Cruising the Whitsundays - May 2001 Summary: On this trip we cruised the Whitsunday Islands, a group of volcanic islands at the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. We had great sailing, fabulous snorkeling, a good dive, exciting hikes, and an unbelievable whale show. Jim & Ron with skipjack tuna A real whale tale! Sunday May 13 Arrived in Sydney after a smooth flight. Then on to Brisbane where Bradley picked me up and on to Mooloolaba. Went to dinner with Ron (he’s the Master mate who works on the boat) & Sarah and Jim & Gail. Jim is going to join us on our cruise. Monday May 14 Made preparations for the trip. The boys went to the grocery store while I went shopping for some clothes. Late afternoon we discovered a problem with the battery charger – couldn’t leave without that working or we wouldn’t have power. Called the electrician and he came over and thought he could fix it by replacing some circuits on a circuit board. (Note that on boats you always find some significant problem just as you are about to leave). Bradley went out to run an errand and he returned with my birthday present – a full size Mongoose folding mountain bike! Went to dinner at Chinese place. Tuesday May 15 Went for a test ride on the bike. It’s great! Stopped at the bike store for a couple of adjustments to the gears. They needed time to work on it so they gave me a loaner bike to get back to the boat – an outrageous bright green one-speed cruiser. Looked like a baby Harley. Back at the boat the charger problem was fixed. We made final preparations for departure and went back to get my real bike. Bradley, Ron, Jim, and I set off at 12:30pm headed for Lady Musgrave Island. Seas calm, winds 15-20 knots. Beautiful sailing. Caught a nice skipjack tuna in the first 3 hours. Ron cooked him for dinner. Wednesday May 16 Lost the wind and had to motor. Seas very flat. Finished reading Truman’s biography. Stopped at Lady Elliott for the night and Bradley made eggplant parmesan. Stars were fantastic! Thursday May 17 Went snorkeling in the morning. Saw some turtles and giant rays – groups of them swimming in formation around a rock. Left around 11:00am to continue on to Lady Musgrave and arrived around 3:00pm. Went for a short dinghy ride then had drinks and watched sunset, Watched some videos and stayed up past 8:30 – a record so far! Friday May 18 Raining this morning. Finished reading The Professor and the Madman, a fun book about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. Decided to depart and head towards Great Keppel Island 90 miles away. Forecast called for 20 knots of wind and since it wasn’t a great day to snorkel we thought we might as well sail. But it was a typical Aussie forecast (ie, wrong!). Winds were only 5-8 knots – slow going! But we were treated to the most outstanding WHALE SHOW! Two humpbacks were sighted off in the distance – probably a mile away. Gradually they got closer and closer until they finally passed behind the boat. Obviously they were curious about us – they would surface and we’d observe each other. At one point they were no more than 30 feet from us, surfacing right next to the dinghy we were towing. They were with us for about 20 minutes, then went on their way. It was incedible! We decided to stop at Fitzroy Reef for the night.  It’s not even an island; just a reef with a nice anchorage. Got in and anchored around 3:00pm. Managed to get our anchor chain wrapped around a small coral bush. Had to use the dinghy to free it. Went for a short snorkel and it was beautiful. Should be a great place to spend a day tomorrow. The underwater camera works The whales followed us for 20 minutes They sure were close! Saturday May 19 Weather is not cooperating. Winds are 20-25 knots. Not good for snorkeling so we won’t see any more of Fitzroy. But a great day for sailing. Departed early morning towards the Whitsunday Islands. A great sail. Saw a couple dolphins on the way out but they didn’t want to play. Finished “Flight” by Chris Kraft about the space program. Wind died in the afternoon (what else is new) but came back during the night. We sailed all night and the boys took all the night watches so I got to sleep! Sunday May 20 Arrived at Keswick/St Bee’s islands around 1:00pm. (note that our plans and destinations change depending on the weather – that’s sailing). They are at the southern end of the Whitsundays. Cleaned up the boat and went ashore for a walk. Turns out they’re building a development here and we were met by a salesman who told us we couldn’t walk on that part of the island because it’s a construction zone. He recommended we walk along the beach. That turned out to be covered with rocks that got bigger and bigger as we went. We started climbing up and kept going up; soon we were climbing up things I knew I’d never be able to get down! So we decided to keep going and finally reached the top of the hill. A dog followed us the whole way – a nice and beautiful brindle colored dog. I have no idea how he got to the top of that hill! Finally we made it to the top where we got a bonus – our cell phones worked! From the top we were able to stroll back down along the forbidden road and arrived back at our dinghy just before sundown. Or doggie escort was very content to stroll along with us. We went back to the boat where we had a wonderful leg of lamb. We saved the bone for the dog.