Two more crew joined us on 4th September, John and Joy. They had seen our note at the Whitsunday sailing club . They have sailed a lot around this area in their trailer sailer and then their catamaran but have recently sold their catamaran and were holidaying up here in Airlie Beach for the winter months (they come from South Australia).
We’ve spent the last 9 days sailing around the Whitsundays, coming back a little earlier than planned as the weather was not playing ball. We did get to visit Blue Pearl Bay, where our favorite butterfly fish swam around our boat, Luncheon Bay, Manta Ray Bay, Maureen’s Cove, Butterfly Bay East, Stonehaven, Langford island and Cid Harbour.
Whilst the fish life was good when snorkelling (we saw our favourite big Mauri Wrasses at Manta Ray Bay), John was disappointed in the state of the coral since he was last here. A lot of it is broken and covered in silt.
We did have too stay in a couple of the bays a few days as the winds got quite high and weren’t in the right direction for sailing where we wanted to go but it was a good trip. John did a fair bit of snorkelling and John and Joy went for some nice walks, the last one being at Cid Harbour where they climbed up Whitsunday Peak (a steep 2.5km climb up and then there was the downhill part too!). They said it was worth the hike because of the spectacular views of the islands from the top.
Still nothing new with the fishing but John and Joy seemed to enjoy Pass The Pigs! By coming back a little earlier they can stay their trip back to SA in good time as with all the border closures they have to go the long way round to get home.
We are back in Airlie for a few days before we take off again.
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