Back to the Islands

Welcome, Captain Ed, to being part of our great adventures! We met Ed, who is from the UK, several months back, sailing in the South Pacific. He has sailed extensively with his parents and recently completed his RYA Yachtmaster Certificate in Sydney. After a week of acquainting Ed to Nutmeg and fine-tuning a few things, Nutmeg is very happy to be SAILING! It’s great to be back out sailing, back out to islands, bays, beaches, snorkeling, sunrises and sunsets, night skies, reading time, & cocktail hour watching the sun go down after another beautiful day.

We are going back to see more of the Whitsundays, a group of 74 islands in the Coral Sea, 34 miles off the Queensland coast. In the heart of the Great Barrier Reef with several campgrounds and tropical island resorts, most of

the islands are uninhabited national parks with beautiful bays, beaches, snorkeling and hiking trails with stunning look-out views.

We anchor or moor for a few days/nights at various bays of Hook Island (Nara Inlet, Butterfly and Mantaray Bays), enjoy some great long snorkels (w/ underwater manta ray sculptures) and kayaking, then sail over to Tongue Bay at Whitsunday Island. Here we take the trail up to the Hill Inlet Lookouts. Wow! Breathtaking. Surreal. Unbelievable. As the tide goes in and out, the sand and waters shift, creating a swirling fusion of turquoise water and white sand melting together into incredible beauty. What an amazing view up Hill Inlet, looking down at Betty’s Beach and along Whitehaven Beach. We first see it at high tide and hike up the trail again the next morning to also see it at low tide. Both times are unique and spectacular. Down on Betty’s Beach we join all the people wading in the shallow waters, being careful not to step on the many stingrays buried in the sand and walk among several 2’ lemon sharks darting around.

Whitehaven Beach is rated one of the best beaches in the world. We anchor a couple nights here to walk and kayak the full 7km (& another 7km back) of super-soft white silica sand and crystal blue waters, scaring up several larger rays (boy, they can really move fast when they want to!), sharing it with a few tourists arriving by helicopter, larger tour boats with their “cattle movers” and other private boaters escaping their everyday lives to enjoy a little time in paradise.

On our way back to Airlie for a couple of nights we stop for a night at CID Harbour, a popular calm, protected anchorage where no swimming is allowed – as this is known to be home to larger Hammerhead, Bull, and Tiger Sharks. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any swimming around Nutmeg.

Guess we need to watch Jaws instead.
XOXOXOXO
Gma & Gpa