Wandering North

We headed a bit north from Airlie beach / Hamilton Island area yesterday. It's been blowing like stink all week and lots of rain down there. There is not much between Whitsundays and Townsville and we expected to day hop and tuck behind peninsulas at night. We ran into a Nordie 47 who said they were going into Bowen. It's a small harbor and the book shows 1.4m in the entrance channel, but the harbor master said it should be no problem with the neap lows, so here we are. We had at least 2 ft under the keel all the way in.

 

Bowen is mostly for the fishing fleet and a couple hundred beat up cruisers all hanging between pilings. I called on the radio and they said they had one 25m piling mooring we could use.   Piling moorings are used in many places in Australia.    They have rows of big steel posts pounded into the harbor and you tie your bow and stern so you are strung between.  You can almost step onto the boats on all four sides of you.   Luckily our spot is on the outside of the line up and we got hooked up.  Holy crap we are tucked in tight. I wandered down to the office to pay for a couple nights and she quoted me $10.95. I asked was that per meter or what? No, it's $10.95 per night for the 25m mooring.  Looks like an interesting little town, we may stay a while!

 

We met some old sailing friends that we originally met in the Marquesas and saw many times that season. It's a French boat named "RIGA" and they had their grandson on board when we had all the kids in Anaho Bay. Saturday night, (two nights ago) they got creamed by a freighter 25 nm from here, lost the entire rig, solar panels, and much deck gear, and ended up getting towed into here.  They said some journalists have already been here and the Aussie Government investigator comes tomorrow. They are all OK, but still in shock. It's one hell of a tough aluminum boat. Lots of dents and ripples along the starboard rail, but floating. WOW!   Their grandson is back aboard so Bear will have someone to play with while we are here.   Our plan is to stay here a couple days and move north to Townsville, where we will stay about a week.    Forecast is for the winds to build again to 25k - 30k+ so we may hang out on our $10.95 mooring a few extra days.

 

 

Eric

Hamilton Island

The main hub for the Whitsundays is Hamilton Island. It's where we greeted and dropped off our guests (the Bergquists) and spent several days enjoying what the island had to offer. Hamilton Island is quite the tourist destination - akin to Mackinaw Island in upper Michigan.

Main Street

Like Mackinaw, the local mode of transportation is golf carts (they call them "buggies" here) and the three-block long main street is littered with overpriced restaurants (although good restaurants compared to elsewhere in Australia that we've experienced). The climate and access to the Great Barrier Reef is the island's attraction, on which charter boats, dive shops and the like have capitalized. For this reason, the area's major airport is located on the island - in view of the marina which was fun because we could watch the flights as they arrived and departed daily.

Hamilton Island Golf Resort

Bear bowling

Hamilton Island had all the expected tourist activities, some in which we partook. Eric and Bear had a thrilling ride in go-carts (we fibbed about Bear's age so he could drive his own cart - minimum age was eleven). When our friends were here, the boys all played mini-golf and enjoyed the public pools. They had kids activities in which Bear participated: tennis, bowling and basketball (which was cancelled due to weather so they played ping-pong). Across the bay at the neighboring island, there was a world-class golf course which Eric and I played one afternoon. It was fun to play tourist for a while.

Yacht Club

The marina and yacht club were a pleasant surprise for us. Our slip was in the center of town - directly across the street from the grocery store (how convenient!) and the post office. It was a great place to be - except for the multitude of people who came down to ask, "Did you drive that boat over from the US or put it on a ship?" It was quaint and friendly at first, but when we were asked for a tour, I'd had enough! The marina people were exceptionally nice and the Yacht Club was spectacular, even though extremely overpriced. The building resembled a manta ray! The contours and lines were somewhat reminiscent of the Sydney Opera House. We were impressed!

Lorikeet

One of the cool phenomena of the island were the birds, although I believe the locals saw them as a nuisance. The macaws and lorikeets combed the area unabashedly looking for easy eats of dropped french fries (excuse me, chips, as they are known here) and discarded sandwiches. Tourists didn't help the situation as they gave into the temptation to toss food their way in attempt to see them up-close. This only exasperated the problem. The birds became so numerous and aggressive that the local authority took action. On occasion, they patrolled with a resident bald eagle - in their buggy, no less! One ride up and down the street with the eagle, and the birds disappeared for days! But it didn't deter the hundreds of flying foxes (large fruit bats) that only appeared for a half hour at sunset swarming the tree tops above town.

We enjoyed Hamilton Island, but only for a brief reprieve into "touristville" and a convenient access point. For those cruising this way, I'd allow three days and move on. 

Prince Reigns in Brisbane

Nothing can take you back in time like music from your younger days. Last night we stood among a crowd of baby-boomers and relived internal passions of the 80’s. Rising on a platform in mid-stage shaped like Prince’s androgynous symbol, a lone six-string guitarist strummed the unforgettable tune to Purple Rain while a woman in a long, white flowing gown glided across the stage. Goose bumps tingled my skin and tears welled in my eyes. When Prince appeared on stage minutes later, I felt like “going crazy” to the words of that famous song and we stood and rocked as he sang hit after hit, inviting the crowd to sing along. For two hours, Prince took us back in time and the night culminated with a twelve minute long rendition of Purple Rain. 

Jamie, in more reflective time

It was an unforgettable night shared with friends: birthday boy Jamie and his wife, Behan (s/v Totem).

Posted by Ann

The Process of Making Sugar by Bear

The process of making sugar starts with sugar cane. Lots and lots of sugar cane! Workers used to cut it by hand, but now they use a machine because too many people died from snakes in the fields. After cutting, they put the cane into a crusher, which crushes all the cane juice out. (The Chinese make this into non-fizz soda.) Then the juice gets dried into great tasting sugar.  To make brown sugar, they just add a little molasses. It’s simple! We went to a miniature factory and learned these things.

We also learned some history about sugar. The Indians were the first to make sugar in 500B.C. But the Africans first brought it to Australia in the late 1700s. These are great facts and GREAT tasting sugar!

Bergquists Visit Australia

 Our good friends, Kurt, Desiree, Grant (6) and Camden (9) Bergquist joined us at Hamilton Island for two weeks of fun in the Whitsunday Islands of Australia. After a few days of enjoying the pools at Hamilton Island, we headed out to explore the surrounding islands and the Great Barrier Reef.

We anchored for ten nights - some nights rocking in the swell, others as calm as a lake.We found a few great snorkel spots (Luncheon Bay and Blue Pearl Bay were two favorites) and the Bergquist boys were blown away by the colors, size, and variety of fish. SCUBA diving was a bit disappointing though. With the large, full moon, the tidal swings were great, causing poor visibility at the dive sites.

George!

One of the highlights was spending a couple of days anchored at Hardy Reef - fifteen miles out to sea from the islands. At high tide with no reef in sight, it felt like we were anchored in the middle of the ocean. Fantasea, a tourist ferry system, has anchored a large pontoon platform at the reef that can hold up to 400 people on day trips for snorkeling and diving the reef. Located in a marine park where they've been feeding the fish for over twenty years, Reef World (as it is called) had plenty of gigantic fish to view. The most famous resident is George - a nine foot, 450 pound grouper who was bigger than the boys! We were able to enjoy the Reef World after hours, with no tourists and four crew who stay on the platform for five days at a stretch. They enjoyed our beer while the kids enjoyed the slide!

Other activities included hiking, tubing, fishing (Camden caught the only fish!), and lots of playing in the tropical water. It was a vacation we will all remember with huge smiles!

Great Barrier Reef

We have been hanging out in the Whitsunday Islands with our guests Kurt and Desiree and their two boys.   These islands are a charter boat paradise with many close in islands and anchorages for vacationing boaters.    Yesterday, we headed out to explore more remote areas.

 

We are offshore from the Whitsunday Islands about 20 miles anchored where there is nothing in front of us other than what looks like ocean. Actually, there is about a mile of reef – covered at high tide and exposed at low tide between us and the rolling sea, but it looks like we are anchored in the middle of no where.

These reefs are the beginning of the Great Barrier Reef and the outer most part of the reef is another 30 miles out. Luckily we currently have good weather out here because there is very little protection should it start to blow. We hope to be able to stay out here for two more days before the wind and seas kick up.

There is a bizarre platform on the next reef over called 'Fantasea'. It is a huge pontoon boat platform that can handle up to 400 people on day trips. They bring them out on huge high speed catamarans or helicopters to let them "experience" the GBR. the platform is pulled up against a reef so they can snorkel and dive off the rig, see big fish that hang out there (including a 11' 600 lb grouper). The masses leave each day at 2:30 pm and there are 4 young Aussies that stay there overnight. We took the kids over after the day trippers left and the crew welcomed us. Of course it helped that we brought beer and wine to what is supposed to be a dry boat!

They had a huge water slide off the back and underwater viewing room to see the reef and fish. Very cool, yet weird being so far out on the ocean in total comfort and security.

We will dive on the reef for a couple days and then head back toward Hamilton Island on the weekend. We'll drop our guests off there and hang out for a week before continuing to wander north towards Cairns.

 

E