100 Magic Miles – Cruising the Whitsundays – Part Two

Blue Pearl Bay, Hayman Island

After our morning walk up Whitsunday Peak, we left Cid Harbour and sailed north to Hayman Island. Arriving just before sunset, we tied onto one of the public moorings in Blue Pearl Bay and sat back to enjoy the spectacular colours.

The following morning we were the only boat in the anchorage for several hours and we soaked up the solitude in the beautiful bay. Swimming off the back of the boat, we discovered a school of very large and very friendly batfish swimming around the mooring. It was the first time we’d seen these fish and I was amazed at how close they came to us – you could put your hand out and almost touch them. We were to discover these guys hanging around the moorings at several of our next anchorages as well.

We spent the morning swimming and snorkelling around the bay, before heading off in the afternoon to hike across the island to the resort where our friends, Naomi, Bree and Bella were staying. They were on a short holiday there that just happened to match up with our travels perfectly, and they’d invited us to come over and meet them for a drink. It was about a two and a half kilometre walk up and over to the other side of the island, and we had some beautiful views out over the Whitsundays from the top.

The Intercontinental Hayman Island Resort is very, very fancy. Just the kind of place we were used to frequenting! Not! Matt made sure to wear a collared shirt, instead of a t-shirt, and I was in a fairly respectable summer dress, but still, in our hiking boots and reef shoes, we must have looked a bit out of place. Luckily no-one questioned us and we met up with Naomi and the girls. It was just lovely to see them again, all happy and relaxed on holiday.

They took us back for a tour of their apartment, and all I can say is wow, just wow. It was super plush and luxurious. The sort of place you could get very used to. We chatted away, hearing all about their trip, while sharing their bottle of welcome bubbles from the resort, and admiring the view from the balcony out over the Whitsundays. Then we went down to a poolside bar for more chat and cocktails. It was a lovely change of pace for us and a very enjoyable afternoon.

Farewelling the girls just as it began to get dark, we made our way back up and over the mountain. Luckily I had a couple of head torches in my backpack, as before too long we were reliant on their light as we wound our way along the track. We hadn’t seen too many animals on the way over, but on the trip back we spotted all sorts of wildlife. Possums peered down at us from trees, their eyes glowing in the dark, bats swooped overhead, and startled by our torches, rock wallabies careened loudly through the bush. We could also see hundreds of little spiders all over the path, their eyes glittering in the darkness. If you want to spot some wildlife, it looks like night hikes are the way to go.

Bait Reef

Our next destination was one of the outer reefs, Bait Reef, about 18 miles from Hayman Island. Like Fitzroy Reef, there would be no land at Bait Reef, but here we would still be able to make out the outline of Hayman and Hook Islands in the distance, so it didn’t feel quite as remote.

With only light winds, it was a slow sail out and on arriving we counted eight boats already in the reef. Instead of entering with possibly poor visibility, as the sun was quite low in the sky by this time, we picked up the mooring outside the reef at Manta Ray drop off. This proved to be quite challenging and it took us several attempts as the water in this particular area was quite turbulent. Looking around, it appeared that we were in the only rough patch of water for miles. Everywhere else looked lovely and calm. Frustrating!

The following morning we moved inside the reef to find calm and clear water. Several boats were moving on so we picked up a mooring. The following two days were spent swimming, snorkelling, stand up paddle boarding and lazing on the boat. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm with little to no wind. Boats came and went, and at one stage there was only one other boat in there. It was very peaceful.

A school of batfish was to be our constant companions, just as tame and friendly as the fish we’d seen in Blue Pearl Bay. The water was much clearer here so I got some good photos. They have such funny looking faces, with quite serious expressions. Joining these batfish was a huge giant trevally. We jumped in for a closer look and this big guy was just doing laps underneath the boat, round and round. He also let you get pretty close, which was really cool.

Then Matt had the idea to see if he could handfeed the trevally, and so he dangled small bits of bait off the back of the boat. Lo and behold, the trevally swam up and quickly plucked the fish from Matt’s hand. It was pretty funny, and we amused ourselves for a while doing this and trying to get some video footage.

There were several other reefs in the area in that we were quite keen to check out. Hardy Reef is the most well known as it has a pontoon inside it that tourist groups use, and you can even stay overnight on it. However, entering the reef is very tricky and the guide book describes the entrance as a waterfall (gap in the reef with water moving in/out), which sounded altogether quite scary. We decided not to risk it and instead motored out to Hook Reef. After anchoring we jumped in for a snorkel but found the water quite murky and the currents strong, so we decided to abandon this idea and head back towards the Whitsundays, picking up a mooring in Butterfly Bay on Hook Island.

Butterfly Bay, Hook Island

There were lots of moorings available to choose from in this really pretty bay. We spent two nights here and it was technology free time as we both had no phone or internet reception, even when we hoisted the phones up the mast.

I saw lots of big turtles as I paddled the SUP around, and we swam off the boat to try and see some coral, but disappointingly found that the visibility wasn’t great. We wore our shark shields here as the water was deep and dark. I found out later that a juvenile two metre tiger shark had been spotted in the bay, only a few days earlier. I’m glad I didn’t know that at the time!

Border Island

As we motored in to Border Island we could see a tourist boat on a mooring and a heap of people snorkelling at the edge of the bay. Excellent, we thought, that must be where the reef is, and we mentally marked the spot. Later, when the charter boat had left, we took the tinny over to that spot and jumped in. Jackpot! This was the best coral we’d seen in the Whitsundays so far. Water visibility was great and there was heaps of different coral; all types of colours, shapes and sizes. It was really beautiful! There was also lots of interesting fish swimming around and we spent ages checking it all out.

Taking the tender to the beach, we climbed up the short but very well made track to the top of the hill for some lovely views out over both sides of Border Island. When we got back down, another yacht had arrived into the bay and it looked familiar. It was Sue and Lance from Ocean Blue who’d we met at Cid Harbour. We invited them over for sundowners and had a lovely evening hearing about their travels and also about all the cruising up near Cairns. They keep their boat at the marina in Yorkeys Knob, where we were also planning on staying, so we picked their brains on all things about Cairns. It was great to get to know them and we swapped numbers, promising to catch up in Cairns.

Underwater life at Border Island:

Tongue Bay, Whitsunday Island

The very famous Whitehaven Beach was next on our itinerary. The winds were starting to pick up a bit so we decided to pick up a mooring in Tongue Bay which is just on the other side of Tongue Point from Whitehaven Beach. We reasoned that we might have a bit more shelter there as well as being away from the crowds at Whitehaven.

From Tongue Bay there is a short walk to a lookout over Whitehaven Beach and Hill Inlet. The views from there were just incredible. We sat there for ages, as a couple of tourist groups came and went, listening in to the guide’s spiel. It’s always nice to learn something.

Whitehaven Beach is famous for it’s long stretch of pristine white, white sand. The sand is 98.9% pure silica, the purest sand in the world, and is only found at three beaches; Whitehaven and the neighbouring Chalkie’s Beach and Betty’s Beach. The sand was made over millions of years from quartz eroding, and it is the concentration of the silica which gives the sand its unique white colour and a particularly fine powdery grain.

It was low tide when we first arrived, and with the skies a bit grey and cloudy, the colour of the water was more of a green than the famous blue we’d seen in pictures. After taking some photos, we headed down onto Betty’s Beach for a swim. I couldn’t wait to get into that water and feel that soft sand. We flopped about in the warm waters of the shallows, covering our bodies with the sand and exfoliating every inch of skin. It was seriously better than any spa treatment I’d ever had.

Taking our newfound silky smooth skin back to the yacht, we spent the remainder of the afternoon on the boat, watching the tourist boats come and go. Although it wasn’t extremely windy, it began to get pretty rolly on the boat, so I was pretty happy to get off and head back over to the lookout in the late afternoon to check out the views at high tide.

It was a totally different scene to what we’d witnessed that morning. With much of the cloud cover rolling away, the colour of the water was more the vivid aqua that you would expect, and Hill Inlet looked completely different all covered with water. Just a spectacular sight! We could also see that the water was super still, while around the corner, on our mooring, Cool Change was rolling quite a bit. Unfortunately, it was too close to dark to move now, we would have to wait it out til morning.

Walking back, we heard a rustling in the bushes and spotted a goanna moving about amongst the trees. Strangely, he didn’t appear too worried about us and kept on with his business of hunting for food. We watched while he leapt up a very thin, young sapling and then crashed back down, with an insect hanging out of his mouth. Dinner!

Haslewood Island

The moorings at Chalkie’s Beach on Haslewood Island are an alternative to anchoring off the very busy Whitehaven Beach so this is where we headed early the next morning. We explored the beach here, but as the day wore on and the wind picked up, the anchorage became uncomfortable. Motoring around to the other side of the island to seek shelter, we towed a lure and were astonished when the line buzzed and then ran out, only for the line to break, taking the lure with it. Must have been a monster fish! Matt was pretty dirty that he’d lost one of his new lures.

We found Waite Bay to be much calmer and were joined by several other boats seeking shelter for the night. This bay was in a green zone, meaning no fishing allowed, and we watched as schools of fish went crazy, jumping high out of the water, seemingly taunting us.

South Molle Island

Our last stop in the Whitsundays was to be South Molle Island. We towed another lure as we alternated between motoring and sailing to South Molle Island, but once again no luck, and another monster fish got away with another lure. Matt was not a happy boy!

There was a network of walking and mountain bike tracks over the island, so we were looking forward to pulling our bikes out and exploring them. The following day was cloudy and very hot and muggy, and after we’d tackled some steep sections on our mountain bikes we were both sweating profusely. I hadn’t ridden my bike in months and months, and was pretty out of shape. Still, the views from the top of the island were quite stunning and although we were both exhausted when we got back to the boat, we were glad to have made the effort.

Airlie Beach

It wasn’t a long trip from South Molle to Airlie Beach so we had plenty of time, and with Matt still smarting over the loss of his lures, we decided to go the long way around the Molle Islands dragging another lure. Matt was determined to catch a big fish. Just when it seemed as if it was going to be another no fish day, Bang went the lure. It was a big one! A nice big mackerel. He put up quite a fight and it was with some difficulty that we landed him in the boat. We tried a technique we’d recently read about in a novel, pouring some brandy onto his gills to subdue him a bit, and it worked pretty well.

Matt gutted and cleaned the fish and we continued on. We’d been rounding the top of North Molle Island when he caught the mackerel so it wasn’t too far from there to Airlie Beach. When we arrived at the channel leading into the marina, it wasn’t far off low tide and as we proceeded down the channel we watched the depth dropping away, with some alarm. The lady at the marina couldn’t give us any confidence about the depth of the channel so we opted for better safe than sorry and headed back out into the bay to wait for the tide to rise.

We anchored in the bay and spent a few quiet hours just chilling in the sun. Cooking up some of the mackerel for lunch, we feasted on the super fresh fish. It was delicious! We were finally able to head into the marina, and showers and a delicious dinner out at La Marina restaurant rounded off our day.

We spent four nights at the Port of Airlie marina, exploring Airlie Beach. Each morning, I’d get us a coffee from the nearby café, Rufus and Co. and then we’d spend our day wandering around the town and doing any necessary jobs. We swam in the free lagoon run by the council, had happy hour pizzas at Sorrento Restaurant, and shopped at the farmer’s market. On our last night, we treated ourselves to a fancy dinner at La Tabella Trattoria, absolutely delicious and highly recommended.

And so, our time in the Whitsundays had come to an end. With the fridge and freezer full and our diesel and water tanks topped up, it was time to move on again. Magnetic Island was our destination and it would take us four days to get there, stopping each night along the way. I’d heard a lot about Magnetic Island, so was looking forward to finally getting there.

Live in the sunshine, Swim in the sea, Drink the wild air.

Ralph Waldo Emerson