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Blue Pearl - Whitsundays



When we last spoke, I told you we were anchored in the Nara Inlet of Hook Island in the Whitsundays. The anchorages just continue to reinforce our early observation of the Whitsundays: this is a beautiful, pristine, teeming with wildlife, cruising area, but, boy, is the water cold...! So far only our crew, Mike and Karen have ventured in for a snorkel, both wearing wet suits. Even Laurie, an avid Caribbean swimmer, has stayed dry on the boat.

After the Nara Inlet came Airlie Beach, one of two centers of activity in the Whitsundays, the other is Hamilton Island. We had a great time at the marina there. A brand new facility with wonderful staff and great amenities. A place to return to, but it takes an 11,000nm sail to get there from home. We explored the town, socialized with other cruisers, worked on the boat and did some re provisioning. We departed well rested and ready for the next stage of our cruise.

We went to our namesake "Blue Pearl" bay at Hayman Island. It turned out to be appropriately named as the bay was as beautiful as "Blue Pearl" the boat. We took some nice pictures there and posted them on Facebook.

OK, yes, we have finally joined the social media circus and are now on Facebook. So, take a look there and find some inspiring shots of our cruising life. Go to "Laurie Byrnes Bosman" or "Ruud Bosman", you can even "friend" us.

Our next stop was Magnetic Island, which is actually a little North of the Whitsundays, and was named by Captain James Cook in 1770 who blamed the "magnetic field" around the island for messing with his compass and getting him lost. Right...!

A very nice center of tourist activity with an interesting local art scene, we spent two nights anchored in Horseshoe Bay and then took off direction Cairns.

We will arrive in Cairns at the Marlin marina tomorrow morning after having made three overnight stops. The first one at Little Pioneer Bay at Orpheus Island (see "sunset" photo on Facebook), the second one at Dunk Island (see "wing on wing" sailing picture on Facebook) and the third one, tonight, at Fitzroy Island (see "two ships passing in the night" picture on Facebook). Again, three beautiful spots.

We will be in Cairns for three days and then leave from there on our passage to Darwin, a 1200nm sail.

But more about that later.
Captain Ruud

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