Friday 8th July
Yesterday we awoke to a beautiful day. A light breeze and clear water (10m visibility). After breakfast Toni and Jack were in the water exploring the bommies scattered around Imagine. One was packed with fish the next beautiful coral and the next even better.
After lunch we all took the dinghy to the inner edge of the reef. This time Jack took the speargun, but didn’t get anything. The tide was coming in and the waves were crashing over the reef stirring up the water which dropped the visibility down to 2m.
That evening we had to put up with another stunning sunset.
This morning the wind had got up making the water choppy with only 5m visibility. Sue and Andrew ventured into the water to check out some more bommies close to Imagine. With the wind getting up and going to be higher tomorrow, we decided to leave the reef after lunch.
With the main reefed we had a nice sail back to Butterfly Bay averaging 6knts all the way. We will stay here tonight and go back to Airlie in the morning.
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Wednesday 6th July
Yesterday we left Airlie in the rain. It was still persisting down and cold when we got to Maureen’s Cove, so the diesel heater went on while we watched movies. It’s not often that you can see waterfalls in the Whitsundays, but waterfalls were teaming down the rock faces.
This morning we set off at daybreak. The rain had stopped the wind had died and the sea was calm. Not a good day to sail anywhere, so we motored out to the Great Barrier Reef. We did a few zigzags as we passed about 20 whales on the way. The Dophins that joined us were great but not as impressive as a Humpback Whale breaching.
Inside Hook Reef the half meter swell subsided and we made our way deep inside. Jack took to the mast to lookout for bombies. Soon after anchoring Toni and Jack were amazed to be able to see from the deck, the sea grass dotted amongst the sand in10m of water.
After lunch with a light breeze and warm sun we just chilled out after our early start and so that we are fresh and ready for tomorrow.
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Monday 4th July
It has been almost a week and we are still at Airlie Beach sitting out the weather. It’s been high winds, raining and cold. We managed to get a few maintenance jobs done while waiting for the good weather to arrive. It’s predicted to get better from tomorrow.
With the promise of good weather Toni and Jack come back onboard tonight. We are going to make the most of the break in the weather and head out to the Barrier Reef for a few days. Hook Reef should be sheltered enough from the remaining swell to allow great snorkelling and maybe spear some fish for dinner.
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