in the tender when she got closer to the point.
While she was underwater, I’d tried to find the GPS location of the Maori Wrasse. With Kristie back in the tender we went over again to have another look.
We had snorkeled that area a lot already, the GPS mark didn’t help.
We had two whales that swam into the bay. Around the mooring that Exhale had been on, and then they came back under Lazuli and kept swimming north.
With dive gear stowed, we cast off and got out to the wind to try and sail down to Nara.
Lots more whales along the way, making plenty of splashes.
There was large naval ship in the bay. It and a smaller ship had been around in the morning and then headed out to sea.
This one came back in and dropped anchor just near Langford Island.
We’d been listening to them on the VHF. They were using #69 for talking to their small boats as they had crew doing water activities.
Exhale had come around the corner earlier and was “Warship! Warship!” on #69 as we’ve been using that. Wonder what they think of our endless nattering on that channel.
We ended up dropping sail half way down Hook as the wind dropped as we got closer in. Motored and dropped anchor close to Exhale.
Nibbles on Exhale again, this time Viv & Russ were there as well.
We (Kristie) had bought a bottle of Port to give to Russ in thanks for his spare prop that we got.
It was finished before we left Exhale and went back for dinner on Lazuli :)
Sunday 27th
Bella and Exhale left this morning to head into Airlie Beach.
Kristie went for a SUP around Nara, while I worked.
It was a rainy day so we didn’t bother moving or doing anything else.
Monday 28th
School and work, then moved to Hayman. Weather is looking good for another trip out to the reef, and we wanted to stage from the top of Hayman or Hook.
Lots of whales the whole way up.
There were 3 or 4 free moorings in Blue Pearl Bay when we turned up, so had a few options.
As we were deciding we saw a Manta ray swimming around. Tied up to the mooring ball quickly, and wasn’t long before Kristie jumped in to snorkel with it.
It wasn’t that curious, and the visibility wasn’t the best. It swam off, and Kristie continue snorkeling around the bay for a while longer.
Kristie filled tanks so that we would ready for diving out on the reef.
The girls helped me make/cook banana muffins (using our standard banana bread recipe).
Tuesday 29th
Early start, up at 5:30am for a 6am departure.
No wind, so motoring all the way to Bait. The other three boats were heading to Hook, but we were keen for a dive at Bait if possible.
However, there weren’t any free moorings, so we went back out and around to the mooring at the Dropoff, which was free.
Kristie jumped in for a solo dive. She’d been in the water less than 5min when “Vyper” (one of the fast jetboats with a load of snorkelers/divers) came speeding up.
The skipper asked if we’d be able to move off the mooring so that they could use it.
I pointed to the dive flag we had up (not sure how they missed it) and said we had a diver in the water, and we’d be at least another hour and a half before we moved.
He kindly reminded me that they were 2hr moorings. I agreed and said something along the lines of “go have fun telling that to all the others that spent the night at Bait Reef and are still on the 2hr moorings”!.
It took them a good 30min to get a mooring over there!
While Kristie was underwater, the girls discovered the Nara Inlet mud on the anchor/chain and started making sculptures with it.
I put my wetsuit on and had a quick snorkel towards the end of her dive. Just swimming/drifting along with the tender.
With Kristie back onboard, I made some lunch then we started motoring around to join the others at Hook Reef.
The girls were most excited that half way back to hook we got Starlink back online. Their world would now be ok!
We had to dodge the bommies on the way in. We had good conditions for navigating around them (sun overhead, flat and clear water), but I needed Kristie upfront pointing to where to go.
We ended up dropping our anchor next to a cat called “Trim”, who are actually neighbours of Kristie’s mum and dad.
Popped over in the tender to say hi to them.
Kenny and Tom were in the water spearing, and as I was keen to have a go I got Kristie to drop me over.
While I was having fun chasing fish and trying not to spear myself, Kristie was busy in the tender:
- Picked up Charlee so that she could come over and make clay sculptures.
- Took Kristina & Charlee back over to Exhale to swim on their mat.
- Picked Kristina & Charlee to come back to play Roblox with Emma
- Took Kristina & Charlee back to Exhale to watch a movie.
- Picked up Kristina as Charlee was sick and falling asleep.
I went to the outside wall/reef - but no luck for me (the others both nabbed a fish or two).
No sip’s ‘n dips as Charlee was still asleep.
Wednesday 30th
A bit of school and work before taking Kristie out to dive the other slope (it wasn’t really a wall).
No tender moorings, and the tide was ripping out over the wall, so I was constantly motoring back into the lagoon and then drifting out towards Kristie.
Not long before the dive ended I got a call on the VHF from Kenny. They’d been chased out of the water by reef sharks and were planning to head off/back to the Whitsundays.
Got Kristie back onboard and wasn’t long before all four boats were ready to depart.
We let the sacrificial cat go first, then us, Bella, and Driftwood.
They all headed back in, but we went back to Bait Reef. The conditions weren’t so good up top, so no issues getting a mooring this time.
Kristie geared up and jumped in near the entrance to the lagoon. I snorkeled, towing the tender along with me.
Conditions were great, easily 25m vis.
We didn’t end up leaving Bait until close to 3pm. Sails up and was making reasonably good progress.
The wind died out close to 5pm, so we had to motor the rest of the way in from there.
The other three were on moorings in the northern section of Stonehaven. As we got close they hailed us on the VHF to say they still had a mooring free next to them.
Grabbed the mooring in last light, the sun had gone down but still just enough light to grab it without needing a torch!
Quick drop of the tender and over to Exhale for dinner (Kenny was cooking up the fish they got into a Thai green curry).
I’d cooked dinner for the girls on the way in knowing that they wouldn’t be so keen on the spicy curry.
I enjoyed it, went back for 2nds.
Had a good catch up with Kenny and Nic, and Tom and Toni from Driftwood.
Thursday 31st
School and work. Exhale and Bella left early to get back to Airlie.
Kristie filled tanks.
Windy, cloudy, and cold; didn’t leave the boat.
Friday 1st
School and work.
Raining in the morning.
Had an early lunch then we took advantage of a small break in the weather after my work meetings to drop the mooring.
Kristie then motored in the rain back to Coral Sea Marina.
They put us back on L8 again. No complaints from us. It’s at the end of the finger, so you can’t run into any other boats!
Boat jobs as usual: rubbish, gas refill, fuel (just carried the jerry cans down the end to get filled), water.
Kristie walked to Woolies, and taxied back. The driver was a bit cranky that the online fare was paid and didn’t include the time he had to spend loading and unloading. LOL.
Kristie took the washing up to be done, and dragged the girls to the showers. They walked back by themselves. They’re quite comfortable walking around marinas.
I got the lights set up in the lanterns the girls had painted, then headed up to the marina area where the lantern parade was starting.
Charlee, Kenny, and Nic were also there.
Somehow Kenny and I got voluntold to help cary a big whale tail lantern that someone had made (see below).
Stopped at the northern section of the marina for a photo, then walked all the way in to town, trying not to hit high obstacles with the tail!
We ditched the tail and legged it. The festival was in full swing and the girls were keen for rides.
We gave them a budget and they had to work out what rides they wanted to go on.
Emma had no hesitation in lining up for the bungee trampoline. (she had sore core body muscles for a few days after her efforts of double flips!)
I walked off to go find food for Kristie and I; I’d made naan pizza’s for the girls before the parade.
I found the sourdough pizza guys and ordered two from there.
Another yummy Nutella & Banana pizza :)
The girls finished their rides, and we walked back over to where the food stalls and displays were.
Back through to the carnival section as we were thirsty, and we all got some slushies.
The fireworks were going to start at 8:30, so we walked over to a shelter to sit down and wait.
Fireworks were ok, not quite up to the standard of our local school fete or the Ekka (that we’ll be missing out on)
Walked home in the rain.
Whitsundays - Done and Dusted
This is it! We’re done with the Whitsundays after just more than a month:
- 5 nights with The Meades
- 5 nights with Craig and Tal
- 4 nights with Jess and Chris
- 5 nights with Scott and his partner
- Two trips out to the local reefs
We loved having visitors, thanks to all those that made the effort to come and visit us.
Our highlights:
- Snorkeling/diving at Bait Reef
- Sunsets from Chalkies
- Snorkeling/diving at Black Island (eastern side)
- Snorkeling with Manta rays at various locations
- Swimming with/feeding the fish at Mantaray Bay
- Lookouts - Hill Inlet & Border Island
- Sips ‘n dips on various beaches
- Catching up with boat friends (and making new ones)
- Some lovely sailing in good wind and not too much swell
Things we missed out on:
- Exploring some of the bays (and snorkeling) on the eastern side of Hook Island
- More sunsets at Chalkies - it’s always busy there!
- Catching (eatable) fish
I guess we can have another go on the way back south!
Tomorrow we head north!
As part of their writing the girls wrote about their highlights of our time here.
Kristina’s Top 5
My five favourite things at the Whitsundays
In the past few weeks we have been visiting the Whitsundays and exploring.
We have had so many things to do and so many friends to share it with.
It has been a great few weeks.
Although there have been so many great things to do there have been five things that I’ve liked more than others.
My favourite thing by far has definitely been Manta Ray Bay and how we got to feed all the cool fish.
Our parents bought a whole loaf of cheap bread for us to feed them each time we went to Manta Ray Bay (we went there four times with all our visitors).
Me and Emma would each take a slice of bread, tear it up into smaller pieces, then throw it down at the adults so that they could get a better view of the fish.
When we had nearly run out of bread I got our Mum to come back in the tender so that she could throw the rest to me and Emma.
Before I got in I put on my mermaid-tail so it would be easier for me to swim.
It was amazing how many fish there were and it was even cooler how they would all just swim up to you so close that you could touch them.
(They must have been really hungry if they would come that close to humans for food.)
One of the times a Maori Wrasse came right up to my face for a piece of bread so I reached out to pet it and succeeded by running my hand gently across its side.
My second favourite thing was our time over at Chalkies.
There was some beautiful coral with so many pretty colours and different textures.
While we were snorkelling and swimming Dad spotted a small turtle that was so, so cute!
It was smaller than the average turtle but it didn’t look like a full baby.
I think it was probably a kid like me and Emma.
When we couldn’t find the turtle anymore we continued swimming and saw lots and lots of clams, some yummy looking fish and another turtle.
This one was bigger than the other and was nearly the same size as me!
I was wearing my mermaid-tail again and I decided to swim underneath our Aunty Jess.
Whenever I do that to people it always makes them smile.
A different time when we went there it was with our friends the Meads and one of the turtles came right up to the back of our boat.
Luckily Dad had some spare squid that he had caught so each of us got two tentacles to hand feed the turtle.
It came so close to eat it that each of us got to pat it as well.
Justin got out his phone and started taking photos so those might appear later in the blog.
When we pet the turtle I realised that the turtles shell was kind of slimy but at the same time soft.
My third favourite thing was when we went to WhiteHaven beach at sunset.
We had gone over to Nauti Kitty earlier for sips n’ dips then dinner.
The Dads cooked some chicken on a barbecue while us kids did Sniffy obstacle courses on the front deck.
There was a full crew of fourteen people at sips n’ dips but then Viv and Rus went back to their boat for dinner.
After that there was just twelve of us but that still took three tender rides to get into the beach.
The Sniffys and their parents brought over their poi’s and every one had a turn of it and swinging it around to the beat of the music.
We had brought over two packs of ten glow sticks and with the four kids we each got five.
I really liked that because there were five colours of glow sticks so we each got a rainbow.
The adults were still doing a concert sort of thing with the poi’s so the Sniffy’s came up with the idea to play a game of tag.
Baby Sniffy was it first but despite being the youngest he was also the speediest.
He easily got all of us so by the end of the trip to the beach we were all tired and ready to go to bed.
It was such a fun night and we all had a great time.
My fourth favourite thing was how we got to go scuba diving over at Border Island.
When we first got there, there were no moorings so Mum and Dad put the anchor down to wait for one.
After about thirty minutes later one of the boats left the moorings and we were ready to pounce on it like a tiger.
When the boat was secured we got ready to go diving.
Craig and Tal stayed on the boat and had a rest from the sail but we got changed into togs and wetsuits.
The diving gear all went to the tender, then Emma and me and then mum got in with the tender rope so we could actually go somewhere.
When we found a good spot to dive, Mum got her gear and tank on then got in the water.
Dad tried to put it on me but my arm got twisted while the arm strap was going on.
It really hurt so Emma went diving first. They saw some beautiful coral and lots of fish.
When they came back up to the surface I got into the gear as my arm was feeling better.
We went down and it was like a whole new world.
There were fish everywhere and coral galore. It was amazing!
The diving was great and I’m glad that I went.
My final favourite spot was over at Hill inlet.
We moored in Tung Bay and cautiously tendered into shore to do the walk.
The track was very steep but it was worth it when we got to the top and saw the amazing view the lookout had to offer.
We did the walk with our Aunty and Uncle so they got to see the Awesome view aswell.
After we had gotten to all three of the lookouts, we headed back down to the bag racks so we could get all our things.
The adults grabbed the bags then we walked down to the beach for sips n’ dips.
Charlee and her parents had come aswell so when we had all had our sip n’ dips dad got out our frisbee to play.
At every place we went to we had a good time and did so many fun things.
In conclusion the Whitsundays are a great place to visit with friends!
Emma’s Top 4 for the Whitsundays
My Four Favourite Places In The Whitsundays
For the last few weeks we have been in the Whitsundays.
I have four favourite places:
- Mantaray bay
At mantaray bay I liked feeding the fish.
The little fish would come to the surface to eat the bread and sometimes Nibble your fingers.
- Black Island
We went snorkeling at Blacks island. The water at the top was cold so I dove deep down under water to get warm.
The coral was the healthiest we’ve seen and there was a good variety of fish.
- Chalkies
At Chalkies a turtle came right to the back of our boat. We happened to have some spare squid so we fed it.
Since it came so close we got to pat it!
- Border Island
Mum had a good idea to go scuba diving at Border island.
When I was scuba diving I saw lots of fish and coral but lots of it was rubble and dead still.
Kristina’s Recount of the time at Nara Inlet
The weather was bad so we decided to head over to Nara Inlet.
If we had gone anywhere else the swell would have gotten us, but in there we were protected.from the swell and wind.
There is a walking track up to a cave with some aboriginal paintings.
The walk was steep but it was surrounded by trees which gave us shade.
We stopped about half way and listened to stories from the Aboriginal Elders.
Just a bit further up the tack there was a big space cleared but with lots of signs talking about how the aboriginals survived and what they had to do.
We finished off the track with the help of a couple of skittle breaks and rests.
When we got to the top we tried to decode the old and slightly faded paintings before giving up and going to have another look at the signs.
We then went back down to the beach on dropped Charlee back at her boat.
Emma’s Thoughts on Bait Reef
Bait Reef has no land because it’s a reef that’s surrounded by water.
It has to be perfect weather to enjoy Bait Reef because it’s 57 kilometres from the main land.
There’s no internet because it’s so far from land.
AND THE NO INTERNET IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!!!!!!!
We jumped off the side of the boat to get in the water.
We went to snorkel at the steppingstones but then the Sealink came and dropped off so many people.
But we still had a good time with all the fishies.
When we got back from our snorkel we got dry and warm we went over to Wild Kat for sundowners.
We saw lots of whales but they had a dog so I had to hide.
But over all I had a great time!
Emma’s recount of Mantaray Bay
On our fourth lap, we went back to Mantaray bay.
Again while we were snorkeling bread was thrown at us to attract the fish.
Last lap we found out that the Maori Wrasse name is George. Each time he comes with his babies.
Oh and George is a father.
We snorkeled over to the statues to show our aunty and uncle.
Me and Kristina held onto dads shoulders and he swam us down 5 meters to touch the mantaray statue.
When the others were snorkeling back I swam down to touch it myself and I succeeded!
Dad saw it for proof.
Emma’s recount of Nara Inlet
We anchored at Nara Inlet in the Whitsundays.
There was a walking track that started on the beach.
It took us to some Aboriginal cave paintings.
The cave paintings where very old and slightly faded.
There was a fence to make sure nothing touches them.
The next day we paddled across the inlet to a cave on the other side.
We had to climb up some rocks which was a bit scary.
There was a big cave and a small cave.
We didn’t find any paintings in the big cave but there was some in the small cave.
Kristina’s recount of the Lantern Parade
We’ve done lots of things recently but out of all of them my new favourite was definitely the Airlie Beach festival.
Usually around this time of year we go to the Ekka but we’re to far up to do that so instead we got to go to a lantern parade.
To do this Mum bought 6 packs of lanterns, each pack containing one lantern.
We invited Charlee over to our boat so we could paint and assemble each of our lanterns.
Mum bought six in case the Sniffys were here they would get one too.
I made my lantern blue and lilac which I thought looked really cute especially with how the warm lights shone from the inside.
The parade started at sunset and we got to view all of the amazing creations done by a whole bunch of kids at their school.
There were sharks, turtles, jelly fish and stingrays galore.
There were two big whale tails and one of the ladys who had organised the parade asked Dad and Kenny to carry the bigger one.
The tail was bigger than me.
Every one (including us) marched along the coast and streets for about fifteen minutes before stopping and putting the lanterns down near the ferris wheel.
We went under several arches and low wires so the dads got to play a bit of limbo with the whale tail.
After the parade was officially over we fast walked to the rides to check them out.
In the first minute Emma was already on the bungee jump.
Meanwhile, I had asked Mum if I could go check out the prices for the rides I wanted to do.
I firstly checked out the Wizzer which is a ride where you can have one-three people per cart.
There was twelve carts on three arms that went round and round really fast.
We went on a ride very similar to that when we were down in Coffs.
My favourite ride was the Star which had lots of seats and went up, around then down.
Me and Emma used the expression ‘our bums are free’ as we kept lifting up off the seat when we went up.
Neither of us got hurt although it was still really fun.
Emma’s recount of the Lantern Parade
There was a lantern parade at Airlie Beach. Mum bought some paper lanterns for us to make.
There was a spare for Charlee.
Charlee came over to our boat to assemble and paint her lantern.
I used pink and purple paint for my lantern.
The lantern parade started at six o’clock near the marina.
We walked along the coast to the ferris wheel. Dad and Kenny got to carry the whale tail.
It was so big I could see it when I drifted to the back.
There was lots of rides at the festival. My favourite rides were the “Star” and the bungee trampoline.
On the bungee trampoline I managed to do a double back flip.
When it was really dark there was some fireworks. I found the fireworks too loud and I was tired.
