After a stop in Airlie Beach, Kathy's friends Cynthia and Nancy joined us for some cruising through the Whitsunday Islands.

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Tues Apr 2 – Fri Apr 5

Relaxed for the day at Cid Harbor and did some small projects on the boat. Left Wed morning for Airlie Beach. The auto pilot has now quit completely. We’re happy it had held up through most of those 40 knot winds! Looks like it will need a part that is no longer readily available. We will probably need to replace the whole system as it is a little small for the boat anyway. For the time being, we’ll just have to hand steer (we’ve become SOOO spoiled!).

At Airlie, we got an electrician to fix a problem we’d been having with the regfrigeration system. Also visited with our friends Marilyn and David and got caught up on emails. Did laundry, ran errands, went to the dive shop for spear gun repairs, went to the supermarket. I made my second batch of ANZAC biscuits. They seemed to be burning and sticking to the pan – I kept turning the oven heat down but they all came out a little crispy. After I was all done and went to turn off the oven, I noticed the oven knob was missing a little piece which caused it not to turn properly – that explained why it was so much hotter than it said it was! It also explained the small piece of metal I had found when cleaning the galley yesterday. So we fixed the oven and despite the problem, Ron and Bradley both pronounced the cookies edible.

I got on the internet to see how the University of Maryland had done in the NCAA basketball tournament. It’s the first time I can ever remember not seeing a single game of the tournament. I knew Maryland had lost early in the ACC tournament and assumed they must have lost at some point in the NCAA. Lo and behold my astonishment at the headline – Maryland wins National Title!!

Our last night in Airlie we went out to the Coral Sea restaurant. There was a woman sitting alone at the table next to us and after some coaxing we convinced her to join us. She was from Sydney and she and her boyfriend were looking for a boat to buy. She was taking a little time off before starting a new job. She was in software sales and at one time had worked for BMC – small world! We had a fun time with her and gave her some advice about buying a boat.

 Sat Apr 6

Ron and I went to the farmers market to get some fresh fruits and veggies for the coming week. Then we set off for Hamilton Island to pick up my friends Nancy and Cynthia who will be joining us for nine days. We had to motor all the way with the wind directly on our nose. I got to drive the whole three hours since we no longer have auto-pilot. Pretty boring to drive while motoring. At Hamilton, we fueled up and I found my Amigas at the ice cream shop. We had seen their plane coming in when we were still about six miles away. But Hamilton’s a small place so I had no trouble finding them. We went to the dive shop to rent singer suits for them. Australia has several nasty jellyfish and one in this area is called the Irakanji Stinger. From October to May its advisable to wear a full body suit if you plan to swim.

Then we headed to the boat to depart for Cid Harbor for the night. We had a nice sail over – it’s only about six miles. We initiated Nancy and Cynthia with Shear Madnesses – our special boat drink and Ron fixed us a wonderful dinner. We did get several rain showers.

Sun Apr 7

A nice morning. Some sea gulls were visiting – one landed on the dinghy. We hate them because they crap on the boat and make a huge mess. So we have a special weapon to defend against them – a large Super Soaker water gun. Bradley showed Nancy how to use it and we put her in charge of defending the boat.  She did a great job.

We headed off to Nara Inlet. Had a wonderful sail, taking the long, scenic route (2 ˝ hours) to get there. Unfortunately the winds are expected to be strong all week, so we will probably just do some island cruising and not be able to go to the outer reef as we had hoped.

Stayed two nights at Nara. A cozy, relaxing anchorage. Ron, Bradley, and I did a hike in the morning up to the Aboriginal caves and then we continued on up the creek bed for another hour – a great hike. Later I took Nancy up to the caves. We met an English family on the way. Nancy recognized the kids who had bright red hair – they had been on the same flight to Hamilton. They didn’t have a camera so we took some photos and I got their email address so I can send them.

There were only four boats at Nara and we were all on the trail at the same time! Of course Nancy became good friends with everyone we met. Cynthia was a little under the weather so we stayed a second night at Nara. Bradley made her some chicken soup and Ron made her rice and tea so she recovered quickly. It was Nancy’s birthday so we had a special birthday dinner – some of Bradley’s famous pasta and a date cake with cream for dessert.

 Tue Apr 9

Set off for Whitehaven Beach. Nancy said several people have told them it is “the most beautiful beach in the world”. We’ve never seen one more beautiful. A nice sail over and we went ashore. Bradley and I went for a long walk while Nancy and Cynthia went for a swim and Nancy caught up on her water aerobics. During the few hours we were there a half dozen sea planes and one helicopter landed to drop people off. There were also several ferries bringing people for the day. Despite that, there is far more beach than there are people. We went to stay the night at Hook Passage.

 Wed Apr 10

Back to the north end of Whitehaven where we took Nancy on the hike up to the lookout for some photos. Then we were off to Butterfly Bay for some snorkeling. Cynthia had never been snorkeling and was a little hesitant but decided to give it a try. There is a nice little reef just off the beach so we went ashore by dinghy and went in from the beach. Cynthia was a natural. Within a few minutes she was captivated and pointing out fish and coral left and right. Nancy was paired up with Bradley and she had a great time too. A success all the way around. We stayed the night at Stonehaven. It was comfortable but the winds were howling all night long.

Thu Apr 11 -  Sat Apr 13

Went over to Hayman Island where Nancy and I went snorkeling while Ron and Bradley went for a run and Cynthia stayed onboard to relax. We saw lots of great fish and coral. Then after lunch, Nancy, Cynthia, and I went for a ride on the Yellow Submarine, a coral viewing boat. We learned a lot about the Great Barrier Reef and saw plenty of fish and coral. The we set off for our last stop – Airlie Beach.

Nancy and Cynthia have taught us to play Pinochle. Bradley didn’t like it much because he was getting rotten cards. So Cynthia and I were able to win handily. We taught Nancy to play hearts (Cynthia knows how to play everything already) and we all had fun dumping the queen of spades on Nancy.

The most fun was when we played “team rummy”. Nancy and Cynthia were playing rummy. Somehow Bradley began observing and advising Nancy and then I did the same for Cynthia until we evolved into full blown teams. Bradley’s cards improved an he and Nancy came away with a nice win.

While in Airlie, we went into town for a little shopping and some ice cream.  Nancy, Cynthia and I wen out for a nice dinner at the Coral Sea. We all had barramundi. The maitre d’ kept us well entertained and we also met the chef.

Bradley and I met with Peter, our new insurance broker while Nancy and Cynthia went to the farmers market and stopped to play the pokies (slot machines). Nancy and Cynthia got to meet our friends Marilyn and David and Sassy the dog.

Sun Apr 14

Headed back to Hamilton Island. Again had to motor all the way. We arrived at mid-day and rented a buggy (golf cart) to drive around the island. Went up to the observation point and took pictures and admired the view. We also saw some wallabies just on the side of the road. We went around the island and stopped in most of the shops. We found out there’s a shooting range there – Bradley may try it next time we’re there. We ate a nice dinner at Romano’s. We also had drinks with Bob O’Toole, the executive director of Hamilton Island who Ron had met through some friends in Airlie.