Start Loc: Sawmill Bay, Cid Harbour, Whitsunday Island (20o 15.88'S, 148o 56.54'E)
Narrative: After a calm and secure night, we motored out of Cid Harbour at 9:15am. The winds were still S/SE at 15kts and generally remained within 30 degrees of the bow, so we motored the whole way to Hamilton Island without bothering to raise any canvas. We motored into Hamilton Marina at 10:25am, and they were once again very accommodating and gave us a berth to use for the short period of time we would need. They usually charge an hourly rate for a casual stop, but I assume as we were bringing business to the marina they were a little more flexible. We picked up the 5hp (reportedly ready to go, however after a test run this afternoon I discovered it would not keep running at idle and had to adjust the mixture screw) and confirmed with the marina office that we would be able to use the fuel wharf for the future airport drop offs and pickups that we will have to make. We probably extended the stay a little more than we should have by ducking around to the general store and bakery to grab a few things, and finally motored out of the marina again by 11:50am.
The wind was obviously a lot more in our favour for the trip back to Cid Harbour. With the wind SE at 15-20kts, we sailed with a reef in the main and reduced head sail at about 6kts. We took a slightly different route back, sailing between Dent and Henning Islands and then running wing on wing until tacking up Hunt Channel back into Cid Harbour. It was a very pleasant sail. There were a heap less boats compared to yesterday, and we were anchored off Sawmill Beach by 1:45pm.
We will stay here tomorrow and do the walk to Whitsunday Peak, and have decided that on Sunday we will sail to Airlie Beach and so that on Monday we will only have to duck around the corner to get fuel at 11:00am and then to our berth. The rigger is confirmed to fix the furling foil on Monday afternoon.
End Loc: Sawmill Beach, Cid Harbour, Whitsunday Island (20o 15.35'S, 148o 56.83'E)
Distance run: 17nm (cumulative: 936nm)
Engine hours: 1 hr, 49 min (cumulative: 105 hr 10 min)