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 "Nooks" ready to go
We arrive at the appointed time, full of excitement to find our yacht, “Nooks”, waiting and ready to take us on our Whitsunday Sailing Adventure.
“Nooks” is a Catalina 350 sailboat, ideal for charter operations, in an ideal cruising area – Queensland’s fabulous Whitsunday Passage. With easy-to-handle roller-furling genoa and main reefing controlled from the cockpit, she can be handled by one person with little difficulty.
A visit to the nearest supermarket allows us to fill the boat with all the
 "Nooks" necessities we’ll need for a week away. In fact, we discover later that we had far too much food. When you’re busy sailing, it’s easy to forget about lunch until your tummy starts to growl sometime late in the day.
Before turning us loose on the unsuspecting Whitsunday sailing community, it’s a good idea to check whether or not we can handle the boat. So it’s off for a brief check to see that we know what we’re doing.
We’re quickly put at ease by our experienced “guide”, who fills us with anticipation and confidence. While with us, he reminds us that the winches are probably the most dangerous part of a yacht. Stands to reason, I suppose; they’re under enormous strain, hauling and trimming sails, and if something goes wrong – don’t get in the way!
He recalled an occasion when he was winding a winch and suddenly, it broke. That he wasn’t killed amazed everyone who was present, apparently. He did receive a nasty gash to the forehead, and as you might expect, he now has a healthy respect for what a winch can do.
Anyway, it turns out we can set the anchor, pick up a mooring, hoist sails, tack & gybe. What else do we need? And we’re quickly starting to rediscover muscles we’d long forgotten.
Our Whitsunday sailing begins; after our check, we’re off on a 14 mile tack to Nara Inlet, on Hook Island.
Technorati Tags: charter, genoa, sailboat, sailing, sails, whitsundays, yacht
From Airlie Beach, it’s a pleasant 2-3 hour sail to Nara Inlet.  Looking back to Airlie Beach. We're being followed
Did I say pleasant? If you like your sailing brisk and wet, then that’s what we got. This part of the world is in the South-East Trades, and so enjoys a nearly constant 15-25 knots day and night from the SE. Combined with an adverse tide, this can create a line of steep swells marching towards the N Queensland coast. Fortunately, the tide and wind were with us on this occasion, and the trip across was relatively okay.
On the way we sail past a cruise ship moored out between Shute Harbour and Hamilton Island. We’d noticed a lot of “older” tourists in town prior to our departure … this, and the steady flow of smaller vessels discharging people at the marina, explained it.
Airlie Beach is a lively town on the Whitsunday Coast of Queensland. It seems to be thronged with backpackers and backpacker tours and entertainment. As one local put it to me, “This town lives on backpackers”.
 Back towards the mainland. Cruise ship a bonus. The previous night we had a tough time finding a restaurant which wasn’t too noisy with the chatter of hundreds of twenty-somethings. It’s easy. Just find someplace which costs a little more … the average backpacker can’t afford it.
Technorati Tags: Hook Island, Nara Inlet, Whitsunday Passage
 Freeloaders sitting on the dinghy is a great spot to spend a night or a week, if the weather is a bit rough.
It’s particularly well protected from all directions except south-west. We spent one night there, in a few metres of water with good holding for the anchor. Later in the week the wind would come up a bit, and the motion of the boat was a little less pleasant. But for tonight, an easy nights’ sleep.
Towards the end of the inlet there is a track which leads to a waterfall, and also to a spot where there is some Aboriginal painting. We’re not exactly the first to come here.
Technorati Tags: anchorage, Nara Inlet
 Enroute Cid Harbour. Nara Inlet in Background After a restful night at anchor in Nara Inlet we set out next morning for a pleasant sail across to Cid Harbour.
It’s a relatively short sail, and took us only a little over an hour.  Cid Island in the centre We dropped sails as we came into the harbour and chugged over towards Sawmill Beach and dropped anchor.
I have to say, I’d never been solely responsible for a boat this size before, and I was a little surprised at how quickly we adjusted to it. Yeah, it’s only 35 feet but for someone whose prior experience was mostly 18-20 ft trailer-sailers, we were quite pleased with our “performance”.
Okay, we crewed on a Bavaria 39 in the Solent once but barely got the sails up … the Solent can be a bit more challenging than this!
 Sawmill Beach, Whitsunday Island
It’s an ideal spot for a lazy afternoon, so that’s what we did. It’s a holiday, after all, and just because you’re going sailing doesn’t mean you have to sail all the time … it’s ideal for catching up on your reading, or doing some bushwalking or whatever.
There’s a strong wind warning out for tomorrow morning … 25-30 kts. Hmmmm. Wonder what that’ll bring?
Sailing the Whitsundays is never boring.
 Hook Island Wilderness Resort
Next morning we wake to the predicted 25-30 kts of wind coming over the top of Whitsunday Island. Fortunately, Cid Harbour is well protected from these south-easterly winds and so we find ourselves surrounded by as many as 30-40 other boats, all of whom have decided on a calm anchorage for the night.
Today we thought it might be fun to head to Whitehaven Beach, approximately on the opposite side of Whitsunday Island. And we thought it might be nice to sail past Hamilton Island, where I’d done some sailing from some years back, just to have a look at the place. So we set off , bright and early, to the south-west, through the passage between Cid Island and Whitsunday Island.
Should have checked the tide, shouldn’t we?
As it happens, the water around Whitsunday/Henning Islands isn’t all that deep. And if you combine the south-east trades with an adverse tidal flow, you get steep waves and a wet ride when you’re headed into it.
That’s what we got. A very unpleasant ride out into the channel with the boat pitching up and down in a very uncomfortable manner into steep waves. It didn’t take us long to decide that we were here to have fun, not to defy the elements, so we quickly headed back into Cid Harbour where we again anchored and had some breakfast.
After breakfast we have a listen on the radio to the morning “sched”, as our Charter Company first gives a rundown of the weather conditions expected for the day, and then contacts each of its’ vessels in turn to check where they are, and what is their destination for the day.
 Anchored snugly in Turtle Bay So, after the sched, we set off again, taking what we think will be an easier passage through Hook Passage, between Hook and Whitsunday Islands, and back down the east coast of Whitsunday Island.
On the way through Hook Passage, we glide past the Hook Island Wilderness Resort, which looks inviting, but we’re keen to get to get a little more sailing behind us today.
We have a much more pleasant ride down the east coast of Whitsunday Island. After several hours, we’re starting to feel a little tired, and decide to head into Turtle Bay, and anchor for the night.
Technorati Tags: Sailing the Whitsundays, whitsundays
 Morning in Turtle Bay, Whitsunday Island
“ Whitehaven Beach today”, comes into my mind as I try to catch a bit more sleep. Not much chance though, as sometime after sunset, the rolling started. Although sheltered from the south-easterlies, here in Turtle Bay, we’re exposed to the rolling motion of swells coming in from the east. Consequently, neither one of us has slept too well.
So we tried to sleep in a little longer in an effort to catch up. Failed. And so we were still a little sleepy for the morning sched.
We were planning to take the dinghy ashore this morning, for a photo or two of Hill Inlet. Probably the most photographed feature in this part of the Whitsundays, Hill Inlet is a lovely meandering inlet which goes deep into Whitsunday Island. But again, the tides were against us. Even getting the dinghy ashore here requires that the tide be reasonably high, so we reluctantly weighed anchor and continued on to Whitehaven Beach. Next time. There will be a next time!
 Approaching the South end of Whitehaven Beach Or maybe next time we should fly over the area? Certainly there are plenty of people who do; there’s a steady stream of fixed and rotary wing aircraft flying over the best spots to photograph the Inlet, and are regular visitors to Whitehaven Beach also.
It’s not too far from Tongue Bay to Whitehaven Beach, and the wind was sufficiently far off the nose for us to sail down to the bottom of the Beach close-hauled.
Whitehaven Beach is world-renowned for its’ beautiful, fine, white sand. Somebody told me that the quality is so good that some was used in the making of the Hubble Space Telescope Mirror. (Is it true? Don’t know, but the beach is truly superb).  Whitehaven Beach We spent an hour or two wandering along the beach. It’s difficult to imagine a more idyllic spot. And a mix of “boatie” types, too. Long term cruisers, short term holidaymakers, and charterers, like ourselves.
We were amused by the sight of a Beaver floatplane arriving and anchoring just a few metres out. A great opportunity to hang out his wet washing to dry on the strut beneath the left wing. The pilot had on board a gaggle of Japanese tourists, it looked to us; they were still playing on the beach when we left
 Beautiful Whitehaven Beach sand  Floatplane at Whitehaven Beach - note the washing!
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