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Nexus - Cruising the Whitsunday Islands



We've been thoroughly enjoying the Whitsunday Islands (Cumberland Island Group) off of the Australian Coast, since leaving Mackay. These islands are a bucket list destination for us, and they did not disappoint. We spent a few nights enjoying the hospitality of the marina at Hamilton Island during some high winds and rain. This is a very expensive island but one of the few developed ones in the Whitsundays, and charter operations run out if it. There are nice restaurants and shops and a full service marina, and the Hamilton Yacht Club building is shaped like a giant manta ray, and is the challenger club for the next America's Cup race. We left as the preparations for Hamilton Race Week were filling the marina with activity. Having spent a couple of days at Whitehaven Beach and Toungue Bay with their white sand beach and spectacular views prior to the marina, we decided to head north to Hook Island, where the best snorkel and dive sites are. We stayed in Stonehaven anchorage one night, and headed up to Butterfly Bay on the north side for another night, using our dingy to explore adjacent anchorages. The dive and snorkel sites across the north of Hook Island, especially "the Woodpile" and "manta ray bay" were stunning, three dimensional vibrant reefs with lots of large fish and relatively clear water are abundant there. We plan to spend another night here exploring the underwater coastline and waiting for the winds to die down. We are in relative calm most of the time, with "bullets" of 25kt gusts spilling over the mountain every few minutes and punching the boat. We are hoping it will die down tomorrow, as we plan to head out to the Barrier Reef for a day of diving and snorkeling at Bait Reef and Hook Reef, prior to making our way north to Port Douglas. Even in rough weather, these islands are simply magic. Mostly granite and limestone hills covered with pine and deciduous forest, poking up from clear blue water, with amazingly fine white sand beaches and excellent snorkeling all around. We feel very fortunate to be here.

Russ and Laurie on NEXUS 8/7/2014 11:00 at 20 04.4'S;148 55.5'E


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