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Smoke and Roses - Inside the Great Barrier Reef



7-31 Mackay – Shaw Isl Log 40 NM, 7.5 Hours Sails, .75 Hours Motors

8-1 Shaw Isl – Lindeman Isl Log 5.3 NM, 1 Hour Motors

8-1 Lindeman Isl – Whitsunday Isl Log 10.2 NM 2 Hours Sails, .3 Hours Motors

8-3 Whitsunday Isl – Hook Isl Log 21.7 NM, 4 Hours Motors

8-4 Hook Reef and Hardy Reef Cut Log 49.7 NM

8-5 Bait Reef – Nara Inlet Log 29 NM, 3.5 Hours Sails, .75 Hours Motor

 

July 31 – August 5

Whitsunday Islands

Queensland is Australia’s second largest state and today it is a major exporter of coal, bauxite, silica, gold, frozen meat and grains. It has the world’s longest (1200 nautical miles) of coral reefs along its east coast called The Great Barrier Reef. This great reef is actually a string of coral reefs, cays, atolls, fringing reefs and continental islands separated by hundreds of deep water channels. The outer reef follows the continental shelf at varying distances offshore. We will cruise the inner route between the inner barrier reef and the mainland which is well charted in most places.

A short distance from Queensland’s Mackay is the Whitsunday islands. This area abounds in excellent anchorages and these unique islands are mostly National Parks. Sailing through Hillsborough Channel, on our way to Shaw Island, we saw another whale. Two nautical miles away from our anchorage on Shaw Island is south Lindeman Island where I wanted to do a hike but the anchorage was rough so we tried Boat Port anchorage on the North West side of the island. It was a beautiful anchorage and there were sting rays in the shallow water by the beach. The trail was closed and very overgrown so we sailed on to Whitsunday Island. Coming through Solway passage between Whitsunday Island and Hasselwood Island, I saw the most pure white beach I have ever seen, White Haven Beach. Going ashore to find the trails we saw some large lizards on the beach. One trail was a short hike to a lookout; the well-groomed trail was covered in wood chips. There were great views of the bays and Solway Passage. “Mischief” arrived the next day and that afternoon Dave, Neen, Dan and I hiked the lookout trail as well as the longer Whitsunday Ngaro Sea Trail to Chance Bay. The trail meandered through a shady forest with towering Mackay Cedar trees and grass trees. The Aborigines used the spikes from the grass trees as spears. Chance Bay had a stunning crescent shaped beach.

As we were leaving Whitsunday Islands we made plans with “Misto” to meet on Hook Island for an early morning departure the next day to go to the Great Barrier Reef and snorkel. We moored in beautiful Butterfly Bay, Howard and Ross from “Misto” came by to make plans. On our way to the Great Barrier Reef we saw several whales. By 9:00 am we were moored on Bait Reef. We did a morning snorkel on an area called the Stepping Stones. There was a series of flat topped coral pinnacles lined up in a row along the west side of Bait Reef. The coral formations were interesting with navigable gaps between them. Unfortunately most of the coral had been damaged in a recent cyclone; the sea bed was thick with broken coral. That afternoon we motored through a cut between Hook and Hardy Reefs that were nearby. These reefs are 40 nautical miles offshore and the colors of the water within the Great Barrier Reef are breathtaking. Sea flights are available to this area and there is a floating pontoon called “Heart Pontoon” with an underwater observatory, you can snorkel, dine or spend the night on the pontoon. We moored back on Bait reef for the night and “Misto” stayed to do more snorkeling the next morning while we headed for Nara Inlet on Hook Island. The unique landscape between Hayman Island and Hook Island was surrounded with shoals and reefs, it was beautiful. Nara Inlet is two miles long, a deep almost fiord-like inlet with steep sided mountains on both sides. The shoreline is dotted with while sand beaches alternated with boulders. “Aurora Polaris” was in the anchorage, this is one of last year’s ARC boats rejoining this year’s fleet. We took the track up to an aboriginal cave together, and then had sundowners on “Aurora Polaris”, we enjoyed visiting with them. This was a nice relaxing last night in the Whitsundays.

 

Agnes Long


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