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Wednesday 4th August First thing this morning we picked up two new crew, an English and an Italian, Heidi and Manuel. As we were leaving Airlie, Andrew’s hat went overboard followed by Andrew as he went to retrieve it. So we practiced Man Overboard. Sue rapidly did a 180 and turned the boat back to where Andrew was now swimming with his hat on. Andrew safely back on board we left Airlie and had a great sail across to Hook Island and one of our favourite bays, Luncheon Bay.
We hadn’t even got on the mooring when Lydia was in the water. Her excuse was one of the floating boat hooks went overboard and she didnt want it to foat away. Minutes after the mooring was tied off we were all in the water. Everyone thought the bay was great with good snorkeling and good visibility. They didnt know what was still to come.
After lunch the dinghy was lowered into the water and we all piled in with the snorkeling gear. A short trip around the corner to Manta Ray Bay. Jumping in the water we were greated by Mauri Wrass, Tuna, Bat fish and an assortment of other fish. “I’ve never swum with such large fish” Manuel called out. The fish swim up to you, they are not afraid you can even touch the Mauri Wrass. I dont think you could do this if it wasn’t a marine reserve (no fishing).
Lydia’s turn to cook dinner tonight.

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Over the past few weeks Lydia has been mastering the dinghy, so today we promoted her. Lydia is now “Captain Dinghy”, in charge of making sure everything is ready to go when we are.
Her first deployment as Captain Dinghy was to ferry us around to another bay where it was a short walk to get the gas bottle filled and the supermarket. They we went for a run into Airlie for a few things.
The shortest Captaincy ever. Promoted in the morning almost demoted by the afternoon. The power must have gone to her head and she forgot all she had been doing. Upon returning to Imagine the first time Lydia left the motor in gear while we were trying to get off. The second time she ploughed nose first into the side of Imagine (she had remembered to take it out of gear).
We will have to see if she improves!

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Sunday 1st August The alarm was set for 7:30 am for Lydia and Andrew to head to the Sailing club, it was time to really learn how to sail. Couple of youtube videos later she was ready. They hired an open bic from the local Sailing Club, which is basically a dinghy with a sail attached. Andrew stayed in the safety of Imagine’s dinghy and towed Lydia out of the marina. Out in the water and detached from Andrew, there was a howling 2kts of wind. Finding what direction the wind was coming from was the hardest part of putting theory into practice. With direction from Andrew, Lydia found enough wind to get out to Imagine and back. After a couple of hours the wind picked up to ~5kts and she could really get going.
As well as being a bit of fun Lydia was able to see how to set the sails as she moved the boat to different positions against the wind. She also discovered how much pressure was on the rudder, as it was a tiller not a helm. It was far easier playing with wind angles in a 2m Bic instead of a 17m Imagine.

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Friday 30th July This morning the water was like glass. A contrast to what was coming. After breakfast Andrew said “we need to set off back now”. Even though there was no wind, we set off motoring across the atoll to the entrance. By the time we had reach the entrance the wind had built to 15knots. It was a good sail with the wind on our beam reaching 22knots. We got back to Airlie by dusk.
Saturday 31st July On the sail back we had noticed the holding tank for the toilet wasn’t emptying properly. So that’s today’s job. We, thats the royal we (Andrew) removed the macerator pump from the holding tank outlet and removed the obstruction, washed out the pump and cleaned out the scaley build up in the pipes. He reassembled the system and cleaned up the effluent that had poured out of the pipes and tank.
Where were the girls you ask? They had gone ashore to use the toilets. A bucket wasnt good enough. They had returned while Andrew was still working in the shit. So they stayed out on deck.
After the repair and clean up all the hatches were opened wide dispersing the odour. Lydia and Sue armed with disinfectant wiped everything down.
This afternoon we went ashore and had a bbq with the crew from Serenade and two other boats.

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Thursday 29th July
Another day at hook reef. Not a cloud in the sky very light wind. “Let’s go explore more of the reef” someone said. So after a swim we hauled anchor and headed across the reef. As we got close to the other side Andrew went up the mast to check for bommies while Lydia was at the helm. As usual as soon as the anchor was down Lydia was checking out the bommies near us.
We relaxed for a while, had an early lunch, then piled all the gear in the dinghy and headed for the edge of the reef. We checked out the outer edge of the reef. It was a straight wall that went from 2m deep to a dark blue abiss. The chart said 50m deep. We didn’t dive it to check if the chart was correct.
Checked out the coral and fish on the reef then Lydia wanted to see the bommies we had passed in the dinghy. Not wanting to swim all that way she clung to a rope off the back of the dinghy, being towed from bommie to bommie.
Such a busy day. We all had to rest the afternoon away. The sun is getting low in the sky so it must be sundowners time on the deck.

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Wednesday 28 July We went for a quick snorkel and returned to Imagine 4 hours later. We had piled into the dinghy with all the snorkel gear and the new speargun and headed to the inside edge of the reef. Interesting bommies and fish on the inside edge, kept us amused for an hour. But the outer reef was calling.
With Sue and Andrew in the dinghy and Lydia being towed behind we headed across the reef, stopping a few times to check things out. There was still pretty coral but fewer fish.
When we got to the outer edge, while Lydia was busy checking out the coral and the fish life, Sue and Andrew saw a couple of whales playing only 100m away. Lydia could hear the whales while she was free diving the reef shelf.
Lydia tried a few times spearing fish on the outer reef but couldnt get any. When we moved back to the inner reef she tried again. This time with success. A large silver snapper. Within seconds it was gone. A 2m white tipped reef shark took it. The shark then hid back under a rock shelf waiting for Lydia to catch the next course. Not happy about feeding the shark and getting cold, we decided to return to Imagine for lunch.

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Tuesday 27th July We awoke to light winds. Tomorrow is forecast for even lighter winds. So we decided to head out to the Great Barrier Reef. The phones were checked for any last messages before we lost reception. Then we raised all the sails, headsail, main and mizzen and headed off.
As we sailed Lydia took the opportunity to dangle her feet in the water.
We have anchored in Hook Reef. Hook Reef is a horseshoe shaped reef 14km from east to west and 9km north to south.
Of course Lydia was in the water the second the anchor went down. She has explored the local bommies. Tomorrow its the edge of the reef.
Time to relax and watch the sunset.

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26th July 2021
We left Airlie Beach this morning. With just a light breeze, the main and headsail up we took our time getting to Blue Pearl Bay, Hayman Island. As the water tanks were low we made water on the way, as we listened to Lydia’s playlist of movie songs (Lion King, Frozen, etc).
We dropped our headsail as we got close to the island. As we approached the bay we saw a catamaran racing us, wanting to beat us to the mooring ball. Both of us still had our main sails up and motoring into the bay. But they were no match for the experienced Imagine crew.
We motor sailed into the bay. 100m from the mooring Sue swung the boat around 180 degrees into the wind. Lydia dropped the main in seconds. Sue quickly turned back towards the mooring and with Andrew on the bow guiding the way we showed them how professionals pick up a mooring.
There was no reason to race as there was also another mooring in the bay which the loser’s ended up on.
Andrew was still checking the mooring ball, when he turned to see Lydia putting on her fins and jumping in the water. She returned about half an hour later after exploring the northern side of the bay.
Out of the water and the usual ritual. Cup of tea and food. We watched more of the De Vinci’s Demons series, then Lydia relaxed doing her paintings. Andrew got his glam on with Sue doing his eyebrows in the setting sun.

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Friday 23rd July Massive laundry day today. Lydia and Andrew explored Airlie Beach and later came back and helped finish the washing. Julee’s laundry is a short walk into town and is very clean and you get to meet other boaties all doing the same thing. Stomachs were rumbling so Lydia got to have her frozen coke and fries from the golden arches while Andrew and Sue tucked into a burger (not from Maccas!). Andrew took Sue and the laundry back to Imagine, then went back for Lydia who had been to the supermarket to pick up a few essentials. We had to make sure we watched the tide as it was a very low one and we didn’t want to be stuck on shore for a few more hours! Despite the chop of the waves, Andrew managed to get us back to Imagine relatively dry!
Saturday 24th July Airlie had markets on Saturday mornings so we had a wander around them before catching a bus to Cannonvale so Lydia could go shopping for a spear gun and Sue for a new toilet brush and holder. Again we returned in plenty of time to make sure we didn’t get stuck on shore due to the extra low tide. Lydia was in charge of getting us back to Imagine today and she did a great job mastering the choppy sea without getting us too wet.
Sunday 25th July
So its been three days in civilisation and we want out! We arrived at Airlie beach on Thursday and we have done the laundry, bought a spear gun and restocked the pantry.
Andrew and Lydia got to work on the steering, replacing the temporary bolts by drilling out the imperial bolt holes to suit 8mm stainless steel bolts. Now everything is back in operation.
Too many people and not being able to jump off the boat for a swim, we leave in the morning to explore some of the other bays around the Whitsundays. Bring on the beautiful beaches, the great fish, whales and turtles!

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Thursday 22nd July
During the night the wind got up gusting 20knots at times. It also changed direction. This meant the catamaran that had anchored rather close along side of us was now a boat length off the back of us. We think he was a bit concerned, but couldnt do anything about it as we were now over the top of his anchor.
Anyway we had already decided that we would head off to Airlie Beach today, so we hauled anchor, set the sails and headed north.
Only an hour into the journey with Andrew on the helm, there was a bang and no steering. Andrew told Lydia to stay in the cockpit as he went below. “We have lost steering” he said to Sue as he rushed through the galley to the rear cabin. There he pulled back the bedding and mattress, grabbed the emergency tiller and dropped it in place. Poking his head up through the hatch he called to Lydia “which way do i go?” With Lydia calling the directions, we were soon back on course before an accidental jib could happen.
Sue and Lydia swapped positions. Sue called the directions to Andrew who couldnt see where we were going, while Lydia removed the preventer and centered the main. For Sue to be heard, she had to bend down and shout through the hatch between her legs. We had only just put away the Staysail before this happened. Sue started the motor. All this took some pressure off the tiller making it more managable.
Lydia in her engineering mode quickly came up with a harness and pully system that made tillering easier and mounted a compass. Then Andrew and Lydia swapped places, so Andrew could check out what had happened.
Three out of four bolts on part of the steering mechanism had sheared off. We couldn’t do anything about it with the motor on or while steering the boat. South Molle Island was only 1 and 1/2 hours away and on the way to Airlie, so we headed for that. With Sue calling directions and Lydia on the tiller, the expert crew pulled into the bay, pointed into the wind, dropped the main and anchored safely.
It only took half an hour to replace the bolts with temporary ones and we were off again. We think we can get the right bolts in Airlie Beach. Its good to have the helm working again.